Once more onto the breach dear friends........

Unless you have been in a cocoon for the last twenty years, you will be aware of the Worms universe to some degree. This franchise has become a part of gaming history and started with the insanely popular and simple 2D wormfest that millions of people devoured in their gaming droves.

The Wealth of gaming modes now on offer

 

Jumping from publisher to publisher and appearing on every platform available over the last ten years, this third installment (yes it's actually not the fourth) in the 3D series codenamed: "Mayhem" makes its mark on Playstation 2, Xbox and PC courtesy of Codemasters and Team 17. This is a PAL DVD release only, so our American friends will not be able to walk into local stores and pick up a copy for their PC.

Dont feel left out if English isnt your native language because Team 17 are catering for all European countries with this PAL release

 

Many of you, like me will have perhaps felt the Worm's saga had somewhat lost its way since altering its gaming style into the 3d genre with the clunky, sometimes complex and painstakingly awkward gaming experience which is a total contrast to the simplistic and fun frolics we all enjoyed with the earlier titles. I for one was utterly disappointed with "Fort's Under Siege" as the magical "playability" ingredient was seemingly all but missing.

When the PC version of Mayhem arrived in the mail from Codemasters I had to admit my hopes for a good gaming experience were already less than positive, however preconceptions aside, lets look at this game and ill give my views as to whether it's worth the relatively modest retail price of £19.99. I also will be mentioning briefly comparisons at key points during the review with the Xbox version (£29.99) which I also have at hand.

The tutorial is a good place to learn how to fight, with humourous tongue in cheek scripted sequences adding a feeling of quality to the experience.

 

The basic turn based "destroy all enemy worms" idea hasn't changed much since the last installment but some alterations have been made to make the gaming experience more fun. This starts with the level design, this time created to be simpler and easier to negotiate ... this alone is a point worth stressing as some level design in prior 3d worm titles was so frustrating that I simply gave up any attempts to learn how some of the weapons handled. Although the word "simple" is seen as a negative point to many people, this is not the case with Mayhem, the level design and structuring are far from dull, with many themes including the Wild West, Camelot and construction based sites providing a wonderful colour rich background for your tongue in cheek carnage escapades.

Another annoying aspect has been trashed ... the worms no longer have to jump over every little indulation in the landscape, they are now able to navigate small rises or dips in terrain without having to bound mindlessly from pixel to pixel.

We have three camera views (Blimp, first-person and third person) that give plenty of viewing options when in the middle of the action or planning an attack, it's easy to see exactly the damage caused to the landscape or the enemy.

"Blimp" View - you will be using this regularly

 

Firing the many varied weapon's is a simple process and once you learn how to use the huge selection on offer it is fair to say that Team 17 have finally ironed out many control issues that were so irritating in prior versions. Jumping is still a little "hit and miss", in open areas with plenty of room it's fine, however in confined areas or attempting to jump up a series of boxes you frequently rebound off the box in front of you and fall to the ground, the downside to this is, if you fall too far, you take damage and forfeit your turn. It is however a good time to practice any new swear words you may have learned.

Worms still haven't mastered the art of swimming, so be sure to avoid water at all costs.

 

Game modes are varied, with a funny and helpful interactive tutorial detailing control and view methods.... then we have a lengthy single player campaign with a story line driven script shown via cutscenes, it's not perfect in implementation but i have to admit i had a lot of fun playing several of these stages.

Even though Worms "Mayhem" works best in multiplayer against human opponents, single player will provide many hours of enjoyment, it is also surprising that the objectives in these missions are varied enough to prevent repetitive replay. Online play for four players is supported on the XBOX and PC versions of the game, this works well as does "multiplayer" mode with users taking turns to share the xbox gamepad or PC mouse/keyboard.The PC has an extra mode over LAN with individual players being able to use their own screen and keyboard/mouse, the only downside to this is that you need more than one copy of the game at hand, quite disappointing that a single DVD purchase (and subsequent serial) didnt support 2 players.

CONTROLS:

The Controls work well in implementation and leave little room for improvement, the same can't be said however for the XBOX version, but ill detail that in the weaponry section later.

 

 

GRAPHICS:

"Cute".

