Worms: Open Warfare 2

"The best handheld Worms game ever made (and a real competitor with the PC titles)."

As a Worms fan, I was one of the suckers who bought Worms Armageddon and Worms World Party when they were brought to Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance respectively. After reading about glitches in the first Worms: Open Warfare game for DS, I resolved instead to wait for something better, and now the first fully-working handheld Worms game with all mod-cons is available to the public.

For new players, the concept of Worms is that you have two-four teams of worms on a 2D island (or cave) and the teams try to kill each other with a wide variety of comical weapons. The game is turn-based. Hitting enemy worms does damage (they die when their health reaches zero) and knocking them into the water will kill them instantly. The series is especially popular for multiplayer games and online play, of which this game offers both (although the single player is excellent too!).

The control scheme is very straightfoward and accessible. The D-pad controls movement and aiming. The Y button brings up the weapons menu. The A button selects and activates weapons. The B button is for jumping (and for releasing weapons when using the ninja rope or jetpack). The camera is controlled by holding either L or R and pressing the D-pad. The top screen can show a map by pressing Select. There is a touch screen option for weapon selection and moving around the screen, but the D-pad suffices just as well, if not better.

The choice of weapons is not as large as the PC Worms games, especially as flame effects (created by oil barrels, flamethrower, and napalm strike, for example) do not appear at all on Open Warfare 2. But most of the classics, such as the Super Sheep, Holy Hand Grenade and Concrete Donkey, are still included and even a few new weapons have been added. The Buffalo of Lies replaces the Mad Cow, as a weapon that moves along the terrain exploding any worms in its path, and the Thunderstrike can actually revive worms from their graves (a first for the series!). Overall, the lineup is more than satisfactory for enjoyable gameplay.

The graphics are excellently rendered on the DS, although sprites are small. The backgrounds are simple (moving) 3D objects rather than complex 2D artwork like the PC games, but that suits the small screen better. The background music is nothing special, but the classic worm voices are back and add a lot of charm to the characters.

Teams of worms are fully customisable, like the PC games, including choice of names, voices, gravestones and flags (which can be designed with the touch screen in this game). Landscapes can also be designed with the touch screen and saved to the cartridge to play at your leisure. One new feature of landscape themes is that they affect the gameplay in different ways. From what I have seen so far, the pirate theme makes large cannonballs fall down from the sky occasionally, the ice theme makes the terrain slippery, and the space theme decreases the gravity (so that jumping is much higher and further than before). I'm sure there are more, but this certainly demonstrates the level of variety to level designs.

The Single Player section has a variety of different games. First, there is puzzle mode, in which the players must use their brains to complete the different levels. For those who have played Worms Armageddon on PC, this plays a lot like the Basic Training missions, and is a lot of fun. Secondly, there is the Campaign mode, which follows the formula of Deathmatch in previous PC titles. Basically, you must kill all the worms in each level to progress, but as you progress, there are more enemy worms and less on your team. The Campaign mode is supported by some humorous FMVs, which look excellent on the DS's small screen. Finally, there is a Laboratory mode, which features three touch screen mini-games that are all rather boring. In one game, you must touch the screen to create explosions that knock your worm to the goal. In another, you must blow your Worm as it parachutes down. The third has you drawing platforms to knock your Worm into a goal.

The purpose of playing the Single Player games is to earn credits that you can spend in the Shop. You can buy extra skins for customising worms, special weapons and terrains and more Single Player levels. The items on sale are good incentives to play, and they are cheap enough that you don't feel like you have to play a lot just to get anything decent. In addition to the Shop, there is a Medal Cabinet that fills up as you win single player and multiplayer games.

The multiplayer of Worms: Open Warfare 2 is very extensive. Since the game is turn-based, you can play with up to four people by passing the DS around. You can play with more than one DS with single-cart or multi-cart play (although it is probably not recommended to play single-cart because the features are limited in other games that use it). And then there is online play, which features all the standard modes of play. If you want to play with friends, trade friend codes and organise a game. If you want to play with random people, there is that option. And then you can play ranked matches, which pits you against people who have won a similar number of games to you, to offer a challenge.

To conclude my review, Worms: Open Warfare 2 has everything you could want from a handheld Worms game. I grade this game 9/10 because the Laboratory mode is boring, and the game's design and weapons simply don't match the enormity of the PC games. It might come across as nitpicking, but that's how I feel. Still, this game is definitely worth full retail price.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/07

Game Release: Worms: Open Warfare 2 (EU, 08/31/07)