by:	March 14, 2005

Worms 3D is one of those games that is apart of a long-running, classic series where you hope and pray that this “new formula” added to the series doesn’t in fact destroy the “classic formula”. Team 17 did this by taking their famous 2D Worms series and completely changing the formula by taking the 2D into complete 3D. Fortunately though, this new 3D formula is able to keep the same classic Worms gameplay and fun that everyone loved from the 2D games…but just barely. Worms 3D is almost a failure, but fortunately Team 17 was successful enough with the 3D transition that the game is still a lot of fun to play a definitely worth a look into by gamers of all genres.

Gameplay
Up until the very unfortunate excuse for a game Worms Blast, all the Worms games, including Worms 3D have all taken the same approach with the same type of gameplay and the same basic design. There is no story to any of the Worms games mainly because it would be impossible to even come up with even the simplest story due to the way Worms is played. The basic idea of Worms is basically to just destroy the other team or teams of worms with your own. You are given the option to create your own team of worms with a few customizable options such as names, voices, weapons, team symbols and team graves for when one of your worms dies in battle. If you choose not to make your own team, you can always control one of the teams the game has already created with it’s own random names and options. A normal game of Worms consists of 2-4 teams of worms, one being your own, randomly or manually placed all across a landscape consisting of hills, bridges, buildings, flowers, etc. and most infamously, water. Teams take turns as the player gets control of one worm at a time to move around the landscape wherever they please (except the water of course…worms can’t swim) to move into position to attack the opposing team(s). The weapons available to the worms are extremely varied and powerful and destructive in their own way. The simple normal weapons include Bazooka, Mortar, Uzi, Shotgun and melee weapons such as a Baseball Bat, an Axe and even a simple Poke. However, what makes Worms so interesting, fun and memorable are the bizarre and very different weapons you normally wouldn’t see in a game…at all. These weapons include the Super Sheep, Old Woman, Mad Cow, Sticky Bomb and the most infamous weapon of all time…the Banana Bomb.

The gameplay is everything in the Worms games; it’s what makes the series so much fun. The series has been played in 2D ever since the very first Worm game came out way back when until the very latest Worms World Party was released. Ignoring the horrible Worms Blast, Worms 3D is the same as all the other Worms games except for, of course, the fact that it is in full 3D! The new 3D aspect on the Worms series was and is a spectacular idea and thus doing so has made the world within Worms 3D so much more vast and has given it so much more room to grow and expand compared to the old 2D versions. However, the new 3D engine has unfortunately taken a lot away from the classic Worms formula that everyone has come to know and love. The biggest effect of the transition is how different the game is played and how a strategy to win in a 2D Worms game would never work in Worms 3D. The element of wind in Worms 3D has also created a whole new aspect of difficulty and change compared to how the wind was in a 2D Worms game. Back then a player only need worry about two simple dimensions when wind came into affect of their weapons and play. Now that there are three dimensions though, a player must consider all three dimensions…X, Y, and Z. The third dimension has created an unparalleled level of difficulty for first time players and will even give hardcore Worms veterans a bit of trouble at first. This is by far Worms 3D’s biggest fault throughout the entire game. Team 17 seems to have intended to take the Worms series up a notch by taking it to the next level and pushing it into the 3D world; but in doing so, they unfortunately have taken so much away from the classic formula that everyone loved and knew from the original 2D Worms games.