About damn time Team 17 released a 2d Worms game on PC!
I shall start this review with a simple explanation of the way the game plays. Worms veterans are encouraged to skip this section as I'm sure all of you already know how to play a 2d Worms game! With that being said, this game is played from a 2d side view which allows you to see all of the little worms on the level. You and your opponents take turns moving the individual worms on your teams and annihilate each other with a huge assortment of weaponry! That is basically all there is to Worms, but this formula has proved enjoyable and addicting since 1995!
With the basic introduction out of the way, I shall proceed to explain some of the features of this particular Worms game. The single-player modes available are Campaign, Warzone, Body Count, Quick Match, and Custom Match. Campaign mode is lifted right from Worms 2: Armageddon and features a total of 35 levels of increasing difficulty, ranging from deathmatch levels to more puzzle-esque levels and even some levels that task you with simply getting from point A to point B in a certain amount of time with a small selection of tools to work with. Warzone is just a series of 31 deathmatch levels where you are given a couple of worms with lots of health and you must dispatch between 8 and 12 worms with a smaller amount of health, making strategizing how to kill multiple worms per turn paramount to success. Body Count drops a single worm with a ton of health into a level and tasks you with using this worm to kill as many infinitely re-spawning enemies as possible. Custom Match allows you to start a deathmatch with a set of parameters that are entirely up to you so you can play against a friend or the AI in a number of different sub-modes (such as straight deathmathc, forts, or even wackier ones like rope race and crazy crates). Quick Match just drops you right into a standard deathmatch against the AI. This game can also be played online in ranked or unranked deathmatches and if you start your own game, you can change what sort of game type you wish to play, just like you can in Custom Match. Additionally, a number of customization options are available for you to either make your own crazy worm teams, create a unique gametype or alter a pre-existing one, and even make your own levels very easily. With points you earn in the Campaign mode, you can also unlock additional accessories for you worms, landscape types, bonus forts, and 5 extra campaign levels (for a total of 35).
While all this may sounds like great fun (and it is), there are a number of drawbacks, particularly for Worms veterans. First, because this game is a port of Worms 2: Armageddon for the X-Box Live Arcade, the overall look and feel of the game seems like it was designed for a console, not the PC. This can especially make navigating the menus a chore because the font is very large and it takes forever to scroll through some of the larger lists. Also of note for Worms veterans, this game is actually a downgrade in terms of features from some of the older Worms games, such as Worms: Armageddon or Worms World Party. A number of classic weapons and modes are not available in this game that were in the two aforementioned titles and team sizes are quite small, capping off at a maximum of 4 worms. A real irritation of this game comes from the limited appeal of the Campaign and Warzone modes. Campaign mode mostly features some amazingly lop-sided deathmatches against AI that you will swear cheats because of their unerring accuracy. The few levels that aren't unfair deathmatches are very quickly solved puzzle levels that feel far too easy. Warzone is almost as bad, being a collection of slightly easier deathmatches, leaving very little variety in the two main single-player game modes. Body Count is even more repetitive as usually your one worm will start in a terrible location and be killed very quickly. Although you do gain points in these modes which can be used to unlock some items in the shop, completing the campaign will give you as many points as you need to unlock the very small number of items, making it feel pointless that they included a store at all! Although taking the game online will solve many of the issues related to the boring and frustrating single-player modes, there are very few people playing this game online at the time this review was written, and the people that are playing tend to leave the game as soon as they start losing, making it nearly impossible to get a good game of Worms going.
Despite all of the drawbacks and irritations of this game, it is still a great deal of fun, especially if you have some friends to play with. Unfortunately for Worms veterans however, there is nothing new to see here. Hopefully the next Worms game for PC actually improves on the Worms formula and doesn't remove features in the process.