GameCube

Worms Blast

Worms Blast’s multiplayer experience is different than previous Worms’ games, and resembles Ubi Soft’s Bust A Move games a bit. The game is based on water, which is why you move around in boats. You use the left joystick to move around as well as change the angle the cursor is facing. When you get the angle to where you want it, you can go ahead and shoot. You need to shoot a block with a same color grenade. For example, a green grenade will take out a green block and any green blocks around it. If you shoot a green grenade at a red block, it will turn that block and surrounding blocks green. Pretty simple eh? Well the blocks are slowly moving to you at all times – and even with that it’s simple.

Schuster bleib bei deinen Leisten - so abgedroschen dieser Satz klingen mag, so passend ist er doch, wenn es um Worms Blast geht. Dabei waren die neuen Ansätze sogar recht vielversprechend: Ein Super Bust-A-Move mit militanten Würmern hätte durchaus makelloses Gameplay mit amüsanten Extrawaffen-Duellen verbinden können. Was Team 17 aber letztendlich abgeliefert hat, ist ein Spiel, das diese beiden Tugenden leider nur ansatzweise erfolgreich miteinander verknüpft. Zwar macht das Ganze zu zweit trotz spielerischer Mankos ungemein Spaß, kann aber mit keinem der beiden Urväter wirklich konkurrieren. Solisten sollten aufgrund der schwammigen und trägen Steuerung sowie des teils völlig übertriebenen Schwierigkeitsgrads und der fast schon lachhaften Gegner-KI sowieso einen großen Bogen um Worms Blast machen.

Don't go into Worms Blast expecting another turn-based Worms strategy game. The gameplay is almost fundamentally different in Worms Blast, but it maintains the bright and colorful style of a Worms game, and fans of the series may enjoy Worms Blast on these merits alone. It may look cute and innocuous, but Worms Blast can give any modern puzzle game a run for its money, so if you're a fan of puzzle games, you should definitely give this one a try.

Worms Blast est une excellente surprise qui parvient à me réconcilier avec les vers de terre. En changeant la série de cap pour cet épisode un peu à part, Team 17 risque peut-être d'en décevoir quelques-uns mais offre surtout aux amateurs de puzzle game une bonne alternative au vieillissant Bust-A-Move.

Overall, if you are looking for a decent puzzle game on the GameCube then Worms Blast is certainly worth checking out. The obvious lack of puzzle games on the platform make this game even more attractive. Though when you consider that the foundational game play is fraught with unresponsive controls and the single-player experience just isn’t that fun, you’re left with a game that is practically only worth playing when it’s in the two-player mode. To sum things up; if you are a puzzle fan then rent before you buy.

Worms Blast has three game types: puzzle, tournament, and Vs. In the one-player puzzle mode, you're presented with a world map, choosing various challenge-filled routes on your way to a volcanic island. Some routes are easier than others, but "easy" is a relative term in Worms Blast, as even the simplest of the 60 or so challenges can take several attempts before their solutions are learned, and none of them are quick and dirty. Even when you've figured out what to do, you still have to do it, and the sluggish, loose controls unfairly add to the challenge.

Worms Blast has the core of great puzzle game, from the range of game modes to the interesting characters. Unfortunately, the sluggish if workable controls put a damper on the overall feel. Still, there's enough merit in these Worms to dig 'em out for a try.

Many years ago developer Team 17 came up with a concept: turn-based warfare set on a battlefield of crumbling ground. Only, to evoke a little lightheartedness, you played at worms. Thus the Worms franchise was born, and it has gone on to become extremely popular on both the PC and consoles. It was only a matter of time before the company branched out the series into new genres. It has already explored pinball, and now Team 17 is exploring the puzzle genre with Worms Blast for GameCube.

The Worms series of games have made a number of appearances on both PCs and consoles, generally relying on a recognizable style of gameplay. This style consists of a multi-screen 2D world where hyperactive worms calculate angle and velocity to arc high explosives onto other worms. This should sound familiar to anybody who played the great old PC game Scorched Earth or any number of other countless variations on this theme. Worms games have made a name for themselves with high-production values and a cheeky sense of humor, two things that we see in Team 17's new title, Worms Blast. What we don't see is the same old turn-based artillery game. There are hints of it still remaining, but Worms Blast is otherwise a different beast...er, worm.