9/29/2005

New Straits Times

By Ahmad Faiz

Computer Game Review

TITLE : Cute little worms game Worms 4

VIDEO games these days can be so serious that they take the fun out of playing them. Instead of helping you to wind down, they get you all wound up.  So, it is nice to come across a game that helps you de-stress every so often, like Worms 4 - Mayhem. Despite its name, Worms 4 is far from the uncontrollable chaos it alludes to.

For one thing, it is a turn-based game. So you have considerable amount of time to plan your moves in a calm and collected way.  For another, the game is nothing more consequential than finding a multitude of ways to blow up stylized annelids or fanciful earthworms.

It is not that earthworms are useless; they are very important for healthy soil. It is just that the worms in the game are so far from reality that you cannot assign any serious value to them.

Learning to play is extremely easy. The tutorial stage guides you on everything you need to know, every step of the way, and does not pressure you to perform.  It even has a storyline to keep you interested in learning how to play Worms 4. So much so one could make the mistake of thinking that this is all there is to the game.

But it is not. There is so much more to Worms 4 than the tutorial shows.

For instance, Worms 4 has three different gameplay modes: multi- player, challenge and story. In all three, gamers are able to customise the look, sound, and fighting style of their worm teams, as well as equip them with customised weapons, including the tail nail, sniper rifle and poison arrow.

And it is this customization that drives the gameplay value for Worms 4 even higher. Furthermore, each and every three-dimensional (3-D) level has an interesting look and is deformable (can be blown up to pieces) so as to create its own set of unique challenges.

And speaking of levels, the story mode has 25 levels that span over five different environments, ranging from Jurassic Park to the Wild West. Completing these levels unlocks them in multi-player mode, which in itself has 20 multi-player maps.

As for the cute little worms themselves, they are, well, so cute that they can endear themselves to you even in death. And when coupled with the many hilarious ways to dispatch them to kingdom come (including the fart canister and "hallelujah" bomb), Worms 4 is really a bag of laughs.

Graphics-wise, Worms 4 is not the kind of game that would make you want to sit up and look, at least when played on the high-end personal computer (PC). This is because of its dated-looking graphics engine, albeit the game's interesting level designs.

It is, however, ideal for consoles with ageing graphics processor units (GPUs) like the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. In fact, Worms 4's low resolution is ideal for use with a flat screen low-definition television (as opposed to the high-definition PC display).

Sound-wise, Worms 4's sound effects are good enough to be attention- grabbing. They make Worms 4 into one of those games that compel you to turn and look even when you are doing something important (like writing a game review just before a newspaper deadline)!

As for replay value, while Worms 4 may not have much staying power for mature gamers, its simplicity and cuteness appeal to children and teens in such a way that they would grow up with fond memories of Worms 4.

(Copyright 2005)