Fun for all who want to relax but also kill his oponent in a funny game!!
The concept of Worms has always been a weird one: players use an army of worms to eliminate a rival set of squiggly bastards in "worm warfare." The concept has worked in the past and continues to be fun today. For the uninformed, the game randomly places about four worms from each team in an environment and, through turn-based gameplay, allows them to blow each other apart. Although this sounds rather simple to do, it requires a great deal of strategy because not only must you survive enemy attacks but friendly fire can be a hazard as well. It's best not to leave yourself open to enemy fire when you've finished your turn or get too close to your blast radius during your turn. Take it from me, if this does occur, your worms won't appreciate it and will talk trash if they get wounded by one of their own.
One of the more appealing aspects of the Worms series has been its quirky sense of humor, from funny comments voiced by the worms to amusing names displayed above their heads. In a situation where a fellow worm hits them, they'll call out "you traitor" in response to being hit by friendly fire. Hearing this type of comment is both comical and cute, but I can't say that I understand all of their sayings because some seem to make no sense at all. Regardless, each one cracks me up, especially in the accents of various teams, whether it's British or Jamaican; it's always funny.
Something that's not so funny is when enemies take too long to attack on their turn. Spending time moving into position to line up a shot is one thing, but the computer tends to let the clock run down on its turn and take a shot from the same position it's been in the entire time. This caused me to continually press the "5" key to get things moving, but that created more problems when it unexpectedly shifted to my turn and my worm immediately laid down a mortar to not only waste a turn, but blow himself up in the process. While this issue doesn't ruin the game in any way, this is the kind of thing that'll irk the anxious and fidgety N-Gage gamer on the run.
In addition to battling it out with other worms in the standard Quick Player mode, World Party also allows players to set up their own matches in the custom mode. Here, it's possible to select the environment, set game rules, and specify what goodies come from the crates and which weapons will be used. It's also where four teams can participate, something that I found to be much more entertaining than a head-to-head match between the computer and I. Rounding out the modes is Training mode, where you become an expert in "worm warfare," and Mission mode, where you complete a number of objectives.
Of course, like every Worms game in the past, the most fun from World Party comes from the multiplayer mode. Both Bluetooth and Arena play are supported for up to four people. Whether you go with short range-wireless gaming with friends that own the game or over-the-Internet matches, both options retain all the customizable features of the single player portion. So, by supporting these options and not losing any features when going online, this game is a real winner if you can find a friend with a copy or have access to N-Gage Arena.
Worms World Party takes a time-tested video game formula and applies it to the appropriate system. The current set of consoles is too grown up for such 2D rehashes and need to experiment with 3D versions of the franchise. The N-Gage, however, fits the series' old-school specs and allows us to take our worms wherever we want. Just make sure that when someone asks, "What's that in your pocket," you reply with something other than, "Worms."