Worms Revolution Preview

So, Another Fight Awaits the Most Unlikely of Creatures…

This October, Team 17 are unearthing their mightiest, meanest and tiniest of warriors for another flurry of explosive deathmatches! Yes, that’s right, the Worms are returning to do battle once again, bazookas primed and ready to launch back onto your screens in Worms Revolution! Get your helmets on, your tactical mindset ready and your fighting talk prepared, along with your learning glasses, because these fights are different to anything that these creatures have faced before…

Firstly, the finer details. The game is back in the traditional two-dimensional mode of play on a three-dimensional battlefield. Some people may well find this disappointing, and admittedly the three-dimensional Worms games did more for me too. However, it is best not to frown about this too much, because compared to the older 2D Worms games, a lot has been done to make this one look pretty good indeed. Others on the other hand will be pleased with the improvements that have been made to their traditional format of playing the game. Although the game’s developers do not boast about being HD in its graphics, tending to quite rightly describe them as “beautiful”, they would quite easily pass as being so. There is a sharpness about the look of the game which genuinely makes it feel as if, this time, it has finally been modernised in this 2D form from the original releases.

So what does this game have that is new to the Worms universe? Well actually, there are quite a few new additions to the game that have made it that little bit more interesting and thought-provoking than the previous titles in the saga. There are now four different types of worm that the player can choose a combination of for their team. The soldier is your traditional worm, and is an all-rounder in terms of abilities. The others types are the heavy, which is slow and powerful, the scientist, who is weak but increases the team’s health each turn, and the scout, who is small, fast and agile, although very weak. Is this a sensible move by the developers? Well, it certainly adds a bit of personal preference into the structure of the team in terms of the way the player chooses to build it out of these worms. The classes however seem a bit uneven. In fact, the scientist and heavy seem to be more disadvantaged than anything when in an actual battle situation. The heavy is very, very slow indeed, and it can take most of a turn in a battle just to move it into position. The scientist also only appears to add a small amount of health to each worm in the team, especially when this is compared to its weakness as an individual. The scout on the other hand is maybe a little bit too good to be true. It can jump very high, move very fast, fit in smaller spaces than other worms, and attack like the other classes. Although weak, this class seems to have been given a lot of advantages, and maybe is a little bit too good. Even if you don’t like some of the classes however, you do not have to use them; you can form your four worm team out of whichever classes you like. This also means that if you can’t get on with the class system you can simply use the traditional soldiers, which is how your formation starts out anyway!

The other major change that you will notice in Worms Revolution is the use of physics which is now key to being victorious in any battle. There are now several “physics objects” in the game which can be used for different purposes. Some such as bombs can cause explosive damage to worms if attacked. Poisonous mushrooms will let off a poisonous gas when destroyed. Other objects, such as torches and spanners, can be poor footing if the land around the is destroyed, but can be manipulated if a worm is able to employ telekinesis to change the map to their advantage! Other objects can release water when destroyed, and water is possibly the most major and important addition to Worms that this game has to offer. There is still water at the bottom of the map, and if a worm falls into that they will still die, but water can now also be used on the map as a weapon. A fast flow of water can push worms off the map or to different parts of it where they could be at a disadvantage. Also, a worm who is underwater in a deeper pool will lose health at the start of each turn until they either get out of it or die. From one point of view this is a clever idea and works rather well. In fact, the water droplets are also quite large to fit in with the size of the worms, which is quite a clever move. From another point of view, however fancy the physics of this are, it is a bit confusing. Worms players are used to the idea that a worm underwater is a dead worm, not a drowning worm for ten turns until their health runs out slowly. Had the game been tweaked a little so that maybe lava was at the base of the map so that water didn’t spell both certain doom and a bit of an inconvenience depending on where it is, it may have made a lot more sense as an idea. As it happens though the dynamic physics can add a lot to the game and is quite easy to get the hand of employing to your advantage. As for the physics objects themselves, they are an interesting idea in that they add a new element to think about in the game, but seeing as some are indestructible, it is sad that a fundamental rule of worms has been overlooked; “anything and everything can be destroyed”.

So some interesting moves by the developers here in Worms Revolution, and ones which there will more than likely be very mixed opinions about. When some of the bugs are fixed before the final release of the game, it will certainly be one to keep an eye on. Not everybody is going to be a fan of the new features, but with a sheep and an old woman still at your side to help you through, not everything can be bad! Customisability, local and online multiplayer, and a mixture of campaign missions and puzzle challenges have kept the style of the game the same even with its new features, and it’s integration with Steam will likely improve its multiplayer potential. With most of the original iThis October, Team 17 are unearthing their mightiest, meanest and tiniest of warriors for another flurry of explosive deathmatches! deas behind the world of Worms being maintained, this will undoubtedly be one for fans to get their hands on as soon as they can and learn to play one of their favourite games all over again!