"2D Worms action at its best"

I have been a big Worms fan since the worms first hit the PS2 and have been following the series ever since. When I learned about Worms hitting the DS, I decided to check it out.

GRAPHICS: 10/10
Although it may be a 2D game, the graphics are quite impressive for the DS. The landscapes and Worm sprite are good looking, and in the background, you have 3D objects that go with the landscape, such as a couple of pirate ships in the Pirate theme, a sinking Titanic look-alike in the Arctic (cold war) theme, and a tank in the Desert War theme. But what really impressed me are the many fully 3D cutscenes the game has to watch, which are humourous and beautiful graphic wise. Nothing would make me want to give these graphics less than a perfect 10;

SOUND: 9/10
From what I have seen in previous Worms games, my expectations were pretty low for the Sound department. But Worms Open Warfare: 2 totally blew me out of the water with its music. Although music is such a little part of the game that has no effect on gameplay (just like graphics), it totally makes the match more enjoyable with some cool music that adds to the overall effect. The thing is some songs are more enjoyable than others, and other songs aren't that great. But overall the music is great. As for the sound effects, they are pretty much what you would expect from any worms game. And for the voices, they have the humourous dialougue you'd expect in Worms. So, for the most part, the sounds are great, but sometimes the music gets repetitive, so 9/10.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10
Now for the reason why you bought the game, the gameplay itself. Basically, you move around your worms and kill your opponent using a variety of weapons given to you. Simple enough, right? But in this game, there is one major difference: The theme you play on effects the game itself. In the World War I theme, the level will be bombed for a few turns, and soon after, the fogs of war arise (meaning you cannot see you or your opponent's worms health). In the Space War theme, there is low gravity and UFOs can abduct objects and move them around the landscape. There are tons more things that can happen, and those are just a couple. And what else is new? Something that only the DS version has: A landscape editor. This is different from the other games because you can actually use the DS's stylus to draw a landscape and place objects. The actual combat itself is very well presented, with no bad glitches like the first Worms Open Warfare. There are a couple new weapons, too, which are pretty cool. As for modes, you can do single player campaigns, which are fun missions making you do certain tasks; puzzles, which make you figure out tricky situations; Lab mode, which are a bunch of minigames I found mildly entertaining; Customize, which is where you can make teams, draw flags, or make a landscape; and Shop, where you can spend your credits from single player missions to unlock new landscapes, skins, gravestones, etc.

MULTIPLAYER: 8/10
And here we are, Multiplayer, which can make or break a game. Luckily for this game, it just makes it so much sweeter. There are quite a few multiplayer modes: Single card, which allows you to play with people who don't own the game; Multi card, which is the same as Single card, except they have to own the game and it has all the features of the one player game; and WiFi, where you can battle people over the internet via Nintendo WFC. Single card play is okay, but it can be really glitchy and make you question if you are playing the person or a really dumb AI because of how weird it acts. Multi Card play works very well and should be alot better than Single card. Battling over WiFi is very fun, but people who disconnect can make it frustrating sometimes. So, besides Single Card play, the multiplayer is solid.

OVERALL: 9/10
Definitely one of the best worms games I've ever played. Very few reasons make this game a bit less than perfect, but none of them should be reasons not to get this game.

RENT OR BUY?
Buy, buy, buy!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/19/07

Game Release: Worms: Open Warfare 2 (US, 09/04/07)