Worms 3D

"Worms 3D, Arguably The Greatest Worms Yet?"

The new game from Team17 Software Limited and SEGA Europe Limited is finally here, and it’s one of their best yet.

Introduction
Worms have been around for years, and it has grown into an amazing set of games. Worms 3D is the newest release from the best selling franchise from Team 17 Limited entitled “Worms”, and it’s the first game that has been based completely in 3D. The previous games have all been 2 Dimensional, and they were some of the few remaining great 2D games. Obviously Team 17 and SEGA Europe feel that they can expand on the success of their previous games, and the only way to really do this without making more of the same, was to try something different. By different they created the game, with most of the same weapons, and the same idea, but put it into a 3D world, which is a whole new worms experience. Long time fans of the franchise may not like the idea of 3D, as it takes it away from it’s own league of 2D, and puts it into what many may call a 3D shooter, but if people can get used to it, they’ll see that it’s one of the best games yet.

Gameplay – 9/10
Gameplay is undoubtedly the main part of this game. The whole thing has been re-made since Worms World Party in 2D, and it shows. One of the first things players will notice is the great 3D landscapes. There are a large number of maps for players to fight on, and some have been expertly created, such as a D-Day beach landing similar to that of the Second World War. Another impressive feature are the 3D weapons and the worms themselves. They still move in the same way that they always have, but there have been some additions, such as the fact some worms will now clap when you win a game instead of the traditional jumping up and down.

Missions have been added very much like previous Worms games, however this time they are more fun, or more annoying depending on how you approach them. Because of the 3D nature of the game, it means there are a lot of possible ways you can approach them, and you might have to play through them a few times before you can work out a good strategy to pass the mission. As you play through the missions you will unlock things, depending on how well you did at passing them. This not only gives the incentive to play through them more times, but also to spend more time on the game playing with what they have unlocked. Another addition to Worms 3D are ‘Secrets’. As you play through missions you can find Easter Eggs and secrets, which will unlock various things, from weapons, to wormpedia and even new multi-player maps. There are 35 missions on Worms 3D. Along with these are 6 Tutorial missions and 22 Challenges. Completing them all will give the player 100% completion of the game and will unlock all goodies to be exploited as well as improving the players Worms 3D skills, as some of the missions are very tricky indeed.

There are over 30 weapons in Worms 3D, including some of the old favourites like Grenades and the Bazooka, plus a host of new instruments of death, such as Sticky Bombs, which are like Grenades, but they stick to whatever they hit, and Blow Pipes. Along with the rest of the game, these have been created in 3D and look very nice. The best players will have to master lots of the weapons, as the missions and challenges sometimes require you to take out large numbers of worms with a small variety of weapons.

Multiplayer is great, as we have come to expect from Worms games, but with the addition of unlockables this can become even more fun. A whole host of terrains and weapons adds to the carnage that will unfold as soon as worms enter the battlefield. Along with the Multiplayer comes Online play, where you can play Wormers from around the world which means you have someone to play against if you get bored fighting the computer.

Unfortunately the gameplay isn’t perfect. It’s let down by a few things, one of those being the camera, the other being the controls. The controls cannot be re-configured, so the player will have to get to grips with a rather unusual set of buttons which are mainly situated around the top left of the keyboard, but after a few hours you get used to it and don’t see it as much of a problem. The other problem was the Camera. This is controlled with the mouse by letting you rotate it around the worm almost 360°, however the game decides it would like to move the camera around for you as you climb over objects, which can sometimes send you walking straight into the water. There isn’t really any way to fix this problem, but there are buttons that can be pushed for different camera views, such as a button for First Person View, one for Overhead View and another, which will centre the camera behind the worm.

Story
There isn’t really much of a story in Worms 3D, the main objective is just to beat the opposition worms on various landscapes however your arch enemy Boggy Pete shows up a few times trying to stop you with your quest, so I guess the story could be to stop him.

Graphics / Sound – 9/10
Because the game is 3D is has much better graphics from previous Worms games. Everything in game is very realistic, but realistic in a cartoonie kind of way. It doesn’t look like real life, but it looks very good for computer animation. I don’t believe I have seen one jagged edge on any of the textures in my many hours of playing. Out of the gameplay, the menus and options are very well decorated, and help to add to the 3D feel of the game.

The sound in Worms 3D is pretty similar to that of other games, ambient noises in the background, weapon sound effects, and a variety of worm speech. There are plenty of new voices for the worms, some of which are unlockable, and there’s probably definitely something for everyone. There isn’t anything new in terms of features for sound, which is the main reason this section didn’t get a 10 out of 10.

Play Time / Replayability – 10/10
Worms 3D offers an almost unlimited replay factor. If you manage to beat all of the missions then you can replay them whenever you want. You can also do the challenges and try to set a new high score, or time record on them. If that isn’t exciting enough, you can play a random game against the computer on a randomly generated map, and if that’s still not enough, you can create your own schemes and have a multiplayer matches against the computer or online against worms fans from all over the world! The game should take a few weeks to complete it to 100%, but there’s nothing stopping you from doing it again. It’s very different to other games, and it can keep you entertained whenever you feel like blowing up computer animated creatures with mines or mortars, which for me is very often.

Final Recommendation
Worms 3D is a masterpiece by Team 17, and I recommend it to practically everyone. Whether you are a fan of other worms games, or not, this game offers a lot of enjoyment, and replayability and should be tried by everyone with some free time. I’m giving it a 10/10 because the small problems are easily outweighed by the greatness of this game once you get used to them, and I believe everyone who likes strategy type games should buy this.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/19/03, Updated 11/20/03