Worms: Armageddon

The Good
This is a great, great game. A classic. The gameplay is ingenious in its simplicity. It's a turn-based strategy game in which you kill worms with various weapons in 2D. Sound fun? It is. On top of that the graphics are great. Very cartoony and vibrant. Also, the net play is a Godsend. It has a matching service included so you can just hop on and start the feeding frenzy. This is one of the best multiplayer games ever!

The Bad
Hmmm...sometimes I don't win. No, seriously, the worm's tiny voices can get old after the millionth game. Oh well, that's what the sound button is for. Also, the game is a little similar to Worms 2.

The Bottom Line
Probably the best net based, turn based strategy game ever made. While not a big step beyond Worms 2, it is better, and for a game this good that's all that matters.

The Good
An easy game to get into, and get the hang of, but hard to master. As a single player game, its very addictive, and the simple premise of killing round after round of worms surprisingly doesn't grow boring. The real fun starts though when you get a few friends around and have a few drinks.Its definitely better as a multiplayer game.

The Bad
Nothing really. To some, the levels may grow tedious, or the graphics may be too basic, but that doesn't bother me.

The Bottom Line
A good and simple multiplayer game for when the boys come over for a couple of drinks. Nothing spectacular in the graphics department or anything, and nothing ground-breakingly new over the previous Worms games, but still an awesome game that will give you plenty of hours of fun.

The Good
If you wander around my college, chances are you'll see about four young men gathered around a PC. What are they doing?

Well, we're playing Worms Armageddon. Most every lunchtime, we'll settle down and attempt to inflict fatal injuries on a group of innocent pink annelids. Squeaky computer voices crying of "First Blood!" and "Come in, Big Bird!" are frequent, as is the oddly terrifying mutter of an Old Woman.

The biggest plus for this sequel has to be the vast array of special weapons. From the incredibly destructive 'Armageddon' to the hilarious 'French Sheep Strike', powerful explosives walk, fly and drop all over the playing field, switching the balance of power swiftly and painfully.

The traditional weakness of Worms games, the single-player mode, has been greatly improved over past versions. A complex and difficult mission mode has been added, as has a deathmatch mode where your team of worms does battle with the dark forces of the computer. In deathmatch mode, you records of wins and loses is recorded and ranks are available, so there's always something to aim for.

The Bad
Argh! Damn those computer opponents! The same problem from every Worms game rears its ugly head - the computer can make the most complicated, difficult, downright evil shots every single time. I have seen bazooka rounds fly down blowtorched tunnels and hit the worm at the bottom dead on. I have seen Holy Hand Grenades make eight-cushion shots through a cavern, before wiping out an entire team. It's so miserably unfair! However, it should be pointed out that it's not as bad as previous attempts.

The other problem is that some of the new weapons and utilities really suck out the challenge. The 'Worm Swap' option, for example, which allows you to pick which worm goes next, can totally destroy a carefully laid-out plan.

The Bottom Line
All in all, a truely wonderful game, but one that should only be played with at least two other people. Do not expect the single-player to offer anything other than a thirty-minute blastfest. Buy it, then, if necessary, buy some friends too.

The Good
I'm cringing while writing this - I LOVE the new features, including the new weapons, new utilities and the upgraded engine. Don't get me wrong, they are brilliant - but ...

The Bad
... MOST OF THEM ARE LOCKED AWAY UNTIL YOU COMPLETE NEAR IMPOSSIBLE SECTIONS OF THE GAME! Team17 have admitted that they locked a lot of features away in order to stop the interface cluttering - This I STRONGLY disagree with, as much of the ability to customize that was seen in Worms 2 is no longer present, and you have to be spoon-fed a lot of the features without any ability to edit them. This makes me rather annoyed, as I'm a Worms fan (not very good at the game though!) - I don't want to have to stick to Team17's preference to how I play the game!

The Bottom Line
In conclusion, it's a somewhat wasted game, as all of the nice features must be unlocked and this is pretty frustrating. Worms 2 with this games engine would be perfect - too bad it'll never happen.

The Good
I was pretty disappointed in this one for a lot of reasons and there's not much I can think of that's good. I guess it was more fun than those Mary-Kate and Ashley games (no offense THQ) and it kept me at least a little interested. I have to give the Team 17 and Infrogames guys props for a nice shot at portable Worms though.

The Bad
Almost everything was wrong. This classic was not destined for Game Boy Color. Two buttons and a D-Pad is not alot of options for a worms game. They barely pulled it off with playstation much less gameboy. Almost all the things that make worms fun were either made difficult or discluded from this version. All I can say is it's not gonna work this time.

The Bottom Line
If your desperate for a game to play this vacation, and worms is just gnawing at your mind, then you could give it a shot and get a little fun out of it. If your like me, and you can't stand cheap impersonations of a good game but on different consoles, then don't go for this one.