Worms World Party

That's about to change.

Designed as a turn-based strategy game, Worms World Party is like a classic board game come to life.  There aren't any plastic pieces to play with, nor is it necessary to say, "You sank my battleship!"  You will sink battleships though – tiny, slithering battleships that carry grenades and shoot rockets for sport.  These buggers are slow but skillful; sarcastic yet sophisticated.  Their weapon selection is unreal.  The playing surface is completely destructible.  Enemy worms aren't ingenious, but they are fairly intelligent.  Just when you think you're safe, you find out that you can drown in a bucket of water!  Who would have ever guessed that worms can't swim? 

Two worm teams go head-to-head, battling at locations that seem to be randomly generated (or at least randomly selected).  Most levels are layered with dirt hills and platforms, but when giant pieces of cheese start to appear – that's just plain weird.  Cheese, rocks, and all other world pieces can be destroyed with the power of a sharply-aimed missile.  Destroy mountains, platforms and other parts of the world to create new paths for your worms to travel through.  Remove key areas to open a temporary escape route, blocking grenades and other over-head attacks.

My favorite thing to do is to blow up a platform where two or more worms are sitting.  The angle of the shot and the type of weapon used will determine what happens next.  Worms may be thrown backwards; tossed in the air; thrown forward; or fall down below to their watery grave.  During the abomination, wisecracks, cries for help and other amusing comments are played over the war-themed music.  The whole experience is enjoyable.  When the worm-speak finally loses its appeal, the addictive turn-based combat keeps the game from slithering out of your N-Gage.

Teams are relatively small, consisting of a few worm units, as opposed to the dozens that most strategy games provide.  This hardly makes the game easier, nor does it limit its potential for fun.  Worms World Party lives up to its potential by letting the player control each individual unit (each worm). 

The game takes place in a 2D world with multiple platforms.  Tiny crosshairs hover in front of your worm, showing where your weapon will be fired when you pull the trigger.  The direction can be altered 360 degrees by pressing the up or down button.  It sounds easy, and all things considered it is.  But these are worms you're controlling.  They don't have the accuracy of a U.S. Navy SEAL.  Or a 00 spy, for that matter.  They'll shoot themselves in the foot (if they had one...here they just hit the lower half of their bodies) repeatedly until they learn how to aim away from your own platform.  Or rather, until you learn how to aim.  Each weapon varies in range and potency.

Worm movement is slow and sluggish, yet not at all frustrating.  I wouldn't want the worms to fly from one side of the level to the next; they have to slither.  This poses a different kind of challenge to the player.  Where is the best place to position each worm before the enemy strikes?  During the player's turn, he/she can continue to move your worm after a shot has been fired but only for a second -- is that enough time to attack from a danger zone and escape before the turn ends?

In any other genre this would be annoying, but not here.  Worms World Party is one of the most satisfying strategy games I've ever played.  I sit anxiously, not patiently, every time my turn ends and I have to wait for the enemy to take theirs.  At the same time I'm watching their every move, wondering how they manage to launch a dead-on strike during one turn, then blow themselves up during the next.

The graphics are dated and, technologically, so is the gameplay.  Worms World Party was released for the PSone over five years ago.  If I had played the game back then maybe it wouldn't seem so exciting now.  At best I'd just be happy to have a portable version of the game. 

Since I missed it the first time around, Worms World Party is a fresh, extremely enjoyable (and extremely addictive) turn-based strategy game.  It'll be that for anyone experiencing it for the first time.  I'm having so much fun with it that I am going to track down a used copy of the PSone version to see how the two compare.

Gameplay: 8
Worms World Party doesn't use the typical isometric or top-down views.  Its worlds are laid out like a side-scroller.  The battles are turn-based, but during your turns you are given unlimited space to move and set up an attack.  A battle clock is set to keep the game moving.  Having 45 seconds to do what you want is 10 times better than having an infinite amount of time to move four squares forward.

The aiming system is great, the weapon variety is excellent, and I love the destructive nature of the cartoony worlds.  Worms World Party may not look like a million bucks, but it sure plays like it.

Graphics: 6
Dated (yet moderately satisfying) 2D images of worms and explosions.  The world destruction animation is comparable to a Web game, which isn't saying much.  I do wonder: would better graphics improve the experience?  It might attract more sales, but the gameplay experience would be unchanged.

Sound: 7.8
War music that sounds like it came from a movie; wisecracks that sound like they came from Comedy Central.  An unlikely pair indeed.  The two sounds sound good together, at least in this context.  It's the same kind of humor that Lorne Lanning put into the Oddworld games but with a little less intelligence.

Difficulty: Medium
Point and click your way through battles – NOT!  The Worms series created a unique niche for itself by being one of the only (if not the only) turn-based strategy game that doesn't limit how much you can move during your turn.  Worms World Party follows the series' trend, and kicks it up a notch with better firepower.

Concept: 7
Turn-based strategy from a different perspective.  It's a port of an old game so I can't score it too high, but when the original version was released for the PC, PSone and other platforms in the late 90s, it was genius.

Multiplayer: 8

Overall: 8.5
A must-own for anyone who loves turn-based strategy games.  Fire Emblem and Advance Wars are very different, but if you love those you will love Worms World Party.