Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Worms: Open Warfare 2

1. Official Site
2. Platform: DS
3. Publisher: THQ
4. Developer: Team 17
5. Release Date: 09/04/07
6. Genre: Action/Adventure

by Mitch Youngblood

I don’t get it. Maybe it’s all the expansion packs, maybe it’s the endless recycling of gameplay, or maybe it’s a combination of the two plus something else. Any way you look at it, the enduring popularity of the Worms franchise eludes me. THQ has built a franchise upon what is little more than one step removed from a Flash game, then charges $30 to $40 a pop for it.

Yet people continue to buy it, and so I remain confused.

The gameplay for Worms: Open Warfare 2 is the exact same as what you’ll find in any other game bearing a similar title. You control a team of combat-hardened earthworms who must vanquish an opposing force of equally combat-hardened earthworms all while trapped in a cutesy, yet entirely destructible, environment. To make matters more interesting, the worms all come equipped with a series of increasingly ludicrous weaponry which the AI has no trouble hitting you with from the other side of the map while you scream at your DS furiously that it’s a cheating whore.

Then again, I may have some anger issues and I don’t care whether these worms have a Holy Hand Grenade (of Antioch™) or not because they are not threatening. A worm by definition is either cute or slimy or both, regardless of hot much heat its packing.

Even though the graphics are colorful throughout the game, it can frequently be difficult to actually tell what is going on with your worms. I would recommend choosing a very distinct color for your team, otherwise it will be very easy to confuse your players with those of your opponents.

The levels are actually well designed to give players a solid challenge and being able to alter the landscape during combat is a great feature. Where trouble brews is when your worms start hitting mystery pixels and rebounding off their ledge and into water below all because you misjudged where an outcropping was. If you’re careful enough, then you still might bounce off a mystery pixel and plummet into the murky waters below.

The backdrops are nicely animated for the theme of the levels, and the cinematics between wars are hilarious. Unfortunately, we have reached the end of the graphical high points for this game.

The music for each level matches the theme of the level. The pirate music for the opening levels is oddly catchy, as are the tracks for both world war themes. The sound effects for the worms are cute indeed, and the weapon effects have a nice pop to them.

Special mention must go to whomever crafted the Holy Hand Grenade (of Antioch™) because when that thing goes off so too did I in a fit of laughter. That’s about it on the sound effects, mainly because the few that are used do their job adequately enough but there isn’t enough of a creative spark there to justify further discussion.

Sort of like the game itself, actually, so consider the sound review a microcosm of the game itself.

The controls are where the game is, funny enough, the best off. Players move their worms with the directional pad, they open up the weapons menu with the Y button, their fire or detonate their weapons with the A button, and they jump with a tap of the B button. A backflip happens when players hit the B button twice in rapid succession. Holding down the Left or Right button pads while pressing on the directional pad will scroll the camera around the map, which is useful for finding your targets when their locations are not immediately apparent.

Of course, the stylus can be used throughout the game to select items from the menu screen, or used to direct certain weapons like the Air Strike. It’s pretty straightforward and easy enough to pick up and run with, but the caveat to that comes in the form of the gameplay.

This game sucks. Oh sure, there are tons of things to buy in the shop, plenty of online modes to try out, and the ability to design your own course using the stylus on the touch pad. But if your focus is the single player campaign then know how much of a headaches you are in for as you struggle mightily against the horrible AI of your opponents, cheating AI who can get perfect shots with the wind nine times out of 10, and having to rely on luck to clear several missions.

This thing smacks of a cheap development cycle on many levels and one thing THQ needs to put into future titles in this series is a simple three letter word: F-U-N. You know, something I had absolutely none of while playing. Instead, we're stuck with only the F and the U from THQ.

A video game is supposed to be entertaining, a modern alternative to reading a book. Instead of hurling Hemingway across the room, I found myself wanting to hum my DS Lite through the nearest window in pure frustration at any one of a dozen different problems. Cheating AI. Horrible enemy AI. Random pixels blocking progress of either you or your mobile weapons. Poor physics. Bad graphics. Lack of any genuine reason to continue playing.

I’m sure THQ would counter that last point by saying that there are several battlefield skins each one with several missions. To this I would agree, but then point out that since none of them are fun, there is no incentive to continue playing. If someone is repeatedly punching you in the face, do you ask them for some more when they feel like taking a break?

The basic point of each mission set is to have your team of heavily armed worms defeat a rival team of heavily armed worms across a series of six themes based on two world wars, one in the future, one in the desert, a cold war and a pirate war. The differences between all of these can be summed up by the different music and the backgrounds only. The challenge remains the same: Defeat the enemy worms then figure out how to beat their boss before a funny cinematic takes your lead worm on to the next level.

A large variety of weaponry and tools are available but the majority of the time will find you using one of four weapons, all of which have an infinite ammo counter. After you fire your weapon you have a few seconds to move your worm to another position, but this is rendered moot if you happen to screw up a jump and take some damage on the landing. Apparently as soon as your worm is wounded even slightly then your turn is over. One cannot begin to point out the number of reasons why this is incredibly stupid.

If the single player isn’t your cup of tea, then you can check out the various puzzles and training missions. Once you beat those, which should take roughly an hour or so total, then the multiplayer component is where you can import your own custom designed levels. It’s fun in theory, but less so in practice. At least it was for me, but then again I have trouble drawing stick figures. Making a coherent map for combative worms proved beyond my meager skills.

It remains difficult to imagine a desire to play through either the campaign or the puzzles a second time, let alone a third or a fourth, but there is one shining example of how to properly add replayability to a game. In the Custom section, you have the option to draw your own maps using the stylus. This is extremely fun especially once you realize the map you have created looks closer to something Salvador Dali would come up with after a bender.

Add worms and hand grenades to this and then you’re talking about funny.

There is a lot to do otherwise and quite a few items to buy with the points accrued from completed puzzles and campaigns, but overall it comes back to the "draw your own map" feature as the high point of this title. Is that enough to justify a purchase though?

No.

Were THQ holding a bazooka next to your head demanding that you play Worms: Open Warfare 2 or they just might pull the trigger, then it might be worth turning on. Were airlines not as strict as they are about people throwing things in frustration, then I’d suggest it as a short title worth taking on a flight. But there are so many other, better, puzzle and combat titles available for the DS that this is worth neither your time nor the headaches it causes.

Gaming Trend Score

69

1. Graphics: 70
2. Audio: 70
3. Controls: 85
4. Gameplay: 60
5. Value/Replay: 70
6. OVERALL:69