Worms Reloaded will win you over with its great action and plenty of fun for parties and solo players.
- Addictive Worms gameplay
- The arsenal packs a really good punch
- Clean visuals and plenty of humorous voices
- Great for multiplayer, and surprisingly fun single-player modes
Negative
- AI's unbelievable aim is absolutely infuriating
- Gets repetitive when playing alone
The Worms franchise has existed for a long time now, and even after all those years it is not a series that has overstayed its welcome. The latest installment manages to reuse the successful formula to make the most of the explosive arsenal in order to make the gameplay intense, has plenty of options to set up great multiplayer match alongside the neat single-player modes which makes you overlook the minor repetition and superhuman AI.
Worms Reloaded is very fun as a multiplayer game and that is what it does best. But that aside, it offers a surprisingly excellent amount of single-player modes. There is a 35 level challenging campaign to play through where the game gives a particular objective normally boiling down to defeat enemy worms to advance. Some levels include using a very limited arsenal to force you to use that particular weapon which you may have never used before. Each level gets harder and harder, sometimes to the point of blow-up point because of certain irritations. There is a training mode, where you are pitted alone with the arsenal at full to allow you to practice with your weapons. Custom game lets you customize a match and fight the AI, and quick game mode randomly selects the battlefield and enemy AI to fight. Warzone mode is the challenging mission mode kind of mode. The last but not least is the Body Count mode, which is ultimately most disappointing. This mode pits you against an infinite number of enemy worms, against your solo worm and you need to kill as many before you are killed. The same issue as in the story plagues this mode making it incredibly difficult. There are some options to customize your team. These customizations allow you to choose from loads of funny voices, hats, and skin color as well as choosing a name for each worm and the team.
I remember playing an older installment of Worms, a very long time ago and I don't remember the name. But Worms was fun back there. And it's back yet again, albeit a bit too familiar for its good, which is good. Worms Reloaded plays in 2D with teams up to 4 in each battlefield, consisting of a maximum of 4 worms. The game plays in turn-based style where a worm gets a turn and he (or it) gets a limited time to think and use the powerful arsenal at disposal to deal damage to the enemy worms. The arsenal includes some really good weapons. Normally worms would have 100 HP each. Each worm will get a turn and try to kill the enemy worms to win and the last team standing wins. Through the limited amount of available time for each turn, the particular worm can move or jump, or use ninja rope or jet pack for more movement. Weapons will vary in firing types. Occasional crate drops will give new weapons for those who dare take them. When a worm's HP reaches 0, he will commit suicide and very close-by enemies will receive damage from the minor explosion. Things like mines and explosive barrel, as well as fallen crates can expand the explosion, and a catastrophic explosion can easily send worms in the sea or lava.
The game features destructible environments. Each weapon except melee attacks cause holes in the ground which ultimately lead to the sea below. The destruction is good, but some pieces of environments hanging alone magically don't fall, and this goes for the minor pieces as well. Fallen crates have a bad habit of falling in these places, and of course hitting them with the bazooka is a severe disadvantage. The most basic are the bazooka and grenade which are often unlimited, homing missiles, mines and many others. Rarer weapons which will surely pleasure you and really pack a punch are the Armageddon, concrete donkey, holy hand grenade and many more, which don't come as cheaply and as much rarer to come by. The arsenal will depend on what kind of match is set up. Also once a weapon is fired the turn might as well be over. Only few, including jet pack and ninja rope allow other actions afterwards selecting one of those. Some weapons have the curved trajectories that allow you to aim and possibly hit the enemy hiding behind objects or underground. The AI is exceptional with these kinds of weapons. Please note that all weapons except two (but not always) are limited.
Challenging isn't an appropriate word to describe Worms Reloaded. The AI is some of the hardest, most perfect opponents I've seen in any video game. The bottom line is that the toughest of AI can full of unbelievable shots leaving your mouth open as you endlessly try to hit them back. Their ability to throw and fit the grenade exactly behind you, or using the wind as an advantage to perfectly coordinate a missile is clearly infuriating. Campaign and Body Count mode's main issue is always the AI, and it's a recurring issue. But the AI is not just superhuman. The easiest AI is laughably idiotic. It wouldn't be the first time where the AI shoots the missile aimed towards the ground to hit him and other worms to send them flying. The difficulty is a serious issue because there aren't many options between the dumb and unbelievable.
The multiplayer is still the best deal in Worms Reloaded. Local match allow up to four teams. Multiplayer doesn't have different modes like the single-player modes, but rather matches types. Beginner/Standard/Pro matches use the basic weaponry, bazookas and grenades stays true to its name and lets you only use those, warzone is an all-out war with almost all weapons, fort only allows two team to bombard each other's fort until a side loses all worms and crazy crates drops an insane amount of crates in battle. For multiplayer parties on the PC, Worms Reloaded does something great. There's also online play. No reason to say this, but Worms has a ton of replay value.
It's not stunning, but Worms Reloaded's 2D visuals are clean and attractive. The backgrounds explode depending on the damage sustained and most of the holes left are believable. The magically floating remaining pieces of the environments are a bit annoying though and it wouldn't be the first time that comes to haunt you. The worms look fine, and the menus are slick. The sound is just as great. The music is good, but the worms' voices are incredibly funny even if over time you'll probably grow tire of hearing them. The sound effects and explosions are as good, but everything in this sector tends to start feeling repetitive after some time.
The end result is that Worms Reloaded succeeds, both as a multiplayer game and as a solo player game. It has a few annoyances such as the terribly frustratingly perfect AI and the repetitive induced after long playing time, but the core gameplay has remained fun and improved over a decade old game. If you're looking for a fun multiplayer strategy game, Worms Reloaded fits the bill.
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Graphics = 8.0
A clean, good looking game. The backgrounds look pretty good, and the amount of customizations pass.
Sound = 8.3
Everything in this section is repetitive, but the music is good, the sound effects are better and the voices are hilarious.
Presentation = 8.0
A slight annoyance with the zooming of the camera but otherwise everything works well. The AI is terrible though, being too easy or too strong. Has online and offline multiplayer.
Gameplay = 8.3
One of the rare military based turn-based strategy games which will actually appeal to everyone. Great arsenal, great variety and a lot more.
Modes = 8.5
A surprisingly robust single-player with plenty of modes, plenty of fun in multiplayer; what else do you need?
OVERALL = 82 / 100
Worms Reloaded will win you over with its great action and plenty of fun for parties and solo players.