Worms: A Space Oddity

Rating Everyone Genre strategy Publisher THQ External Links Official THQ Website

Normally in the world of videos games, I have issues with being represented by small soft-bodied invertebrate. But not in this case! I wrangled up some more of my friends to see what this game was all about. And since I am not really too keen on this genre in particular, or this series for this manner, I had my good friend Cort Knox explain it to me. And after going through the school of hard “Knox” I had a decent talent and knowledge of Worms: A Space Oddity. Generally, I wouldn’t pick this up off of the shelf for its amazing cover art or its overly thought-out title. I would pick it up because it looks silly and I would feel that my friends and I would love it in a party game situation.

Graphics and sound on this game were quite poor, but tolerable. Am I upset about this? No, because I figured this would be the case. There are only so many things you can do with Worms, graphics-wise, and I feel that they did it all. As far as sound is concerned the voices are indiscernible. The sound effects themselves are decent, but how hard is it to make gunshots and explosives sound cool? I feel that maybe they put too much effort into weapon ideas and explosive sounds effects in comparison to the voice effects, which is a shame because a lot of the quips you can get out of those worms are hilarious. Bah, what am I upset about anyway? Worms is fun, and I feel that we are in an era where graphics and sound should be taken very lightly anyhow.

How’s the gameplay of this obvious party game? To say the least, it’s slow in the very beginning. It takes a little bit of trial and error to get it down. Most would say, “Well, if you play the single player mode first, then you wouldn't have these issues”. That’s true, but what you have to do is look at a party game from the party game aspect. Your main reason for buying this game is to play with your friends, not for single player mode. Unless you're one of those jerks who like to play the game a week before you unleash it on your friends (Cheating bastard, I knew you had GoldenEye for more than a few hours).

Most of the weapons used to dispose of your friends will require certain motions and movements with the Wii – mote. Is this hard? Yes. Very hard! Don’t worry, you will get used to it. There are 6 stages with a near endless amount of landscapes to fight upon, so you and your two-liter guzzling, drinking-from-the-spout friends can have a grand ole time. On a related note, have you ever been to a gamer’s house who didn't have a form of a generic soda in his fridge that he drank from and had no reservations to asking you if you wanted any? No. Of course you haven't. Gamer cooties, BLECH!

I would say get this game if you are a party gamer, and I have the feeling if you are a Wii owner, then you are a party gamer. I will not say it has the overall hotness level of a Super Smash Brothers Brawl, but it's a game that you can play with your friends and even enjoy by yourself for a few months before the next party game comes your way and glossies your eyeballs. Get it for a short high. You will have fun and most likely do it again. Oh man, I sound like a pusher.