The graphics in Mayhem certainly arent cutting edge - did we expect otherwise?, there are very few detailed textures or "Doom3" lighting effects, or "Splinter cell" style pixel shader routines to be seen, but it's clean, extremely colourful with appealing touches such as the cell shading style smoke and gas explosions adding visual flair to the proceedings.

Cell shaded explosions enhance the cartoon feel

Mayhem has bags of character and runs smooth at the highest resolutions even on a basic modern day system. I tested the game with three systems ranging from an Athlon 2500+ powered by a 9700 pro to a P4 3.8ghz with 6800 graphics and all ran the game at well over the 30fps "comfort zone" at 1600x1200. You wont be running into performance issues with this game as both ATI and nVIDIA appear to be on equal footing, both running with the same approximate frame rate and image quality.

As with most worm titles, the collison detection of the characters isn't perfect and there will be times you will walk into a building and your head or "tail" will be sticking out the other side or through some object built into the themed level. While it's frequently noticeable it's really not a problem as i've yet to notice any gameplay issues caused by this.

 

Who stole my ear? - one of the many glitches you will see ingame.

XBOX players will be pleased to hear that although they are inherently limited to 640x480 the graphics are clean and tidy in all areas, that said they are obviously outclassed by the PC counterpart especially at higher resolutions.

 

SOUND:

The audio in Worms is probably it's weakest aspect, initially I was chortling along with the funny voices and wacky one liners, but after hours of playing you will find the volume control being turned down - the speech is particularly irritating in the single player story mode with characters saying "memememe" to every subtitled sentence. Quite baffling when they can speak in english during the game. As for the variety of accents and worm voice sets, I doubt many americans reading this will know what a "scouser" voice is, but those of you in the UK will probably be smiling already when you read that, Mayhem is loaded with humour that really only citizens of the UK will fully understand!

Spot effects? During the game you are treated to what I can only describe as a medicore array of explosions, whizzes, bangs and plops. They aren't bad, but they certainly arent going to be winning Team17 any awards.

The Xbox audio and effects are basically the same, of course if you have a high end PC setup such as an Audigy 2ZS with gigaworks speakers the clarity makes all the difference, especially with some of the harder to understand voice dialogue, until you turn it down of course...

WEAPONS:

Worms is ALL about the weapons and how you can dispose of the enemy team in the most fun and animated way. Mayhem is the best of all the Worm's titles ive played with regards to this. The wealth of weapons on hand is fantastic, with old favourites such as the Grenade, Baseball Bat and Bazooka making a reappearance.

 

In Mayhem we now have the Super Sheep (which is basically a superhero version of the sheep who wears a cape and has the ability to fly), Cow bombs and inflatable "scouser's" (someone from liverpool). The inflatable scouser is worth an extended mention as he is a long haired, moustached, football loving dude who wanders around the map until he finds an enemy worm, he then grabs the poor unsuspecting victim and starts to inflate, eventually soaring into the sky like a balloon. When he eventually pops the worm then falls to his death. It really is good old fashioned fun, and I doubt even the most prudish of parents will have a problem with this game as it's all very well handled in a cartoon style no more offensive than anything you would see in Tom and Jerry. Other new attacks include Poison Arrow, Starburst and Old Woman. This grumbling granny shouldn't be let out on her own, but you can use her to explode in a cloud of cabbage scented flatulence, she can also steal a weapon from an opponent. A nasty "weapon" indeed.

 

I'll detail a few of the weapons for those of you Worm Virgins, firstly the impressive "Homing Missile"

The art of a good Wormfest, lockon via "Blimp mode", fire with enough power to get the homing missle on it's way, then WHAM, let the missile take it's course ...

"Hy-oh-ru-Ken!" - yes more tongue in cheek humour, this time cheekily stealing the fire punch speech from Street Fighter! This is a great attack for knocking the worms off ledges into the ocean,

...... no he isn't fishing.

 

Lamb Chops and mint sauce- "The Sheep"

Animal lovers look away, yes this sheep is loaded and causes some major damage on impact, one down, three to go....

 

 

A new weapon the "Sniper Rifle" - doesn't every game need one?

