Worms HD for iPad

Worms HD is the iPad version of the classic PC game. For the uninitiated, Worms is a turn-based projectile combat game where you direct cute worms to destroy each other using both realistic and fantastical weapons. It's a fun game that works well on the touchscreen platform, but it would have been nice if Team17 had at least brought a few new features to this retread of the classic.

Graphics and Audio

The graphics are cartoon-based, just like the original series. In fact, it looks like they are using the exact same image sprites they always have. They are certainly not the best the graphics I've seen in an iPad game, but they're pretty good, and they certainly don't detract from the experience. The soundtrack and effects, again, appear to have been pulled directly from the original game. There's a decent variety of worms voices, but I think they are all the same as I remember from the PC game. It would have been nice to throw in a few more modern voices in here. It's been over a decade since these were recorded, and these worms are still saying the same phrases, such as "Dan Marino class." Isn't he the guy in the Nutrisystem ads?

Gameplay

Gameplay is one area that has been changed to fit the touch-screen environment. It works well, for the most part. Touching either side of the screen makes the worm walk, tapping makes him jump, and double-tapping makes him backflip. Somtimes, the detection of these three gets misinterpreted, occasionally with disastrous results for the worm. The most difficult manuever is certainly using the Ninja rope, which requires the use of on-screen arrows, often which don't align with the rope, meaning you have to press an arrow pointing away from where you want to go. It's confusing at first.

Gameplay options are limited in this release. You can play a random single-player game or work your way through a series of challenges. (fixed single-player games of increasing difficultly) There is multiplayer, but it's pass-and-play only, which is a major disappointment for a game on a network-connected device like the iPad. Playing over the internet or at least between two iPads in the same room seems like it should be there. This would have been pretty easy for the developers to implement.

Is it Fun?

Despite the fact that this is a retread, I still find the game fun after all these years. Firing the bazooka perfectly into the wind to reach an enemy behind an obstacle is still exciting, and the challenges are difficult enough to hold interest. You can replay this game a lot without getting tired of it, with the exception of the worm voices. They become tiresome after awhile. Thankfully, you can switch the voices of your own team, so at least you can rotate though them when you get tired of one set of voices. Overall, it's still a game I've played, at least a little, almost every day for the last three weeks. Worth the $5 I paid for it.

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