The homicidal invertebrates are back in Worms: Revolution, but does the XBLA arcade title live up to its name?
Ok, let’s get this out of the way, it has been some time since I last played a Worms game, you might call me a lapsed fan. Since its first appearance seventeen…yes 17 years ago it has gone through various iterations of the formula. Some have been good, some have been best forgotten (3D anyone?), however at its heart it has always been an amusing take on the turn-based artillery game.
This particular instalment is no different on the humour stakes. Team 17 has ramped it up this time with the inspired casting of Matt Berry (he of The Mighty Boosh, and The IT Crowd fame) as your sadistic “wildlife guide” and the game is not short of laugh out loud lines delivered in Berry’s inimitable style. He serves to provide in game hints, cajoling you in to action and ridiculing you when you once again damage yourself with your bazooka rather than the intended enemy.
Revolution features an impressive arsenal of weapons with which to exact invertebrate slaughter, from the classic, and always amusing exploding sheep, to hand grenades, finger pokes, shotguns, missiles, air-strikes, dynamite, mines, dragon punches and, … well you get the drift. As always, the unpredictability of the weapons adds to the latent humour in the game; it is always funny to see an opponent obliterate themselves with a misplaced bazooka shot rather than providing an untimely and violent death to your target.
The maps are randomly created and beautifully rendered in 2D, (really Worms should stay 2D), with the detritus of humans acting as the hazards; a cigarette lighter, tin can etc., all of which are suitably proportioned. There is a much greater emphasis on the reliance of physics and environmental hazards in this particular iteration of the game and for the most part they work to great effect. Of particular significance is the addition of water. As well as water based weapons (water pistol and water bombs) you can often manipulate the environment to exact a watery death upon your unsuspecting foe. The water acts very much like jelly rather than water and oozes around the environment, it also does damage each turn to any worm that is submerged in it. The addition of the hazards adds a vitality to the maps that perhaps hasn’t existed before and really encourages a more strategic approach to game play.
Strategy and positioning has always been a key element in any Worms game, however in Revolution there is now the addition of four separate classes which encourages more lateral thinking. You start with a regular Soldier, however as you progress through the single player campaign and puzzle sections you can unlock a Heavy, a Scout and a Scientist with the credits you accrue. The Scientist will heal on each available turn, the Scout is small and weak, however he can move around the map much faster and navigate smaller elements that the other classes can’t, and predictably the Heavy is a much slower brute that can absorb much more damage. The addition of classes is an interesting idea, but it feels a little under-played, the Heavy for example is so slow that moving him about seems a bit of a chore and more often than not I stuck with the regular Soldier for my ranks with a Scientist to heal.
The single player campaign is adequate and serves to introduce new and returning players to the mechanics of the game, however some difficulties I had with the controls which I felt were a little cumbersome and less intuitive than I would have liked made some of the levels a little tedious to complete, thankfully there is the always excellent multiplayer. Worms is a game that should be played with friends, preferably with a squad of worms with silly names and amusing accents, and an arsenal of bonkers weaponry that always seem to amusingly miss their intended target, or exact unintended mayhem. There is plenty of opportunity to customise your playing experience too, you can create personalised formations, victory dances, death throes, outfits etc. to make your squad more personal.
Worms: Revolution is a great addition to the series and one that fans of the game would do well to pick up, players less inclined towards the series will find nothing new to interest them despite the new additions, and new players will find a polished game full of whimsy that is a return to the form that made Worms so popular in the first place.
A great, well written review. It sounds like the game has some interesting additions, but I think i’ve simply played too many versions of the game over the years to warrant picking this up on yet another platform