For those that have been sleeping under a very heavy boulder and haven't played any type of Worms games, the concept is pretty simple. You control a team of four worms on a 2D playing field (sideview) with the objective of defeating opposing worm teams. Before you wonder how you control four worms at the same time... well you don't since the game is turn-based. What's that? Basically, you control one worm for a duration of 45 seconds (default setting) in which you can setup defenses, worm placement, or just blow the crap out of other worms. There are two basic methods in killing enemy invertebrates - attacking them till the have no more life or knocking them out of the playing field. You have several weapons to aid your quest ranging from the trusty shotgun, explosive bazooka artillery, high-explosive sheep, and even air strikes. Don't forget to use the tools in the game including girders allowing you to bridge areas or block incoming attacks, worm selects enabling you to switch between different worms, and the ever-important ninja ropes. Shoot up a huge injection of hilarious personality, and you've got a very appealing game with a surprising amount of depth.
Depth in a turn-based strategy game? Believe it or not, as cute and as simple as it looks, the tactics you'll use in WWP aren't too different from a game of chess. Within a 45-second period, not only do you have to try and damage or kill as many opposing worms as you can, but you have to take into account the positioning of your team. Although you can't protect them 100% of the time, you can definitely try to make it harder for enemies to kill you. More important than precision aiming or knowledge of weapon use is how to move through a level quickly and where to position your worms, especially after attacking an enemy. Learning how to use the ninja rope is one of biggest advantages to learn if you really want to get good at Worms and there's a surprising amount of skill needed to truly master the art of ninja roping. This is just one of many items that require a good chunk of time to practice before you fully appreciate the depth of Worms. Worms World Party hasn't changed that much from Worms Armageddon. There are some interesting new CG FMV sequences when you leave game to idle on the title screen, but beyond that, this game looks basically like Worms Armageddon. Weapons haven't changed all that much from Worms Armageddon and that also means you won't be able to use the flaming petrol bomb or napalm strikes in Worms World Party. I really don't know why the excluded the flame weapons or why flames are omitted when you blow up oil drum cans; that takes a lot of the strategy out from Worms. Thankfully, the three big features missing from Worms Armageddon have been fixed... well, sorta. You can finally play with four people with four different controllers, instead of having to pass one controller around to the next guy. Worms World Party is now compatible with the keyboard and to all those dedicated PC Wormers out there, this is definitely a big plus. More importantly, Worms World Party sports online play which is both a blessing and a curse.
If there's any part of WWP that feels rushed, it's the online play. Having played in numerous online games, I have experienced numerous problems when trying to get into or starting an online game. Connecting to the online servers wasn't a problem, and once you get to the main lobby, you can choose different lobbies based off skill and/or game type. There's no problem getting around here and once you get into one of the dedicated rooms, you'll find a number of players you can chat with. The problem is starting or joining games, as I've had the game freeze up on me a few times trying when trying to play an online game. It seems the more people join a game (maximum of four per game), the less likely the game would ever start. Additionally, out of the numerous tries in getting a four-player game to work online, I have only succeeded ONCE! When playing with one other opponent, I've had little trouble getting the online game to start, but anymore than that, you can basically flip a coin to see your chances of getting the online game to start. On another note, you cannot start any private games; if there's an unwanted party in your game, you're going to have to manually kick him out. That's fine I suppose, but it would've been a lot easier to have a feature to setup private games. By the way, the answer is no to Broadband Adapter support, so stop asking.
There are a few other gripes that don't have to do with online play. Like Worms Armageddon you cannot set the voices for a team of worms; once you select a voice set, all the worms in every team use it. This is kind of disappointing, since a lot of the enjoyment and humor comes from the different personalities of the voice samples. While the game supports the keyboard, there are some annoying restrictions that come into light during gameplay. If you choose to use the keyboard, you cannot use the DC pad at all so you better memorize what each key does. As of right now, I have yet to figure out how to switch the incoming direction of an air strike with a keyboard, so if you someone has an answer to that, drop me an email. So, what we've got here is the same great Worms gameplay with a few fixes and additions that aren't exactly reliable, especially when it comes to online play. Hopefully, Titus or Team 17 will be able to fix the online servers so there's less game dropouts and freezes. As it stands right now, if you've never played Worms Armageddon, Worms World Party is definitely a great pick-up. But if you're like me, a hardcore Worms Armageddon player, Worms World Party slithers a bit short on the mark of greatness.
--Anthony Chau, IGNDC