Worms

"Worms is drowning in the drink!"

I have bought EVERY single worms game since the pixilated original game way back when. I even played the newer 3D games even though I don't like them that much so when I heard "Worms" was coming to 360 Arcade in classic 2D side scrolling I started drooling on in front of my monitor as I read the news! Sadly though Worms turns out to be cut down so badly because of the 50MB limit even fans of it wonder whether or not to buy it! Good new at the end of this though!

Graphics 10/10:
WOW! The graphics are great! I was blown away by them. I am not sure if they actually improved on them or not, I think they did in some areas like backgrounds and "Effects". The game looks really great and on a nice big HDTV is fun to play!

My only complaint is with such great graphics why didn't they let you zoom in one more notch? Its still hard to see worms even when fully zoomed in unless you got a massive tv and even then its still to far out.

Controls 9/10:
I've always found the controls for Worm games to be more difficult on consoles then PCs. But this was perhaps the easiest controls I've used for a Worms game on either side! And if you don't think you'll get it there's a tutorial that makes it so easy even a worm could do it! You'll get the hand of it in no time. I think the only thing you need to master really is things like jumping gaps right, ninja roping....etc. But those are actually much easier with a controller!

Sounds and Music 3/10
BLAH! On the music end there never really was music besides the intro songs which are usually kick butt. The "Stage" music is a "apocalyptic/ambient" theme which is good but after awhile you probably will switch to your own music.

The sound is just horrid. They chopped out almost all the team sounds except from actual languages like English, French, German....etc. No more "fun" sounds like Cyborg, Rastsa...etc. Not even music clips for when you win and what not. That was always part of the fun of winning. No I am stuck listening to my worm speaking in English (as in UK English, not American). Not that I have anything against that.

Multi player 2/10:
Hey Multi player would kick butt..... assuming people wouldn't quit right as their last worm is about to die! After about 15 games of people quitting I got ticked and gave up for awhile and tried again and more people kept quitting. Sadly if it ends up just you and another person the game ends for you too and no one wins!

Single player 4/10:
SP is ok. You have Quick Choice which throws you with random stuff and Local Game (under MP) which lets you mess around with teams and schemes. More on this below!

Game play 5/10:
Game play wise the game is REALLY FUN!!! You can be totally crazy in the way you play or play strategically! Do whatever you want. Just kill everyone before they kill you! But since a lot is missing I personally think the game play suffers and is gets boring since its lacking a lot of stuff. To anyone else who maybe never player Worms they will probably love it to death!

The AI is dumb even under the smartest setting. Sometimes it can throw a nade across a map, bounce it off of three objects then get it to fall threw a 0.001 inch big hole and kill you. Then other times the “smartest” AI does incredibly stupid things. At least they can use ropes and jet packs.

What's chopped out, cropped and dead?
So wondering what's missing? Why such a bad score?

Well I mentioned some of it in my review like lack of audio customizing and what not. There also missing A LOT more! You use to be able to adjust more aspects like if there were barrels or mines in a map, carrying over weapons, timers on mines....etc. Some things they cut out really make a difference and change up the game play!

Perhaps the biggest thing they cut out are a lot of the cool weapons! Where's my Holy Hand Grenade? What about the (useless) but funny Old Lady? Ming Vase? The only power weapon is the Banana Bomb. I miss the varying strategy you had! Even the tools have changed a little! Even the game play has changed a little. For instance Worms when they fell use to slide down hills after flying through the air from an explosion. In recent games you had cool options to change those things...etc.

By the way to any Rope lovers out there the ropes have been “nerfed”! You can no longer swing up high or bounce your way on them to ledges!

Future Content!!!:
Worms happen to be the last added game added before games switched over to 150MB! So its going to get some new content, hopefully the missing stuff a lot of us want! And since Team17 is known to be giving they won't charge us at least for the missing stuff.

Pros & Cons:
Pros:
-Improved Graphics
-Fun Multiplayer when people don't quit
-Fun Gameplay
-Good price for hopefully "full" game later
-Future content (possibly free)

Cons:
-To much quitting online
-Hard AI is so cheap...(insert joke here)!
-Paying for 1/4 a game for now
-Limited levels

-Limited Customizing
-Limited everything!

Overall 3/10:
Despite what they cut out its still fun. If they can at least fix people from quitting (like punish them) and give us what was left out then this will be the best Arcade game ever. If not then its fun, but just 1/4 of game for 800 Points fun. If you haven't played Worms period then you'll like it no matter what! Anyways that's what trials are for!

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 03/13/07