Product Reviews

When Worms was released a decade ago, it was a fresh, funny take on the tired old turn-based fighting games. However, Worms 4 just feels like a rehash of the same formula. While the 3D graphics give the game a shiny, newer look, the gameplay remains the same: you and your opponent take it in turns to control each worm and its range of weaponry.

The original program set a high precedent by including bizarre but fun weapons such as sheep. Worms 4 tries to match this, but ends up in barrel-scraping territory with the inflatable scouser and Fatkins strike.

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The new Weapons Factory, which allows you to design your own weapons, is interesting for a while but it is hardly ground-breaking.

In an effort to give the game more appeal, there's a new story mode, where you have to complete a set of missions against computer-controlled teams. However, the only difference between a straight worm fight and these levels is that the missions might ask you to collect a crate or two. The 3D view looks pretty, but it can make it very difficult to control the worms. It took us a while to get used to it and stop our worms falling to their deaths.

At the heart of the game there lies a very simple idea that's still immense fun to play. The multiplayer options, where you can play against fellow humans, are still brilliant fun and it is here that the game excels.

No two games are the same and the random factors, such as how wind affects cluster bombs and the like, maintain the enjoyment factor. If you've never played Worms before, there is a hell of a lot to like. But - and it's a big but - if you own any of the previous Worms, 2D or 3D, there's very little here that you won't have seen before.