Ultimate Mayhem is not short of content. You can play through a mildly entertaining story mode(s), engage in specific challenges or create your own levels, weapons and rule sets to play by. There is a wealth of content onoffer but whether anyone will want to see it all is a different matter.
The core mechanics remain the same, you control a team of 4 worms and you take it in turn to attempt to blow each other up. Each turn lasts between 45 and 60 seconds but now, instead of looking at the whole (or most of) the playing field while you move your worm around you are locked into an over the shoulder 3D camera.
This is where the problems start to crop up. Worms really doesn’t work in 3D. Worms have always moved slowly but, when you can see more of the arena you can plan your strategy effectively using all of the arsenal available to you. Ninja ropes, hidden cubby holes and long-range grenade lobs are all possible in the older Worms titles. Here though, they are not. The worms in Ultimate Mayhem move slowly and the maps are large and well populated with obstacles. You spend so much time moving your worm about, trying to find the opposing team or a proper angle to position a shot that the feel of the older games is completely gone.
Just moving around the map is handled badly enough to spoil much of your turn; jumping is imprecise, worms don’t seem to have a uniform jump height or distance and again the lack of control amplifies the problems with the move to 3D. The Ninja Rope, one of the most valuable tools in the earlier titles is all but unusable.
The turn-based aspect of worms also translates badly to Ultimate Mayhem. It is boring enough negotiating your own worm around the play area but when you are forced to wait while the computer, or your online opponent, takes their turn and the camera leaves you staring at something completely unrelated to the action, like an untextured yellow wall, patience wears thin very quickly.
There is a first person aiming mode and a third person aiming mode but neither are particularly well implemented because the added dimension requires even more precision than previous 2D worms titles. Enemy AI is either impossibly stupid or incredibly amazing. Worms will walk themselves into a corner and waste their turn or smash your worm into the sea from 300 miles away, with a grenade, from under a bunker. In the dark.
As a package Worms Ultimate Mayhem is difficult to recommend to anyone. It is a testament to providing quantity over quality. As much as the worms are a charming and sometimes funny bunch potential purchasers should be under no illusion as to what this is: a cynical repackaging of ten year old games that had problems transitioning a 2D game into a 3D playfield on their release. If you aren’t put off by the exorbitant load times then the tiresome and ill suited gameplay should be enough to give anyone a life long hatred of slimy, pink, and usually Scottish hermaphrodites.
+ A large amount of content
+ Funny voice acting on occasion
+ Lack of physical packaging is good for the environment
- Poor camera and controls
- Awful shoehorning of 2D gameplay into 3D
- Boredom will set in quickly
Developer: Team 17 Software Ltd.
Publisher: Team 17 Software Ltd.
Other Versions: PS3 / PC / Various
Version Reviewed: Europe
Score: 3/10