Publisher: Team17
Developer: Team17
Medium: Digital
Players: 1-4
Online: Yes
ESRB: E10+
Two decades in, I canโt imagine thereโs much to write about Worms that hasnโt already been written. ItโsโฆWorms. Whatever cosmetic changes (and odd forays into mini-golf) there may have been since the seriesโ inception in 1995, by this point, you pretty much know what youโre getting when you pick up one of the games: worms + heavy artillery + destructible terrain = lots of fiery deaths and explosions. Thatโs the Worms formula in a nutshell, and thatโs what you get if you pick up the franchiseโs Vita debut, Worms Revolution Extreme.
This, of course, means that all the positives and negatives associated with Worms are on full display here. Letโs start with the bad: thereโs nothing about Worms Revolution Extreme that makes it an experience you need to have on the Vita. The controls are exactly the same as its PSP predecessors, Open Warfare and Open Warfare 2. Further, thereโs no incorporation of the front and back touchscreens, which seems like it shouldโve been a no-brainer, if Angry Birds has taught us anything. On a related note, if weโre talking about the PSP, it should also be said that Worms Revolution Extreme looks like it belongs on that system, since the blandly uninspired graphics look kind of hideous on the Vitaโs OLED screen.
Itโs not all bad news, though. For one thing, the game is as as addictive as ever. Every time I sat down to write this review, Iโd invariably decide that I needed to play the game just one more timeโฆand then, almost like clockwork, Iโd look up and see that Iโd suddenly lost an hour or two somewhere. At its core, Worms has always been almost as much about solving puzzles (albeit very explosive puzzles) as it has been about blowing your enemies to smithereens, and thatโs just as true this time out as itโs ever been.
Basically, your enjoyment of Worms Revolution Extreme will come down to whether or not youโre already a fan of the series. I hate to use such a clich? to describe a game, but itโs especially true in this case โ with nothing in the way of innovations here, it really does come down to how much you liked previous Worms games, and how much you want to have the series on-the-go (and, perhaps just as importantly, with Trophy support). If youโre not a fan you can probably steer clear, but if you like Worms and want some new content, this should, at the very least, scratch that itch.