Publisher: Team17
Developer: Team17
Medium: Digital
Players: 1-4
Online: Yes
ESRB: E10+
Two decades in, I can’t imagine there’s much to write about Worms that hasn’t already been written. It’s…Worms. Whatever cosmetic changes (and odd forays into mini-golf) there may have been since the series’ inception in 1995, by this point, you pretty much know what you’re getting when you pick up one of the games: worms + heavy artillery + destructible terrain = lots of fiery deaths and explosions. That’s the Worms formula in a nutshell, and that’s what you get if you pick up the franchise’s Vita debut, Worms Revolution Extreme.
This, of course, means that all the positives and negatives associated with Worms are on full display here. Let’s start with the bad: there’s 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, there’s no incorporation of the front and back touchscreens, which seems like it should’ve been a no-brainer, if Angry Birds has taught us anything. On a related note, if we’re 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 Vita’s OLED screen.
It’s 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, I’d invariably decide that I needed to play the game just one more time…and then, almost like clockwork, I’d look up and see that I’d 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 that’s just as true this time out as it’s ever been.
Basically, your enjoyment of Worms Revolution Extreme will come down to whether or not you’re already a fan of the series. I hate to use such a cliché to describe a game, but it’s especially true in this case — 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 you’re 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.
