The maps themselves, as you can see in the screenshots, are multilevel affairs. You’ll need to jump, ninja rope, teleport, blowtorch tunnels, and jetpack your way around to have a good shot at the enemy worms. The Ninja rope itself hails from earlier Worms games, but this one will take getting used to. I was unable to achieve the ninja gymnastics I was used to.
Wonderfully, though, mutiplayer rocks the freaking house. Get two to four peeps, local or over Xbox live, and you’ve got an instant hit. The core gameplay is a winner – launching attacks, planning and executing crazy jumps and swings, chatting, plotting, scheming and double teaming – it’s all great fun. Note that if you’re the host, you can’t specify private slots, nor can you kick (that I could see) someone from your game. You can invite people, but the multiplayer games I’ve hosted filled up so fast that you may have trouble getting your Friends into the game. Make no mistake, though – Worms with other people is a blast. My primary complaint about multiplayer Worms is that there is no audio cue telling you when it’s your turn – you’ll only know you’re missing your turn when other people start yelling at you, if you weren’t watching. This will happen to you, since there can be minutes of down time before your next turn.
Now, TEAM 17 has stated that they have been forced to consider expansion of the Worms XBLA experience from the outset:
“We've seen one review criticising the amount of content compared to other Worms releases, it's important to understand that Worms stays within (and couldn't do otherwise!) the XBLA size limit of 50mb - for example, the data in the PSP, much lower-definition edition was 800mb, or 20X the size. Because of that, it was only possible to supply so much data in terms of audio tracks, voice banks and visual themes due to the sheer size of the latter in high-definition. We intend to and will supply more in marketplace both as downloadable (free!) as well as premium content (chargeable). However, these omissions fail to make a serious indent on the actual gameplay, which is what our decisions were centered upon.”
Hopefully, what we’re looking at here are more themes, more music, and (most importantly) more weapons. If I sound like I’m not giving you a glowing review, it’s because I’m not. $15 would have been too much. As it is, $10 is just about perfect for this multiplayer-preferred game. I am hoping that the overall value of Worms XBLA will increase tremendously by the addition of free and perhaps justifiable premium content, featuring more varied weapons and environments, and look forward eagerly to Team 17’s next announcement about it.
In the end, there is nothing else like this on XBLA, and you really should put down Gears of War and give this a try. The core gameplay of Worms is time-tested, family appropriate, and a riot for all non-computer players involved.
