Worms: Ultimate Mayhem Review (Xbox 360)
Posted by Dan Watson on 10.28.2011
Come find out if this game is as good as the previous installments or if the game falls flat this time around.
Title: Worms: Ultimate Mayhem
Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Team 17 Software
Developer: Team 17 Software
Players: 1-4 Players
Worms has been a franchise that has been around for a bit now. The series has been fairly successful in the Xbox Live Marketplace and continues to sell strong on there. The game itself has quite a few issues now that it has gone to a three dimensional platform feel. Controls are an issue and loading felt like it took forever. The game itself is fun but after a while the only real thrill is using different weapons to see how they work and the damage they release.
Visual
Even though this is supposed to be an upgrade from the two dimensional look, the three dimensional look feels sub-par. The graphics reminded me a lot of Nintendo 64 style graphics and overall I was disappointed. When you hear that a company is upgrading and updating, you expect that the game will be on the same level of games today. Additionally, the camera angles are tough to follow and slow the game down a bit. The positive side of the visuals is that it does a fun colorful cartoony look that helps hide some of the minor issues, but overall you still feel the impression that the graphics are sub-par.
Sound
This was another area I hated about the game. The sound is very disappointing because it is so repetitive and just didn’t do anything for the game. I felt like the game could have used a much better sound track and in the end became more of an issue than a help to the game. Most of the time sound tracks end up helping a game, but this time it did the entire opposite. The British accents did not help me appreciate the sounds at all as I felt like it was more of a knock on the accent over an appreciation or even a realistic sounding accent.
Gameplay
The game itself is fun and fits right into the realm of Worms. You pick from a variety of worm teams and your goal is to kill the other worms using weapons that you find around the map. Weapons include shotguns, pistols, grenades, rocket launchers, etc. I enjoyed the game but there were very few reasons to keep playing alone after you go through the story. The campaigns were exact copies of Worms 3D and Worms 4 which is really sad. They could have taken a bit more time and focused on creating a few new missions or objectives or just switched things up. There was no reason to make a direct copy of games that were six to seven years old. On top of that, the game itself is very repetitive and ends up just feeling like the same thing over and over again. The AI doesn’t help the cause of the single player as many times it ends up killing itself while you aim for your goal of collecting the items or killing them before they kill themselves. The crown jewel of this game, just like many other Worms games is the multiplayer. The game really delivers on multiplayer. There are several different modes and the fun is there even if you play with strangers.
Pros
There are a few pros to this game that are worth pointing out.
Multiplayer experience is exactly what one has come to expect out of the series. There is tons of content there and really makes up for everything else being so lack-luster. You can spend a few hours playing these modes and still not feel like you wasted your money.
The length of the story is enough to feel like you are getting your money’s worth. There is enough to do during each of the missions where you do not need to feel like it is the exact same thing but you get that repetitive feel throughout the game.
Cons
The cons of this game have been pointed out greatly already so to just recap here is a short list.
- Visuals were lacking based on today’s graphics
- Sound was horrible
- Game was a direct rip from Worms 3D and Worms 4.
The 411
Even though this game is lacking in many areas, the multiplayer really makes up for itself. I couldn’t have asked for a better multiplayer experience and look forwards to playing the game a bit more over time. It is an easy game to pick up and play for fifteen minutes and set back down. There is always a need for games like that as you are waiting for someone to get ready, waiting for someone to get on Xbox, or just don’t have a ton of time to invest into a game. This game does that for you and also gives you a great multiplayer experience.
Graphics
4.5
The cartoony feel helps but doesn't hide how underwhelming the graphics are
Gameplay
6.5
This game's multiplayer and single player stories are long enough but if you don't switch it up, gets repetitive
Sound
4.0
Very disappointing and annoying fake accent doesn't help
Lasting Appeal
6.0
Multiplayer experience was great and should keep gamers occupied
