Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

I remember when I was growing up a friend of mine had an Apple IIc.  On that computer he had a game where you had two cannons on the screen over different leveled terrain.  You put in your angle and amount of power and watched the ammo fly into the air until one person was left.  We had a lot of fun trying new things, and even bombing ourselves in the process.

The Worms series has expanded on that ever since the game came out in 1994.  While it takes the same premise as that Apple IIc game, the weapons and the worms themselves add a lot of humor to what could be considered a somber idea.  Launching grenades, shooting bazookas, and slapping your opponent were never so much fun.

The Worms series has always had a bit of a cartoonish look to it.  The worms on the field all bounce around, moving by pushing the end of their body around.  They have little non-attached arms, similar to Rayman, which hold weapons.  You can even see the weapons the worm is holding on its turn.  Their big eyes and facial features help make expressions and give an indication how a worm felt about his shot.  While the graphics could be considered plain, the animations of the worms add to the graphics.

Since this is still a war game, it would mean nothing without big explosions.  Grenades and rockets blow up with flare, with a puff of smoke following.  Mines flash before blowing up.  Rockets leave a trail of smoke behind them as they fly in the air.  These little touches help you believe that these are real weapons instead of cartoon ones.  It’s almost as if they came from ACME for Wile E. Coyote.

The backgrounds look very cartoonish, similar to the worms themselves.  You can see grass in certain areas, while sand and dirt lies underneath  They are all deformable too, so a shot that hits the ground will cause a hole to open up.  The backgrounds used to be black, but they have added animated backgrounds for a little while now.  The backgrounds are blurry though, so you don’t really see any detail put into the backgrounds.

If you ever played Worms before, then you know about the voices of the worms and their dialogue.  Their high-pitched voices squeak when it’s their turn and when they get hit.  They give a “whoo-hoo” when they make a good shot, and you’ll hear a “sorry” when they hit themselves or a teammate.  They all talk with the same voice though, and their dialogue is limited.

Each campaign has a theme to it.  For instance there is a pirate theme towards the beginning of the game.  Each of these stages has their own separate theme music.  It does do a good job of matching the theme, but it will get a little repetitive.

Worms has more movement than you might think since the worms can actually move.  They can’t go that far, but some of the items you have, including Ninja Rope and the Jetpack.  The left and right buttons on the D-pad control movement, while up and down control aiming.  The right analog stick moves along the map so you can see where your opponent is.  X activates the weapon and brings up a power bar for those weapons that have a range on them.  Square jumps and performs a back flip when hit twice.  Circle brings up your current stable of weapons available to you.  L and R zoom in and out of the stage.

The biggest issue with the controls is the fact that the D-pad isn’t very accurate and there are times when you need pinpoint accuracy.  Sometimes it would also get confusing as to using up and down for aiming as it would make more sense to use left and right.

For some of the items like the Jetpack and the Ninja Rope, it will take some practice to get the hang of how they control.  It turns into a bit of a mini arcade game to get exactly where you want to.

The basic object of Worms is to outlast your opponent by killing them off by weaponry or knocking them off the level so they drown in the water.  These are worms, and worms can’t swim.  This would be a pretty boring game if all you had was a pea shooter at your disposal.  It’s a good thing that the developer has some creative minds.  Besides, who would have thought of having worms use military weaponry against each other?

When you start the teams are placed on the stage by the computer.  Each team takes turns moving and mauling each other.  Certain weapons have unlimited ammo, while others have a limited number of uses.  The weapons mostly have a military theme behind them, with weapons like Uzis, bazookas, grenades, cluster bombs, and land mines.  While this would have been alright, the developers have a creative mind behind them and added some unique items.  The Banana Bomb, Buffalo of Lies, Dragonball, and exploding Sheep are all examples that the developers don’t take themselves too seriously.  A few items are used to moving around, like the aforementioned Ninja Rope and Jetpack, as well as the Parachute and Teleport.  A lot of the weapons are similar to the games before, and it would have been nice to see a few newer weapons.

Each of the weapons has their own unique characteristics.  Some weapons have a range where you determine how much power to give them.  If you fill up the power bar and aim improperly, it’s not uncommon to see the weapon fly off the screen.  Others you drop and run away from as quickly as you can.  Some handheld weapons you just aim and fire without worrying about how much to charge them.  At first you don’t get to see all of the weapons, but as you progress you get to see some of the more “exotic” weapons at your disposal.

When first playing the game, it will take a while to get the hang of how much to charge a weapon.  While certain straight shots are easy to shoot at, ones that require an arch take a little more adjustment.  There is also a wind that you need to take into account too.  You can make some pretty spectacular shots with the wind, but sometimes it can blow up in your face, literally.  A training section introduces you to the game and it helps you to get used to the controls and the power bar.

There are a few wrinkles on the levels to help keep the subsequent stages fresh.  Crates are dropped onto the stage and can give you a new weapon or health to the worm.  These can sometimes swing the direction of the battle.  Sometimes a worm will start in an area where you can’t easily access any open areas.  Here you have to use the weapons so that you can open up some of the areas on the stage.  Just be careful how you do it, as you can blow yourself up easily if you aren’t careful.  Land mines are sometimes strewn about the level too, so you want to be sure that you avoid those.  You can use them to your advantage by prodding an enemy worm into one.

The Campaign mode lets you play against teams of worms in different ages of warfare.  They start out fairly easy by either giving your team more worms and giving the enemy worms less health than you.  As the campaign progresses, more worms appear on the screen and the enemy AI gets smarter.  At times it can get almost too tough, but it ramps up the challenge at a fair pace.

A Puzzle mode is included where you are given an objective.  Some of these levels have you kill off the enemy worms, but other levels have objectives like reaching an exit on the stage or collecting the crates scattered about.  These seem to have specific ways to successfully complete the stage, so it will take more than a good aim to complete them.

You can also set up a custom game where you can set the parameters of a game, or you can select Quick Game if you want to get into the action right away.  These are nice diversions if you want to play a game without worrying about the campaign or you don’t want to try to solve a puzzle.

Sometimes you do get some down time, as you can have four teams on the level at the same time.  While it is good to watch what happens, you wish you could get the game to go just a little bit faster.

The campaign will take a while to get through, and it’s kind of fun to see what the developers have done with the different ages that you go through.  The puzzles are challenging but you will be able to see a solution to them.  Being able to set up a custom game or a quick game makes the replay value almost limitless.

There is a Time Attack mode where you have a team and the objective is to reach an exit point.  While the objective isn’t groundbreaking, it is refreshing to not have “Kill the other team” as the objective all the time.

What’s most impressive about Worms Open Warfare 2 is the fact that it includes local and online multiplayer.  You can play Deathmatch, Fort, or Rope Race if you have another friend with a copy of the game.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have that, but there is the online area called WormNet.  What’s even more impressive about WormNet is that you can actually set up clans and play with other clans.  While it probably won’t be implemented that much, it’s a cool feature to have.

If you are a fan of the Worms series, then Worms Open Warfare 2 will feel like a perfect game for you to bring along on your PSP.  Being able to see more of the battlefield due to the widescreen form factor of the PSP is nice for aiming.  The controls work well enough, and the ability to play online is a huge bonus.  The Worms humor is still intact as well.  While the Worms series hasn’t changed that much, it doesn’t need to.  If you to kill your enemy with skill, strategy, and a bit of humor, then look no further than Worms Open Warfare 2 on the PSP.

Gaming Trend Score

79

1. Graphics: 82
2. Audio: 64
3. Controls: 80
4. Gameplay: 86
5. Value/Replay: 78
6. OVERALL:79