Worms World Party

THE BAD:
1 player missions are difficult

SUMMARY:
Worms World Party is one of my most favorite games. It's entertaining and amusing.

First off, the weapons. There are a total of 65 weapons, tools, and items that you are able to use. They range from basic projectiles, to grenades and explosives, to firearms. There are even a couple close combat weapons, along with various utilities like a ninja rope, parachute, and jet pack. Said utilities can aid you in moving long distances on a map.

Second, the maps and stages. I've been playing it for a long time, and I still enjoy the random map generator that gives me a brand new stage on which to blow up worms. Of course, there are built-in maps that are included in the game with a mix of different themes. It's even possible to download user-created maps and play them yourself for a change of pace.

The teams are very custimizable. The number of permutations for your team are astronomical. Your team has 8 worms on it, and you can pick a name for said team. You can even give names to each individual worm to create a small squad. Along with naming them, you can pick their special weapon, what their voice sounds like, and their winning theme music. When a worm dies, a grave appears where they were, and this grave can be chosen to what the user prefers.

The sound effects in Worms World Party are pretty good. When a stick of dynamite goes off, it sounds very genuine. The music also sets the mood quite nicely. It's eerie at times, but at other times it's upbeat.

Where this game shines is the multiplayer mode. This can be done on either 1 computer, or online via a LAN or a free service called "Wormnet." Since WWP is a turn-based strategy game, as many as 6 teams can play on the same map at the same time, whether they be humans or computer players. But I spend most of my time on Wormnet, since there is usually at least 1 person on all the time, so you can play with someone that can't be predicted in terms of AI.

The fun thing about WWP is that it's very fun, and it has the ability to simply be picked up and played relatively quickly. It's not like other games with huge loading and preparation times. All you pretty much have to do is pick the teams, the map, and the weapon scheme.

I also love the humor in this game. Classic cartoon violence is always funny in my opinion. Throw a holy hand grenade in a cluster of worms and just watch them get blown away. The captions that appear when a worm dies or drowns are pretty comical.

The only thing that I noticed that is a bad point of this game is that the one-player missions are pretty hard. The goals of each mission varies, but it's not always "defeat the opponent," so it can get interesting. I've only done about 10 of them, but they were still challenging from the beginning. Now, I know that there are 40 total missions, so I can only imagine that they get harder and harder. You'd probably either have to be really lucky, or be extremely good to overcome every one of them. But the thing is, the missions aren't really the main point of this game in my opinion. Since the multiplayer modes are so good, you'd probably be sticking to them anyway.

Overall, this game is very fun and well-made. Fans of all different types of games will probably like it. You have humor for people seeking comedy, strategy for strategists, and funny cartoon violence for many people. I highly recommend it.