This worm is quite some distance away, but fear not, in Mayhem we have a new addition to the arsenal, resulting in some serious damage from afar.....

 

 

"Shotgun", "Holy Hand Grenade", and the "Gas attack"

There are numerous ways to dispose of your enemy, with one of my personal favourites being the gas attack, this not only affects a large area but reduces worm stamina to 1 point over the course of the game, lethal if used correctly...

 

It doesn't end here, another big addition to Worms 4 is the Weapons Factory, here you can create your own weapons to destroy enemies. In practice it sounds more impressive than it actually is, you are quite limited in your choices, you can choose the weapon type, choose how the final weapon looks from a variety of prebuilt model sections and then you can customise it's strength from worm damage, blast radius to landscape damage. it's a pleasant addition and provides another little area of entertainment but I doubt those of you who are heavily into modding and customising will find it a very powerful option.

Every generated team of worms each has their own "ultimate" weapon, you can select a prebuilt option or tailor make your own in the Weapon's Factory. Not massively indepth but a nice touch nonetheless.

 

As for the XBOX counterpart, it is quite a disappointing experience as fine control with the pad is almost impossible. I found weapons like the sniper rifle almost impossible to use whereas the PC mouse control just gives this weapon a new lease of life and head shots are easy to attain. This isn't a fault of the XBOX, the game just works better with a keyboard and mouse. Team 17 have worked around most of the limitations fairly well.

Mayhem has a wide variety of worm characters from Gunslingers with aptly modelled cowboy hats and bushy moustaches to construction workers with yellow hardhats and toolsets! They are all portrayed with the same humour we all know and love, with some voice characterisations that really will have you on the end of you seat laughing when something goes wrong. The game starts with each worm given a pre determined endurance figure (default is 100 but this is again customisable), and for every time you are caused damage this lowers until it reaches 0.. then it's game over for that worm.

The "mine layer" .. this .... well .... do you need me to explain it?

During the game, powerups in the shape of crates are dropped, along with health packs which each increase worm endurance by 25 points. As the worms can't swim, any contact with deep water results in their death, this of course leads quite often to the strategy of forcing enemy worms into the water at the slightest chance.

The "Teleporter" is a handy escape route for your worm after placing a mine or firing a weapon, every second counts so make sure to plan your next move......

Afros and customising......

Behold the awesome "Zar's Dorks", the No1 worm crew in the whole of the United Kingdom via gamespy rankings ....... well not really as my kid brother is a much better player, but aren't those afro's really cool?

 

The PC version of Worms: Mayhem is without question the most playable of the Worms titles in the 3D environment, especially in multiplayer mode with some human friends or via gamespy online. The fact that Team17 have addressed some rather serious issues hampering previous releases and added some great customisations and game modes has only heightened the gaming experience, and I feel confident in saying that anyone with a friend or relative who likes a bit of a laugh would be assured to enjoy this title, unless of course you specifically hate this genre. My only reservations are with the XBOX version which under specfic situations proves almost unplayable with some weaponry and the pad system, then we have the fact that if you want to play this over LAN with multiple computers you need a copy for each machine - however dont confuse this with "multiplayer" (sharing the same monitor) mode. The XBOX version is also not as pretty or smooth flowing as the PC build and the audio is a little fuzzy but it's respectable and a worthwhile purchase if you have a group of friends huddled around the television set. There are no compatibility issues i've encountered with numerous windows systems, even a basic "modern" system with a 2 ghz AMD processor and a mid range £100 video card proved to be capable of powering this title at high resolutions with relative ease.

So the big question "is this really worth £19.99?". Before spending several nights playing this with my brother I would have been among the most sceptical of readers to say "bleh, another worms game, who needs that?" before moving quickly onto another first person shooter title. I am pleased to say I was wrong.

Certainly the graphics arent going to set the world on fire, the sound is lacking in places, and there are still some graphical clipping flaws. However, if you ignore this game you really are going to be missing one of the most playable and enjoyable multi person titles available on the PC. A bargain when you take into consideration it's now available on PLAY.COM for £14.99!

BONUS: download the video of Worms 4 weapons in action - click here! (8mb)

Worms 4 wins our "playability" gold award