If there was a periodic table for computer gaming, Worms would be one of the base elements.  At its core the game has remained largely unchanged since it first came out almost two decades ago, but this does mean that it is the same game that most of us played years ago.

Although that isn’t to say that the game still doesn’t hold up, just that it is pretty much the same exact experience.  Worms still stand around and scream when a TNT stick is placed next to them instead of moving, players take turns moving slowly across the board to kill each other, and the slightest touch of water causes instant death.

The multiplayer feels like it has stuck around for the last decade as well.  Even with high speed internet there was still constant “waiting for other player,” messages at the start of every turn.  At least once during a versus game an object completely disappeared off the map for both the players, which seemed like the natural progression from the constant appearing and disappearing that the player characters would do between turns.

Multiplayer does seem to be the only real mode of Worms, although there are several attempts to do some single player based tutorials and challenges—both with mixed results.  Tutorials presented are nice for people who are entirely new to the series, but seem to be a little long and overly simplistic enough that it is rather difficult to simply not skip them and jump right into the game.  The challenge missions actually do a much better job of teaching the basic and advanced uses of weapons, but there only seem to be those basic and advanced challenge missions and not enough of them either.

There is a strange power that the game seems to exert after a couple of hours of play, one that seems to make many of the small complaints and annoyances drift away and have the player simply focus on the wholesale murder of the other worms.  Around the second hour of play it almost seems like a switch it thrown and everything makes sense, from selecting the correct amount of power, the wind factor, and even how the worms refuse to move when their death is only inches from them.   Although this weird sense of cohesion only really seems to last until an overly challenging map appears or someone who is vastly better is played online.

Probably the worst misstep of the entire game is the pricing.  $20 for a brand new Worms game seems to be a little steep.  Granted there is a lot of game here for people who really enjoy this series, but it still seems like it is about double the price that it should be.  For the price of additional maps, crazy hats, and voices that range from amazingly funny to amazingly annoying doesn’t really seem justified.

In no way is Worms: Reloaded a bad game, it just has a really bad price.  There is enough here that people who are new to the series or those that might not have played any of the more recent versions will find enough to enjoy.  People who have been playing the series since the early versions may want to skip this skip this edition for a less expensive one later on as well, or just wait for the game to be discounted somewhere.

Not As Good As: The unlockable hat in Team Fortress 2 you get for buying the game

Also Try: Any of the other Worms games

Wait For It: A Steam Sale

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