It’s tough to formulate a final opinion on a game in the age of micro-transactions, quite possibly both the best and worst thing to happen to games in the past few years. Just weeks before Worms HD hit the Xbox Live Arcade, developer Team17 made it very clear that in order to stay within the imposed 50 megabyte limit of every arcade title, various bells and whistles would have to be cut from the final product. This left Worm-heads like me frustrated and disappointed. The gameplay was modified for a smaller file size and the stripping down of features was an unfortunate but inevitable casualty.
The game comes equipped with a tutorial mode that will help those who are unacquainted with the series to get an idea of the basic rules and mechanics of the game. There are a handful of tutorial missions that go over aiming, shooting and basic maneuvering. It does help fans like me at least get a grip of how the game will handle versus previous installments in the series I’m used to.
The mainstay for those looking for a good offline game will find the mildly entertaining Challenge Mode. This will simply have you facing a series of increasingly difficult matches which you become more and more outmatched at the start but need to hone your skills in order to survive. It’s not a compelling mode, as many will complete most of the missions within a handful of hours. But this is merely the offline “game,” the online component is where this title gets its legs from.
I think the real reason virtually all Xbox 360 owners would download this title for its Live mode in which you can have a 4-player battle to the death online or via local multiplayer. This is where Worms has always flourished and continues to in this iteration. Not to worry; some problems when the game first launched pertaining to dropping of the host while initially starting a game have since been solved it seems. During the match, I can’t recall experiencing much lag and by and large the game ran fine.
So it seems to be a fairly complete package for an Arcade game, but this title certainly has its down notes.
War of the Worms
The lack of features is what had many gamers worried about Worms HD (myself included). The undeniably appropriate vehicle for the game (XBL Arcade) was a perfect match for the popular series, but it was also the reason why many of the most coveted weapons, landscape themes and voicebanks were cut from the final product. Included are only six voicebanks that your worms can use that in past versions range from a nutty Scottish accent to a robot droning. Landscape themes also seem to be missing as there are only three included; London, Volcano, and an Antarctica theme of sorts are all that are here where previously there were a handful more. To quite an outrage, Team17 only included a single background instrumental again where in previous iterations included many more. All these shortcomings lead to a noticeably stripped down game. Newbies to the series did not experience the same sense of loss as I did making it very clear that it may only be die-hards that are left behind on this one.
This is not to say that the limited number of landscapes actually included are missing out on customization. As always, you can randomly generate the terrain to your liking, making virtually limitless designs and in turn, creating a different match every time. In past installments, however, the player creating the match could have option as to how many objects and weapon crates will be scattered throughout the terrain; you guessed right if you figured they didn’t include this feature either.
The variety of weapons included in previous “Worms” games has always been the source of much fanfare and separately equal destruction on the pixilated terrain. This time around, it seems that there are some very noticeable omissions. There’s already been much uproar about the exclusion of the Holy Hand Grenade, but I’m also upset about Team17 giving the baseball bat, “super sheep,” and the napalm strike the boot this time around. There are scores of weapons not included in Worms HD, for reasons Team17 will justify by stating they wanted to create a new-comer-friendly version of Worms so that anyone could jump in and play. This in essence is what Xbox Live Arcade is all about, and I can recall my first game of Worms about a decade ago and can remember feeling overwhelmed from all the weapons included. It’s a shame though, since it was the huge selection of weapons that kept the game from aging and gave Worms a name for itself.
The weapons included make up a core selection of items. The trusty ol’ dynamite, shotgun (x2), sheep, banana bomb, and air strike weapons can all be used in Worms HD. Hopefully this stops those turned off from turning away from this game. The result is a basic Worming experience. I still miss some of the omitted weapons, but making due with what you have is a bit of a curve for me and quite fun.
Probably one of the biggest outright complaints I have about this title stems from the reduction (or lack) of splash damage. Dropping a mine near your enemy used to affect worms in a greater diameter in past installments than it does here. I had to recalibrate my strategies of where to place such weapons that would normally affect other worms. Needless to say, I liked it when more worms were hurt by explosions; it added another dimension of strategy. Overpowered weapons and how to use them wisely was a basic principle you had to learn while playing Worms in the past. It’s a shame to see it go.
Tons and tons of downloadable content have been promised by the developer to its “I’ll-play-and-purchase-ANY-version-of-Worms-I-can-get-my-hands-on” fan base; content that promised to at least partly be free. This leaves the door open for a developer to improve upon its original product but at a price to the gamer. It’s only a matter of time before Team17 charges for a handful of new weapons, voices, or themes and people like me pay (again) for it. The issue of micro-transactions is a hotly debated topic which an entire editorial could be dedicated on, so I won’t go into it here.
The visuals look slick in high definition. Objects, weapons and explosion effects all glisten on screen; a feat for an arcade title weighing in at less than 50MB. Colorful landscapes and worm animation all account for one beautiful looking Worms game. The sound is classic Worms all the way up until you pull your hair out after listening to the same song over and over again. A small library of voicebanks you can give your worms also disappoints, but hopefully more is coming soon. A basic controller layout is simple to learn and use, you’ll be up and going in no time.
So to wrap up this review in a nice little package, I will say that Worms HD has it’s moments that dazzle on screen and in gameplay. Namely the online component is really where you’ll want to play; but it ends up as a great local multiplayer with your real-life friends (if you have any). The features and weapons that are missing as described above are sorely missed but take some solace in knowing that at least a few of each will return in the future. But at 800 MS points, is the game worth purchasing as is? The answer is: yes, but you may want to wait for some free content to be included before you dive in.
