Review: Worms Reloaded

Setup

Worms Reloaded, developed by Team17 for PC, is essentially an attempt to rejuvenate the classic 2D Worms game that upon its debut struck a chord in the hearts of gamers and spawned countless sequels and spinoffs. After the series had undergone a serious overhaul with the unfavourable implementation of 3D gameplay in recent sequels (which had arguably convoluted the game experience into a murky feeling of angles and fractions and all that math stuff), the highly revered traditional turn-based strategy game has shaken off its pink worm juice (or whatever the hell worms bleed) and is back; the epitome of animal-fuelled chaotic madness continues another chapter, back on traditional ground.

Transform your holy relic, into a wily hand grenade!

Gameplay

In a typical Worms match, you control a team of trigger-happy worms equating the sacred and convenient number of equilibrium in gaming, by which I mean four, and are pitted against a team of equal monstrosity save for any discrepancies in cosmetic appearance. In a turn-based manner, worms on either side exchange 2D blows by utilizing various diabolical weapons to eventually reduce the entire landscape, and hopefully all the bad worms with it, into a shredded pulp.

Numbers were bled.

The campaign portion features various scenarios that are typically consistent with the well-refined concept of “kill bad guy because I said so”, dotted with some occasional twists and elaborate puzzle challenges.

You call that a sport? THIS is a sport!

The most important aspects of the chaos are the worms themselves. In addition to the typical array of military weapons such as the bazooka and shotgun, our fervent annelid friends have indoctrinated some rather bizarre tactics. Worms are so deeply devout on annihilating other worms which have different coloured text above them that they’ll domesticate lesser beings such as bomb-strapped sheep to aid in their cause. In other words, Worms is an allegory to modern day politics.

In short, worms really badly want to blow the pink matter out of each other, in the most inhumane ways possible.

As expected of the series, multiplayer is fully supported, allowing up to four teams of four worms to shoot, bludgeon, sear, chop, and otherwise desensitize each other on any landscape imaginable. In addition to a random level generator, there is a level editor featuring many options for customizability. New vertical landscapes certainly challenge your fear of falling, especially considering the amount of weapons specifically designed to take advantage of worms deliberately situated on soft slopes.

There's nothing like a (Pepper) good whack from a baseball bat to get you swimming.

Presentation

While Worms Reloaded revisits the world of the platyhelminthes (in other words, the two-dimensional), it is stylishly rendered in high definition that makes full use of today’s monitors. Highlights of the graphics are dazzling explosion and fire effects which serve merely as eye candy, but are damn tasty indeed. The cartoon-like appearance definitely emphasizes the silliness and wackiness of the game, which is further emblazoned by a host of voices that sound as if they were induced by inhaling absurd quantities of helium while mimicking pop culture stereotypes.

A bunch of crazed worms adorned with funny hats on a construction site? I like where this is going.

The Good

Worms Reloaded accentuates the nature of the timelessly classic formula with many goodies and addons, all accessible in both the multiplayer and campaign modes. The robust randomness and adjustable preferences make the game incredibly fun and replayable, often provoking unanticipated and comical events all throughout gameplay. Hilarity definitely ensues when a worm is propelled over 100 feet in the air, only to activate a land mine, causing a chain reaction that eventually turns a small tactical scheme into a mini-apocalypse. With an assortment of ridiculous and tactical weapons complimented by some nifty additions like the Sentry Gun and Bunker Buster, there are countless ways for you to whittle your opponent to a bullet-riddled fluff in fully pixelated HD goodness.

It's a bird, it's a plane, wait a sec, it's a flying sheep?! How adorable I do say, wait, what are you doing... OH GOD!

The Bad

Right off the bat, there is the clunky and obtrusive interface that just screams console port when you can hardly see half the screen when the menu opens. In keeping with the tradition of previous Worms games, there is absolutely no story here. Saying there is a story in Worms is like saying there is originality in cars these days, but at least Worms recognizes the fact and doesn’t make a shameful attempt to bring narrative into a place where it doesn’t belong. When first getting the ropes of the gameplay, the learning curve can be quite unforgiving. Especially with all sorts of wacky weapons whose names simply add to the perplexing purpose they may serve, you may find yourself testing out an unknown weapon hoping you didn’t just summon the harbinger of confined destruction beneath your feet. Playing against the CPU can be quite frustrating, as it often displays the uncanny ability to surgically curve a rocket up the butt crack of an unsuspecting pink fellow from anywhere on the battlefield. Ergo, it would be nice if there were more middle-of-the-road CPU difficulties and variance to give my shoddy and often misguided attempts an equal fight.

It would be nice to see where I'm shooting before I pick what to shoot I mean - hold on - is that a ferret?

Summary

Worms is what you make of it. It surely does not take itself seriously, and neither should you, or else you’ll become susceptible to raging fits akin to a tourrettes guy episode. Nonetheless, aside from a few minor technical issues, Worms Reloaded successfully brings back a fresh stock of 2D worms to send to their perilous doom, accompanied by a slow painful death cohesive interface with loads of room for customizability. This prominent series has ultimately given us an idea of what the world might look like if humans were not the dominant species. As it turns out, not much differs.

Online Price

US 19.99 on Steam