|
The classic Worms appear on the next-gen consoles thanks to your buddies at Ubi Soft. The critically acclaimed party game appears with a surprisingly good single-player mode for people without too many friends.
Unless you have lived in a cave for the last few years, you should know of the Worms’ series and all the hype that came with it. Since it launched on the PSOne, the Worms’ series has had a loyal fan base. The series has one the biggest hypes in videogames, and with good reason. This game is very simple; the basic idea is something any person could have thought of. Its amazing how something like that could go on to sell millions of copies. The simple formula can only be milked so much, and Ubi Soft went to Team 17 to innovate a bit.
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.
The main grab and best selling point of Worms Blast is the world-renowned multiplayer mode. If you are playing against another human player, the game will keep you on your toes. Any game can be switched around, and I mean completely turned around in a few good and well-planned moved. If you hit a special weapon crate you can earn weapons such as, a giant squid, and acid rain. Those will slowly diminish your opponent’s health. You can also directly fire at them since the screen which separates you both opens up every few seconds. Team 17 has included that and done a good job at keeping everything hectic.
Multiplayer mode is probably the reason you’ll buy this. If for any reason you can’t get any buddies to come and play, the single-player mode is good as well. It takes place in the Worms’s world. Every stop on the map is a different challenge for you top. They could be speed challenges, or target practice. You will even find a few bosses. The difficulty here moves up quickly, so expect a few retries along the block. You will be entertained for quite a while. Certain challenges require that you use certain characters. As always, the large characters are more powerful, take more damage and each hit hurts them less but may be too slow for other challenges.
The only thing people may have a problem with in this game is the audio and visual presentation. Neither of them are next-generation quality. This game is meant to be a fun, quick party game and it does that well. The graphics work well with the game, but aren’t the best the game could deliver. The stages are colorful, and clear. The textures used are crisp and smooth. With that in mind, the game doesn’t look bad, but some extra graphical power would of wow-ed me more. You can imagine the game with explosions or fireworks. With all the hectic action the fireworks will be more than a 4Th of July party. The water looks good though. You really can’t tell this is a next-gen title from looking at it. The sound, both the music and sound effects provide subtle effects to the game. They neither subtract nor add to the experience though.
Overall, if you are looking for an awesome party game, pick this one up. It’s one of the most fun games you’ll see for a while. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 5, 2002
|
