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Worms: A Space Oddity Review
Chris Leyton
25/03/2008
Those vicious Worms make their Wii debut with a moderately entertaining outing...
With 10 titles released in the last 13 years (not including the countless expansion packs and spin-offs), it seems those annelids have more than most in the stamina stakes. Still it could be argued that despite a brief and largely unnoticed foray into 3D, very little has changed or evolved in those years, though that is probably part of the appeal. So with their Wii debut those Worms have the final frontier to conquer with Worms: A Space Oddity.
Following the same format that has governed the series for the last decade, Worms: A Space Oddity unsurprisingly sticks rigidly to the rulebook. Unless, for some strange and unapparent reason you've never had the pleasure, it's turn-based, last annelid standing, using whatever weapon comes to hand (not that worms have hands), worm-on-worm warfare.
It's Worms Jim But Not As We Know It
Expectedly Worms: A Space Oddity takes advantage of the Wii Remote exclusively with a variety of individual gestures for each weapon. No longer just holding onto a button to adjust the power of each shot, A Space Oddity's variation on the archetype missile and grenade now involves adjusting the power with different angles on the Wii Remote before lunging the device in a forward motion - much like chucking the grenade yourself. Further examples include plunging the detonator in an amusing fashion for the Atom Pack, digging away with the Excavator, and perhaps the most entertaining, re-enacting the humiliating prod with the Astro Punch. The drawback to such creativity is that Worms: A Space Oddity doesn't offer the vast arsenal that some Worms fans will be hoping for, with many of the 15 weapons and tools being identical to the classics but under a different Sci-Fi name. The other shortcoming is a general fiddly feeling to many aspects of the control system, particularly the unnecessary twitchiness of the camera setup.
Charting the Worms exploits in outer space, the storyline mode offers six different planets with an array of different missions. Similar to the puzzle events in Worms: Open Warfare 2, many of the single-player challenges involve more than just worm warfare, with many offering cryptic puzzle challenges (getting across the environment using merely explosive mines) or collecting parts of the Worms broken space shuttle. Although they provide a sliver of variety, the missions that do stray from the formula fail to invoke the classic Worms entertainment, while some suffer from considerable issues. Missions that challenge you to collect shuttle parts but arm you with only bazookas and grenades, require tedious amounts of blowing up the environment just to get across it (where's the Ninja Rope or space age equivalent), made even more frustrating when an errant missile blows up the shuttle part and results in a mission failure.
It's A Wii After All
Of course, what's a Wii game without mini-games and in this regards Worms: A Space Oddity shapes up fairly well. Variations on the iconic genres of yesteryear and creative ideas work well because of the satisfying use of the Wii Remote. Packaged as a separate mode available in the game, there's little to get too excited about due largely to the limited number of games on offer, but they're an enjoyable detraction when sandwiched between the traditional action in the single-player story mode.
Still Worms is never a game you want to be playing on your own, it's a game that's all about devising underhand alliances with your mates and other scheming tricks. In this regards Worms: A Space Oddity slips up due to the late decision to strip Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support from the game. Obviously, the argument is that Worms is best enjoyed when there's four of you squeezed into a two-seater sofa, which is present and works fine by either sharing or using up to four individual Wii Remotes. Nevertheless, Wi-Fi Connection support was promised and would have been a welcome addition given that the single-player appeal fades quite quickly. Beyond the mild disappointment caused by its omission, the more concerning suggestion is the doubt it continues to add to Wii's stuttering online service
Following the crisp and stylish return to 2D visuals with the Open Warfare series, A Space Oddity is surprisingly rough in the presentation stakes and fails to impress even from a retro point of view. Offering the traditional selection of takes on widely recognised music, A Space Oddity also suffers from severe repetition of the Worms' limited one-liners.
Entertaining use of Wii Remote.
Controls can be a little twitchy.
