This review is based off the PC version of the game, a copy was provided for the review.
Chances are that in your time as a gamer you have played at least one or two matches of Worms. Worms has been running around the battlefield for the last 17 years and while the series has had its ups and downs, overall it has stayed strong and been one of the best multiplayer games on the market. With this new release of Worms: Revolution, Team 17 are hoping to go back to its earlier 2D days of glory over the newer 3D model employed by the likes of Worms: Ultimate Mayhem.
For anyone outside of the series, Worms is a game where two or more players are thrown onto a battlefield with a team of four worms each. Every player has access to the same weapons and you have to rely on your skills as a gamer and strategist to come out on top. Each player takes turns at moving a worm in a fifty second window, this time is either spent attacking an enemy or picking up crates and med packs on the battlefield to net yourself better weapons or a higher life bar for the fight.
Almost every match of Worms has at least one glorious mess up from either yourself or a team mate, and it’s this hilarity that results in great moments for both casual and hardcore gamers alike. What Worms Revolution brings to the table is new visuals, a class system, water as weapons, and physics. While Worms Revolution has gone back to the classic 2D perspective of old, the game is now running in a 3D engine for a new yet stylized visual representation of things. In the background of every level there is something moving, be it birds flying around an ocean or a crocodile swimming around the sewers, there’s always something catching your eye. The worms and levels all stand out really well and while I may miss how the game used to look, there’s nothing bad I could say about this new direction.
The new class system has you forming a team of Heavies, Scientists and Scouts, as well as the classic all rounder worm you know and love from older titles. Heavies are slow but can deal more damage, Scientists are a little slower but can heal your team at the beginning of their turn and Scouts can run and jump around the battlefield. Each class has something new to master about them and while they’re not a required use to play through the campaign or any online battles, it’s great to see some change in the worms other than cosmetic items.
Water as weapons and physics is where I feel Revolution has come out on top. Now you can run around the battlefield with water bombs, water pistols and many other things. While in previous games if you landed in a pocket of water you would drown, this game only reserves such a fate for the water lurking at the bottom of the screen. The way to use water as a weapon here is to submerge a worm, causing them great difficulty in jumping out and eventually leading to them drowning over time, you could alternatively utilise the physics of the game to cause a sort of water slide, dragging the worm to the bottom of the screen where they shall drown in the ocean.
In almost every level there are pockets of water built into the land and if you are skilled enough you can blow a hole in the side causing water to spill out and create mayhem. Along with the physics engine are tools, in the older Worms games there would always be random items like wrenches built into the landscape, these items were there purely as visuals but in revolution, they play a bigger part. If you are to destroy the land around a wrench it will cause the item to dislodge and tumble, using this to your advantage is a great thing. Along with the wrench comes a water bottle (that can burst), a lighter that can burst into flames and even some items that can cause poison gas to fill the air.
One new feature that I feel will get overlooked in this new title is telekinesis, with these new physics objects you can use this power to move them around the battlefield, place them near enemies and blow them up to cause maximum damage. Sadly in the heat of the fight this power gets sorely overlooked and is rarely needed due to the design of most levels. It’s a power I’ve enjoyed the addition of, but it could have been used in a much better way.
While all of these new features are great there are at least two problems I had with the game. The biggest problem being that some of the land is no longer destructible, something that took me a lot of time to get my head around. In every 2D Worms game before this the whole land was destructible, if an enemy is hiding in the walls then you could just blouptick up, slowly tunnelling towards your foe. In Worms Revolution this is still a possibility a majority of the time but each level has a few set pieces of land that are just indestructible. I honestly have no idea why this is in the game, but it seems like they were attempting to fix something that wasn’t broken.
The second issue is the new character Don Keystone, apparently a documentarian who is watching the Worms battle it out. He plays no role other than to comment on how well you’re doing and while it’s not game ruining, his one liners are terrible and you may find yourself skipping through everything he has to say.
Overall Worms Revolution has brought a lot of new and wonderful stuff to the table. If you’re as big a fan of Worms as I am then this is a must buy, it’s the step up from Worms: Armageddon that we have all been waiting for. Worms Revolution will be available for Steam, XBLA and PSN on October 10th