Anybody pick up Worms 3D?

pyrokilla said:

I got this months ago on GC.

Tons of fun to play with friends, however I still have not got grenades down as I once did in Worms2......

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Kirk Foiden said:

*warning long message *

Yeah, I got Worms 3D. It does work on live, but you have to remember the method that the save files work, for worms. Looks like they didn't particularly modify that for the Xbox version as you still have to manually load and save games. Of course, the save aspect is very easy to remember as there is clearly a save icon conveniently placed in front of you at the finish of any single player mission, challenge, etc. You just have to remember to load the save state each time you start the game. Otherwise, your teams and individual setups will not show up. Remember this well for Live play. Some people stared kind of blankly, thinking they lost all their progress and teams, and forgot to go to the load screen.

I'm not exactly sure why no autoload feature was included.

The game has a learning curve, alright. However, the game does have a little 2D help, when it comes to controlling the game. This is where you can use the views. Take note that the Overhead view (L-trigger) is constant in its height. That means the distance shown between you and another worm is the same scale on any map you use. I find it a good way to gauge the angle of your shot. Then I use the arrow indicator (on the bottom left) as the 2D marker to show the exact angle my worm is aiming at. The aiming arrow is a godsend because it directly correllates to the aiming method used in the 2D worms games. It almost makes the first-person (R-trigger) view, obsolete. Well, except for one thing. How far left or right you want to aim. So I use the R-trigger as a guide to aid me in lining up the shot, on the X-axis. This is the main direction you'll adjust when dealing with wind.

The good: Albeit the extra learning curve, it's a surprisingly decent game of worms, bringing much more of the original title's fun than expected. Most of us "worms players" had major doubts that worms could even work in 3D.

- Considering the graphic engine is fixed based on the artistic style chosen for the game, the Xbox literally eats this game for breakfast. Load times rival the PC version, and that one is mostly on the HD. It's just a little shy from the idea of being on a big cart. And the game plays at a very nippy pace. Graphics are smooth and very fast.

- The percentile options for landmass generation is brand new and something that Worms 2D never had. Needless to say, it's an incredible tool for setting up the levels you LIKE to play, and allow the random generator to generate levels all based on those settings.

- All the immense options for setting up the game return. Of course, there isn't the option to create user levels on a pixel-by-pixel basis anymore, due to the game's change to 3D. Never-the-less, most people wont miss the option as all the best 2D user-creation tools only existed on 1 version of worms. Andy Davidson's own Worms Director's Cut for the AGA chipset Amigas. Stuff like stencil-doodle mode, dual layered (load any 2 picture images as a level's landmass and background), thin line levels, etc. lived and died in that version alone.

The bad (the list is longer, but many site differences in what Worms 3D wants to do by default as opposed to what Worms 2d did, by default):

- There is a small issue of the game moving so well on the Xbox, and that has something to do with setting up Homing missiles. The cursor is a wee bit sensitive and the combination of the fast graphics makes aiming the lock-point of the Homing missile tougher than it should be. It does, however, make for some neat game-balance as it simply means that a good Homing Missile user actually took the time to hone their skills at how to place their shots. It's workable, but alas, the PC version seems to have the easiest homing-missile use. It's still a bit sensitive on that, but it's a little easier to do small movements with a mouse.
(The issue is lessened by other weapons that aren't the Homing Missile because they require less precision like the Air-strikes, and have a big target area.)

- Worms still needs to work on their save system. It's decent, and the amount of different areas of settings that can be saved to individual profiles are awesome, but I still would like the option of some auto-loading feature. I mean, unless you delete the save file completely; who would want to NOT load the savefile? Progress is saved per team of worms created, and you actually name your own various settings to go in the dropdown list. You can even self-manage all of these things. And considering there is only 1 save file (which is actually a save file of various individually saved parts), there's no reason why it wasn't made an automatically loaded-saved feature.

