Review
Worms 2: Armageddon Review (PS3)
Do we really need more Worms games? Team 17 has been flogging the Worms horse for a rather long time now, and in all honesty not all that much has changed in terms of gameplay. This latest release is the most promising in a while, however - Worms 2: Armageddon attempts to combine two of the best Worms titles from the last 10 years, salvaging all the bits that has made the series such a huge hit.
The last few Worms releases felt a little all over the place, with silly new modes and weapons that were either pointless or dull. Worms 2: Armageddon is far more conentrated, delivering pure Wormage without the added crap. There's still that lingering feeling that you're forking out money for a game you've already played to death, but there's also no denying that after all this time, the Worms game are still immense fun.
A quick recap for those three people who have never played a Worms game - each player takes it in turn to move a team of four worms around a randomly generated map, dealing damage to other teams of worms via bakoozas, grenades, airstrikes and falling donkey statues. The winner is the player with the last worm standing.
All your favourite weapons join the fray once more - you've got the Holy Hand Grenade, the Concrete Donkey, the Armageddon Strike - and it all feels great to play. It's a well-known fact that anyone who manages to get through a round of Worms without smiling at least once must be an emotionless robot, as Worms is, and always has been, a rather hilarious affair, with the little guys screaming every time a stick of dynamite is laid down, and taunting each other between goes.
Of course, you know exactly what Worms is about, so let's talk content. For the lonesome player, there are a variety of game modes to choose from. Campaign mode puts you through set missions, killing teams of increasingly difficult worms and collecting special crates. This mode has been included in every single Worms in, well, forever, so you should know what to expect here.
Then there's the Puzzle mode, one of our favourite new additions (and when we say 'new', we mean of the last five years or so). Given a specific set of weapons and tools, your tasks is usually to find a way to kill the other worms in the level in just a couple of moves. These are great fun and take the edge off the main blasting levels.
Finally, a Shop feature allows for plenty of customization options. Using the money you earn from the Campaign and Puzzle modes, you can buy hats for your worms, new (again, 'new') weapons, different fort styles for multiplayer Fort mode, and gravestones. Again, the Shop is another great addition that the Worms series has seen over the past few years.
Who cares about the single player, though - multiplayer is where the real action's at. Up to four players can lay into each other both locally and over PSN and Xbox Live, and as always it's brilliant fun, with plenty of laughs to be had. Replays pop up whenever an amazing shot is made, and there's loads of room for taunting each other and the like.
Multiplayer is great for messing around with the customization options too. Apart from making your own teams, there are options for setting which weapons will be used, how many minutes a round will be, how many mines will be placed around the level, etc etc. Yet again, you've seen it all before numerous times, but there's no denying that it gives the game huge replay value.
A few of the more recent Worms games that featured online play were a little troublesome - bad lag between players could cause havoc with games, and finding a game at all could prove difficult. These problems appear to have been subsided with Worms 2: Armageddon, and we played plenty of online games without a hitch.
One particular feature that we hoped would be resurrected for this game was the ability to play with eight worms in a team rather than the standard four. Unfortunately, we were left disappointed - four is yet again the max. Both Worms 2 and Worms Armageddon allowed for eight worms, so it's pretty surprising and a damn shame that this was left out!
This is Worms then. Again. And again. You'll find nothing new in this latest PSN release, hence if you already own a fair number of the Worms games, there's no real reason to pick this one up too. It's incredibly difficult to shake the fact that, while you're definitely enjoying yourself, you've just spent decent money on a 10 year old game that you've already played to death.
In Worms 2: Armageddon's defense, this is one of the better Worms releases of recent times - everything feels tightly compacted and the game modes don't go overboard and jump the shark. It's nice to see the online play fully working too, although as with every other Worms game, the number of people playing online will quickly dwindle.
Which brings us to the obvious verdict: If you haven't played Worms before, pick this up. Otherwise, you're probably best to stick with what you've got. Worms 2: Armageddon is great fun, just as it was ten years ago.
