The irreverent comedy war game Worms is a thoroughly British invention. It was dreamed up in the early 1990s by a Bournemouth teenager, Andy Davidson, and now, in the hands of the Sheffield developer Team 17, it has really come of age.

In this instalment the battalions of helium-voiced pink worms get to fire a clutch of new weapons, while a visit to the Weapons Factory lets players create their own dastardly arsenal. There is a “quick games” option for launching instantly into the madcap action, a single-player story mode, challenges and, of course, the infinitely more rewarding multiplayer clashes.

Although the worms nowadays trudge around a 3-D environment, and the graphics on the console games feel softer than the original PC- only outings, the basic premise for the gameplay

has not changed. Worm teams take turns to unleash their often quite vicious firepower, with players sweating about getting the trajectory of their bullets, missiles and rockets just right to ensure maximum chaos.

The game was always a brilliant “hot-seat” multiplayer event, partly because the battles were so entertaining and partly because it was a near-impossible single-player game, as the AI-controlled worms tended to fire weapons far too skilfully. Now that the game is established in a 3-D world, it has, for me at least, lost a little of its gripping intensity — an option to switch action between 2-D and 3-D would have been a nice touch. Perhaps this is something that Team 17 can address in the next outing.

TIM WAPSHOTT

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