Game Review: Worms 2: Armageddon (XBLA)

Well we've already had Worms on XBLA. It was fine for the time, but I was not impressed by the lack of weapons and customization. This is the version we should have been given first time round.

First off, the name, Worms 2: Armageddon. There was a 'Worms 2', and there was a 'Worms: Armageddon'. But these were two seperate games. As you'd expect, 'Worms 2: Armageddon' is something of a mix of the two, with Worms 2's advanced level of customization, and Armageddon's excellent weapon selection and mix of single player tasks.


There's also some new weapons and modes, unique to this version of Worms, the poison gas will quickly fill up tunnels and whittle away the health of them tunnelling bastards, and the bunker buster will fall from the sky and burrow a bit before exploding. So clearly the player who favours hiding is in for some punishment. That's what you get for cowardice!


This is perhaps the most complete version of Worms to date. It's the purest form yet. Great sound effects and voices, plently of customization, buckets of crazy weapons (Concrete Donkey!), and simple controls.

Even after 15 years or so, the original concept of Worms still works, a 2D map, selection of weapons, turn based fun. I like to think of Worms as our generation's chess, and that, in 60 years I'll be sitting as an old man in the park, playing Worms as the ultimate test of tactics and intelligence!


You can tell a lot about someone from how they play Worms, the aformentioned tunnellers, the ninja rope experts, the insanely accurate grenade/cluster bomb throwers, who can throw one from across the map, factoring wind resistance, into your lap, and the complete bastards who block your Worms in with girders (I'm one of them).


So it's Worms, and it's got the weapons and the customization. You can't go wrong with that. It also has a few different modes on offer aside from the standard deathmatch. Forts mode has two teams stuck on largish islands in the water, with no easy way from one to the other. Jetpacks and Ninja Ropes are forbidden so basically you must besiege your opponents island and try to get him from afar with limited and time delayed weapons. It's actually more fun than I thought it would be. Then there's race mode, where you try to get through a maze like level in a shorter time than your opponent. It works pretty well too as a change of pace.


Single player wise, the AI is pretty much same as ever - pinpoint accurate with grenades, and occasionally stupid when stuck or blocked by scenery. It's a shame really, as more human behaving AI would make this game an excellent purchase for those not interested in dealing with other people. As it stands however, unless you are going to be playing this against real people, either through XBox live, or locally in a pass-the-controller match, then there isn't much on offer. The campaign, whilst it has some interesting challenges, particularly the last one (Armageddon), don't last too long, and you can complete the single player campaign in one sitting.

Given the random and seemingly infinate nature of the levels, you'd think there could have been hundreds of campaign levels, but in fact there are only 35.


But Worms has always been about the multiplayer, and in that respect, it works well. I noticed a few bugs, with maps being selected before I'd pressed a button. There was the occasionaly random loss of connection, which I'm fairly sure was the game's fault, but hasn't happened recently so maybe that's been sorted. The search+lobby system could be a bit more streamlined, but generally it works and it isn't too hard to find a game. Players XBox avatars show up between turns to laugh or cry at the performance last turn, which is a nice touch, but can slow down the action, but then, is Worms really about a fast pace anyway?


In closing, I can't really put this game down too much, I'm annoyed and feel that this is what the first Worms on XBLA should have been, but we've finally got exactly the type of game XBLA was made for. I realise there are a lot of goodies out now for XBLA and also for DLC, but if you have the points, this is a must have for any gamer who respects their history.


Worth the money for definate, but make sure you have friends to play with either locally or on Xbox Live!

Bratman.