Worms (PSN Title)

Finally the cult classic that is worms comes to the PSN, what can be said about it?

For those of you who don't know (is there anyone out there who's never heard of this game?), Worms is a 2D turn based warfare game, players get a short amount of time to move around the landscape and blow seven shades of pink stuff out of the other players, this can be with weapons ranging from the usual bazooka or shotgun, right up to the more bizzare holy hand grenade or exploding sheep.

Well now that you're up to speed, how does this version fare? It utilizes the cartoony look that started with Worms 2 on the PC but has been tarted up a bit to match the new graphical style from the Worms open warfare series, in fact if you have the first open warfare title for the PSP, then you won't see much of a difference here.

For the solo players out there, there isn't a great deal to do, create your team, choose one of many humerous sound banks that your worms will gibber away with, pick a gravestone for when one of them finally bites the big one and while away your time fighting against the CPU in either multiplayer matches or the challenge mode. Challenge mode consists of 20 levels, your team against a CPU team or teams of increasing difficulty.

For those of you new to the series, there is an "intense" training mode, this consists of 3 levels, one on how to walk, one on how to jump and finally one covering the use of the more basic weapons.

The controls are very simple and at no point do they get confusing, it's very easy to move your chosen worm around the landscape and very satisfying when you get that perfect shot.

For the online fanatic, there is an online multiplayer mode, up to 4 people can play against each other on a randomly generated landscape kitted out with mines, obstacles and explosive barrels, the online mode can get very intense especially because other human players will play in a totally different way to the sterile and imaginationless play style of the CPU teams.

For you trophy lovers out there, Worms has some simple to earn trophies and some that will have you tearing your hair out trying to get, the online play trophies especially are nasty.

The sounds in the game are almost exactly as they were in the previous games lifted straight from the older versions of worms on the PC but with a lot of new speech banks added, this gives the feeling of an old classic but with a fresh new coat of paint.

The downside of worms on the PS3 is simple though, PC owners have seen it, run it and played it better at almost every turn; level creation is non-existant on the PS3, the amount of weapons is woefully cut down from the huge list available on PC versions, the aiming feels a little off centre and players cannot customise their teams past names, pre-set graves, and the afforementioned speech banks.







These are the only weapons available, it's a bit of a drop from the 50 or so that PC players are used to.

This shouldn't push you away however as it plays in a very fluid manner and the missing weapons are not really much to cry over as you're still left with a selection of the best available, all in all Worms PS3 is a nice edition to the worms franchise but if you are a fan of the original PC versions (especially Armageddon) then you may find that the £7.99 price tag is a little too high for what feels like a cut down title.

Worms is and always will be a multiplayer game, that being said though I must admit I would have preferred a few more things for the solo players to do, the 20 challenges available will not keep anyone busy for very long, granted the fun of worms is in playing with friends, the occasional smack talk and the jaw of your victims crashing to the floor as you pull off an amazing shot with deadly accuracy, however since most of this game is lifted from older versions it would have been a nice edition to include some of the various missions, training and challenges from those previous games in the series.

The problem comes with how to score this title, firstly it's a Worms game and as they go this one feels like the kid brother of the more accomplished titles, however it is a return to the tried and true 2D format which should be rewarded, that being said though, this still feels like Worms-Lite as opposed to a fully developed title.

A great game for those new to the series, for the older player though,
this may be considered a waste of money.