Top Game Moment: "Aaaaaaaaalleluia!" Boom.
The last few Worms releases felt a little all over the place, with silly new modes and weapons that were either pointless or dull. Worms 2: Armageddon is far more conentrated, delivering pure Wormage without the added crap. There's still that lingering feeling that you're forking out money for a game you've already played to death, but there's also no denying that after all this time, the Worms game are still immense fun.
 |
| It's OK, Lutz loves the taste of water anyway |
A quick recap for those three people who have never played a Worms game - each player takes it in turn to move a team of four worms around a randomly generated map, dealing damage to other teams of worms via bakoozas, grenades, airstrikes and falling donkey statues. The winner is the player with the last worm standing.
All your favourite weapons join the fray once more - you've got the Holy Hand Grenade, the Concrete Donkey, the Armageddon Strike - and it all feels great to play. It's a well-known fact that anyone who manages to get through a round of Worms without smiling at least once must be an emotionless robot, as Worms is, and always has been, a rather hilarious affair, with the little guys screaming every time a stick of dynamite is laid down, and taunting each other between goes.
Of course, you know exactly what Worms is about, so let's talk content. For the lonesome player, there are a variety of game modes to choose from. Campaign mode puts you through set missions, killing teams of increasingly difficult worms and collecting special crates. This mode has been included in every single Worms in, well, forever, so you should know what to expect here.
Then there's the Puzzle mode, one of our favourite new additions (and when we say 'new', we mean of the last five years or so). Given a specific set of weapons and tools, your tasks is usually to find a way to kill the other worms in the level in just a couple of moves. These are great fun and take the edge off the main blasting levels.
Finally, a Shop feature allows for plenty of customization options. Using the money you earn from the Campaign and Puzzle modes, you can buy hats for your worms, new (again, 'new') weapons, different fort styles for multiplayer Fort mode, and gravestones. Again, the Shop is another great addition that the Worms series has seen over the past few years.
 |
| Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a... aww crap. |
Who cares about the single player, though - multiplayer is where the real action's at. Up to four players can lay into each other both locally and over PSN and Xbox Live, and as always it's brilliant fun, with plenty of laughs to be had. Replays pop up whenever an amazing shot is made, and there's loads of room for taunting each other and the like.
Multiplayer is great for messing around with the customization options too. Apart from making your own teams, there are options for setting which weapons will be used, how many minutes a round will be, how many mines will be placed around the level, etc etc. Yet again, you've seen it all before numerous times, but there's no denying that it gives the game huge replay value.
A few of the more recent Worms games that featured online play were a little troublesome - bad lag between players could cause havoc with games, and finding a game at all could prove difficult. These problems appear to have been subsided with Worms 2: Armageddon, and we played plenty of online games without a hitch.
One particular feature that we hoped would be resurrected for this game was the ability to play with eight worms in a team rather than the standard four. Unfortunately, we were left disappointed - four is yet again the max. Both Worms 2 and Worms Armageddon allowed for eight worms, so it's pretty surprising and a damn shame that this was left out!
This is Worms then. Again. And again. You'll find nothing new in this latest PSN release, hence if you already own a fair number of the Worms games, there's no real reason to pick this one up too. It's incredibly difficult to shake the fact that, while you're definitely enjoying yourself, you've just spent decent money on a 10 year old game that you've already played to death.
 |
| This surely won't end well. |
In Worms 2: Armageddon's defense, this is one of the better Worms releases of recent times - everything feels tightly compacted and the game modes don't go overboard and jump the shark. It's nice to see the online play fully working too, although as with every other Worms game, the number of people playing online will quickly dwindle.
Which brings us to the obvious verdict: If you haven't played Worms before, pick this up. Otherwise, you're probably best to stick with what you've got. Worms 2: Armageddon is great fun, just as it was ten years ago.
Top Game Moment: "Aaaaaaaaalleluia!" Boom.