- On online play, the game seems to not save the state of selected teams, in the team dropdown. Needless to say, you have to keep going back to reselect your team. Not too big an issue, but the convenience of saving those states would be a great boon. I just want to be able to quickly jump into another game without worrying about what team I'm playing, just like offline. I'm not sure if doing it this way would cause another problem with online play selection, considering the organization is a bit different from the rest of the game.

- An interesting observation made about all versions of worms 3d. Where are my saved statistics for my individual worms or worm teams? In the old games, your worms all had their game stats tracked. You can see which worms had the highest kill ratio, how many times they died, etc. You really could see your MVPs of the team, but alas, no longer. They still do the little individual awards, at the end of a match, though. It's cool they left that in, but I did enjoy how you could look up your team and see how each worm faired, over time. It doesn't change the game, outside of that cool extra that added yet another level of *attachment* for the worms, in the same vein you would track a baseball player in a baseball season.

Default Worms 3D aspects (other than just the 3rd dimenion) that differ from the 2D experience:

- Ninja Rope down, Rocket pack up. - Needless to say, the default method of travel and landmass arrangement tends to utilize more Rocket packs and less of the Ninja Rope. (If you want Ninja Rope goodness, it's best to save a good custom game setup that gives you the Ninja Ropes and no rocket packs unless you're given a crate with one in it. Also make Teleport crate-only, if you are going to recreate the 2D worms experience) You'll also want to generate levels with landmasses or objects, overhead, so that the Ninja Rope is a viable means of transportation. A good setting of a high *height of level* percentile set for the level generator will easily help get you those levels. Nothing beats trashing a worm by dropping a stick of dynamite, from the rope, and swinging away to safety.

- Less love for darksiders. Those who loved darkside tactics will find the game balanced quite in favor of light-side tactics. It's not just the removal of stuff like drill and blowtorch, but most random maps leave very little overhang to hide under. Fortunately, those who love that protection from sunlight can use the Percentile figures, in the map generator, to create maps with decent cover. The only contrast here is that in the 2D maps of worms, the majority of maps generated made good use of the darkside. This is probably caused by the different method of which maps are generated, in 3D. In 3D, unless specified, the game wants to do pocket lands that may or may not be interconnected. In 2d, the map generator favors large landmasses and overhangs. (the good of all this, is that the games play quicker as dark-side tactics, while strategic and defensive, can make for some pretty long games.

- By default, most lands generate with a high favor of sending a worm into the drink. In the 2D versions, by default, which favored the large landmasses; only a small percentage of worms were in danger of taking the swim, when the level starts. Otherwise, you pretty much were forced to go on a hitpoint battle. Of course, the new percentile gauges come to save the day. Setting up for large land masses will alleviate the water danger.

- As always, never forget to test the level out. The generator doesn't show you what the level REALLY looks like, it just gives you a broad idea. Themes can make the level quite a different animal by the objects they place. Considering they become a part of a landmass playing field. Theme objects may change how the level is played, completely. They can make a level, that looks boring, a true work of genious; or a level that looked neat in the preview, a disappointment.

Anyway, that's my points. If anybody who hasn't taken the worms plunge before, wonder what the big buzz was about, it's summed up as this:

Worms is a silly turn-based strategy, combat game that got popular due to its addictive nature, and the fact that no other game on the planet gives you as many options to tweak and alter the gameplay to your liking. Everything from weapons, crate drops, to all kinds of little rules, can be altered. If you think Unreal Tournament mutators were good, it has nothing on any version of worms. It is, by far, the most configurable little game. It takes the gameplay of an artillery game (like scorched earth) and mixes in platforming elements, and other little game styles, into one package. You make your own teams, and give your own individual worms a name (name them after the members of your favorite rock group, who knows? You make them up). The idea, from the outset of the original worms, was that naming your own worms and teams gives you a bit of attachment to individual members. Toss in a good dose of wacky humor, and wallah.

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