UGO writes: "Worms... in... spaaaaaaaaaace! Sounds like a great idea, doesn't it? That's probably what developer Team17 and publisher THQ were thinking when they decided to release Worms: A Space Oddity for Nintendo Wii. Though still fundamentally rooted in the series' penchant for wacky weapons and hilarious acts of wormicide, this new game is designed for the casual "casual" crowd - it says so right on the packaging! - and supposedly simplified controls in actuality hurt the overall experience.
The basic conceit driving <em>Worms: A Space Oddity's gameplay remains unchanged over previous entries in the series. Players take turns employing a variety of weapons as they attempt to eliminate all signs of the enemy on a smallish, two dimensional map. Each turn lasts 60 seconds, during which time the worm whose turn it is can move around, take aim and fire exactly one weapon. There are 14 tools in all; most are weapons, though some function in support roles only."
With 10 titles released in the last 13 years (not including the countless expansion packs and spin-offs), it seems those annelids have more than most in the stamina stakes. Still it could be argued that despite a brief and largely unnoticed foray into 3D, very little has changed or evolved in those years, though that is probably part of the appeal.
Gamebosh:
"If Pac-Man is a distinctly 80's icon of arcade games then Worms was very much an icon of the 90's PC shareware phase. Endless hours could be had simply finding ways to launch full-scale assaults on other teeny tiny worms on the other side of little rocky hills. There have been many incarnations, so it was inevitable that Worms would get the Wii make-over."
Worms is a turn-based strategy game where teams of worms battle across bizarre randomly generated landscapes, or across finely crafted custom-designed levels.
Each team takes turns to pick off the opposing team using crazy weapons, tools and other utilities they have discovered or whatever foul strategies they can conjure up.
Worms die when they lose all of their energy or plunge into the icy depths of the water surrounding the landscape. The winning team is the one that manages to survive the mayhem and have worms left standing when the dust settles.
Each worm has an arsenal of devastating weapons at their disposal, some of which have a limited supply so strategy must be used to achieve maximum carnage. Weapons such as bazookas, grenades, dynamite, exploding sheep, old ladies and the dreaded concrete donkey all make an appearance adding to the fun and destruction!
The simple appearance of the game belies the fact that beneath the surface lies a cunningly designed strategy game able to weed out the tactical wheat from the chaff. Worms can in fact be played in many different ways: some players opt for wanton destruction (nicknamed 'the light side'), while others are so underhanded that they wreak vengeance at every opportunity: these so called 'dark-siders' will use any tactics necessary to win the match, typically digging in and making themselves hard to kill.
