Now that Worms: Reloaded has been out for a week, I figured it’s high time we got a review for it all up in here. I feel there should probably be some disclosure though: I LOVE ARTILLERY GAMES. I have loved them ever since playing Gorillas in QBasic in elementary school with similarly quick-typing, computer-savvy friends (this and Nibbles made those miserable typing classes bearable when you’d finish the half-hour lesson in five minutes!).

Ah, the good old days.

However, since the original Worms, released in 1995 (wow, that’s 15 years ago! I feel old), I think the only versions of the game I’ve played are the original, and Worms: Open Warfare 2 on the DS. So my experience with the series has not been marred by the abomination that was Worms 3D (or so I’ve heard, at least).

So in case you’ve been living in a cave (or rather, NOT living in a cave playing games all day), Worms is a game where you take control of four cute little worms that are pitted against four (or eight, or twelve!) other cute little worms and you try to blow the ever-loving shit out of each other. This is accomplished by using one of many weapons, including your standard-issue bazooka, oddly bouncy grenade, or cute-yet-highly-explosive flying sheep. There are also landmines that explode if you get too close, barrels full of napalm, destructible terrain that you can use to your advantage, and neat ways of navigating said terrain, like ninja rope, jet-packs, and teleporters.

Poot. Teehee!

Anyway, on to the reviewing! After loading up the game for the first time, I was delighted to find that you could name and personalize your special squad of misfits. I, of course, chose Swedish as their spoken language, and named my worms Sven, Anders, Johan, and Kalle F’ing B (Ok, so maybe I’ve been reading too much Stieg Larsson). And luckily for me, I had three friends online willing to play! Our games were hilarious, explodey, and just generally awesome. I absolutely love the humor in this game, and the potential for ridiculous hijinks while blowing stuff up will never get old for me. As it was my first game, I had a little difficulty differentiating Jump (Enter) from Shoot (Spacebar), but this only led to more hilarity. The pace of multi-player games is kept up by turn time limits (which are adjustable) so you don’t get bored, and the range of weapons available to you will ensure that you will find fun new ways of plotting the deaths of your enemies for a good long time to come.

Bring it on, bitches.

Eventually I got around to playing the campaign, not expecting to have as much fun as I do in the multi-player. And while this was technically true (blowing up friends is much more satisfying than blowing up the computer), the campaign was surprisingly fun and helpful, because thrown in between levels of just killing worms are challenges and puzzles that help you fine tune your ninja-roping or jetpacking skills so you can get around levels with ease. Though there was a puzzle or two that I had to google to figure out what the heck they wanted me to do, in general the levels were well-designed and fun to play. Though it is definitely more than a little frustrating when the computer throws a grenade that bounces off a pixel, through a tunnel, off a barrel and lands on your worm’s nose. Ah well, it’s offset by the times they shoot a bazooka into their own face.

Ok, enough rambling. If you are the type of gamer that has to win, then I’m guessing this game probably isn’t for you. In fact, losing in this game is often more fun than winning, especially if you manage to take another worm down with you. All told, I’m very happy to have an updated Worms game, and I know that I’ll probably continue to play this for as long as there are people around willing to play it with me! Final Score for Worms: Reloaded is: Banana Bomb