The Best Worms Game
It's a 3D game with fixed camera angle, so it plays like any other 2D Worms game. Graphics look cute and beautiful, as well as character models, environments and backgrounds. Music is nice, relaxing and pleasant, it fits well with each map's ambient, and adds more to the theme. Each map has different soundtrack to add more immersion.
There is plenty of weapon and utility choices, some of them which only appear in this version of Worms. Weapons are diverse and some of them have never appeared in a previous Worms, nor in Worms W.M.D, which was released few years after this one. It contains maps under the open sky, so you can use all available hand-held weapons and summon air strikes and other dropped weapons from the sky. Then there are maps with closed, underground setting, which prevent you from calling airstrikes and other weapons. Forts game mode is with two teams, each team in own fort.
This part of the series focuses on interaction with objects randomly placed on the map. They are destructible and inflict damage upon their destruction, in accordance with their type. It's the only Worms game with water physics and environmental damage. Besides the water physics, Stone Donkey is physics driven as well. In previous editions, as well as W.M.D, Stone Donkey just follows the gravity at location where it spawned, until it reaches the bottom. Here, it can slide down the curves and change its course drastically, wrecking havoc in directions you did not intend it to.
The game also contains the map editor and some worms customization. You can customize your worms' voice and helmets, not much, but it's cute.
Artificial intelligence tends to be unforgiving in campaign mode, since every hit they make is accurate, and it hits you almost every time it fires. Rare are the moments when the AI misses its target. It can be frustrating, but a rewarding experience, since the game pushes more pressure on you. That way you are forced to develop your situational awareness, aiming accuracy and attack sensitivity management. Matches against AI in deathmatch tend to be more relaxing since you have the control over the weapons of choice, map style and AI difficulty, prior to starting the match. You can create allowed weapons of choice lists and delay their spawn for few turns if you like.
Rope mechanics in this game are terrible.
Some game types like puzzle missions have irrational expectations from players, considering how complicated they are to solve. Some puzzles require you to do risky stuff you normally wouldn't, since most of the tricks they require are over the top action, which puts your worms' lives in grave danger.
Buy it when the price drops at 10€ or below, since there is a DLC available for purchase. Don't spend more than 5€ for the DLC. Total package worth 15€ seems like a reasonable deal.
DLC doesn't bring nothing significant to the table, but it's a nice all around package filled with new single player missions and multiplayer maps.
Like I said, the best Worms game. One of the best strategy games, and one of the best PC games overall.
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