Worms 3 review
The eponymous, warmongering, non-arthropod invertebrates are back again for redeployment in Team 17’s long running series. Worms made its debut way back in 1995 that roughly equates to me playing various titles in the series for nearly half of my life. Worms to me is an old and familiar friend, the sort of friend that you don’t speak to for ages, but know when you catch up things will be just like it was where you left off, and that should be the problem with Worms, the sense of over familiarity. Since its inception all those years ago Team 17 have done little to change the formula apart from dipping their toe in new waters with the frankly rubbish 3D versions, but there are some new features here that add a little something extra to the instantly recognisable, yet still immensely enjoyable proceedings.
The core 2D turn based artillery combat has not changed and one of the best things about Worms is its focus on its weird and wonderful array of ordnance. The Buffalo of Lies still gleefully spams everything in its path, the Old Lady grumbles and mumbles before detonating and Sheep suitably go baa then bang at the moment of your choosing. There is also the return of the erratic (but satisfying when deployed successfully) Homing Pigeon, as well as a lot of new additions including a Black Hole Grenade and the devastating Canned Heat, a kind of repeating Bazooka that lets you re-aim as its being shot. There is also a slew of options to customize your slimy squad, with scores of hats, voices, gravestones, eyewear and facial hair to choose from, giving you the ability to come up with some unique looking and sounding troops.
As well as playing dress up you are able to choose your Worm type, there are now four classes to choose from, firstly the regular Soldier who is your bog standard grunt and a great all-rounder. The Heavy, who takes a good beating and is difficult to push around but lacks movement speed. The scientist, who although weak gifts a health bonus to your surviving worms at the end of a round and lastly the Scout, a very agile (big jumps and super quick) but a little on the weak side. These obviously open up strategic choices, but to further the tactics Team 17 have included decks of playable cards. The cards add different boosts and buffs that are playable at the start of each turn. For example there are cards that alter physics allowing your Worm to jump further, cards that boost weapons (there is an awesome card that has your worm throw twice as many cluster or banana bombs) or ones that increase crate drop frequency. The cards are an in game purchase, but don’t worry this is not a ploy by Team 17 to fleece you for more money. The cards are earned by beating levels and friends and being rewarded with gold coins that can be spent on the decks. The only in app purchase is the Golden Donkey, which lets you skip trickier mission levels.
Although there are 27 single player campaign levels, the best fun you can have with Worms is with friends, gladly there are plenty of options to do this. There is the expected online multiplayer, quick match against enemy A.I., the pass and play mode that lets four of you battle it out on one device and a cool sounding Air Play mode (cool in theory, as I have yet to try it out). The Air Play mode allows you to display the action onto your T.V. but each players inventory etc. is kept secret on the device itself. There is also the new Body Count mode, a kind of horde mode that sees your solitary worm face off against increasingly difficult odds. Every time you dispatch an enemy, another spawns with a larger health count.
So far so good, but there are some issues though. Firstly movement and aiming is wonky, you can either use direct touch interaction or a virtual d-pad. I found the touch controls dreadful; inadvertently and frequently I found myself firing bazooka rounds at my feet much to the chagrin of my poor soldiers. Although the virtual d-pad takes some getting used to, it is a lot more responsive than the touch controls.
Secondly the scenery is bland and repetitive, but these are minor issues and are more than made for by the sheer wealth of customisation.
Technically speaking this really should be called something along the lines of Worms 19, iOS version 3 as there have been many titles over the years and two previous iOS releases. Foibles with the games moniker aside, this is another solid yet formulaic entry to the series. Team 17 are still sticking to the wise saying ‘if it’s not, broke, don’t fix it’ and it is still paying off. If you have never been a fan of Worms then I am not sure if this entry in the series is going to persuade you to indulge in invertebrate combat. However for the seasoned pro and casual fan alike there is enough tweaks and extra content to keep things interesting.
This time the operation is an iOS exclusive, but non-Apple fans will be able to play by the end of the year when it will be released for Android. Worms 3 is out now and is well worth the £2.99 download.