Worms 2: Armageddon Review - IGN (original) (raw)
The Worms franchise has been digging a special place in our hearts for 14 years now, and the turn-based strategy game is still a lot of fun. Xbox Live Arcade got a version of Worms back in 2007 that got the job done even though it forgot to include some of the most popular weapons and the online mode was a little buggy. Now Worms 2 is here and it fixes these issues and brings some flashy improvements, too, making it a fantastic arcade strategy game. Get a few friends together and this is some of the wackiest fun you can have, locally or online.
Even though this is a turn-based strategy game, it bears little in common with other standouts from the genre like Final Fantasy Tactics. On a 2D battlefield, teams of worms take turns using a wide variety of weapons and tools (many of which are bizarre) in order to eliminate the enemy. The titular night crawlers are bursting with personality and players can customize their team's appearance and sound (there are many dialects to choose from). During a turn, a worm can slither left and right, jump, and use one item, and they are usually under a time limit. In order to vanquish the enemy worms you can use anything from a bazooka to an Uzi to a baseball bat to a petrol bomb to a sentry gun to a sheep to dynamite... The array of crazy weapons and gadgets is the real draw here. Environments are destructible, adding another layer of strategy to the mix.
These Worms use air strikes to dig in the dirt.
Each weapon has its own behavior that needs to be learned. Some projectiles like the bazooka are affected by the wind. How long you hold down the fire button determines how far you throw grenades. The shotgun can be fired twice during a turn. The tutorial doesn't explain how everything works, so there is some trial and error during your early play sessions. Before you venture online you may want to work through the lengthy single-player campaign, which is made up of 35 missions. Interspersed within all the deathmatches are puzzle levels that require a bit of thinking to get through -- some of which provide quite a challenge. The single-player game here is more robust than in the first Worms. Completing stages provides you with cash you can use to buy new weapons and costumes.
Up to four players can participate in multiplayer games both locally and online, and each player can customize their team of four worms. You can either join a random quick match or design your own battle by selecting from a variety of game modes like Deathmatch, Forts, and Race. During our play tests we didn't encounter any of the bugginess of the first game.
Developer Team 17 has made good use of the Xbox Live service, including extensive leaderboards and achievements that track your progress. For example, one achievement requires you to kill 170 worms by knocking them into water (unlike real worms, the videogame invertebrates die instantly in H2O). By checking the achievements menu you can see how close you are to reaching this goal. There is also a menu item for DLC, so you can expect more Worms levels or items to be made available in the future.
The first Worms on XBLA was the best-looking game in the series at the time, and Worms 2: Armageddon looks even better. Special effects are flashier and there's more "business" going on in the background. There have been several gameplay improvements, as well. Exploding barrels now leave burning embers behind that singe worms and eat through scenery. Levels now sprawl vertically instead of just horizontally.
Verdict
If you liked the first Worms game on XBLA, don't hesitate to download this bigger, prettier sequel. If you were a bit bothered by what was missing from the first game, take Armageddon's trial for a spin and I'm pretty sure all will be forgiven. This is one of the most fun multiplayer games around, and now the single-player campaign provides a satisfying experience, as well. Few games offer the chance to wield a weapon called the Buffalo of Lies -- don't miss yours.
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Worms 2: Armageddon Review
