Whenever I think of Worms, I think of my friend Tom and of the classic Lightning Seeds album, Jollification. Why, I hear you cry? Because the best session of the game I ever had was one that lasted all night, with Tom and I battling it out against each other for over 8 hours, with Jollification playing in the background over and over again. Such is the addictiveness of the original Worms. I was a little apprehensive about reviewing Worms 3D, as I love the original and I wasn't sure how well the beautifully simple concept would translate into the third dimension. I had no need to worry however, as the classic gameplay has survived the transition into a gorgeous cartoon 3D world.

The concept of the original Worms was very simple, based around the classic game Tanks. In this game a random 2D landscape would generate with a tank at each end of it. The idea of the game was to blow up the enemy tank before he got you. The catch was that you had to judge the angle and velocity of your shots and take the wind factor into account as well. Team 17 took this game and evolved it into something far better. Instead of a single, stationary tank, there was now up to 16 fully mobile worms and instead of just one weapon, there was a host of ways to destroy your enemy and navigate the tricky landscapes. The great thing about Worms 3D is that it is identical to Worms in every way, except that it's now in three dimensions. For fans of the original, it's a little like playing Sonic Adventure for the first time after playing all the 2D Sonic games that came before it; it's a little strange at first but after a few minutes of play you realise the gameplay is just as good and are appreciating the lush graphics and greater areas to traverse, thanks to that extra dimension.

When you arrive at the main menu screen you're greeted with colourful, visual icons and the catchiest tune to grace a menu since Space Channel 5. There are three game mode choices - Single player, Multiplayer and Quick Start, the latter of which throws you instantly into a battle against the computer with two teams of four worms, if you can't be bothered to set anything up. The smartest thing to do is head to Single player first and go through the very effective Tutorial, which whilst a little laboured in its execution is very effective at teaching you the basics of moving, jumping, collecting crates and using the basic weapons. After this you can head into the Campaign mode, where a wide variety of scenarios and missions await you.

Worms 3D is a turn-based game, meaning that the gameplay proceeds at a pretty slow pace. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it is very addictive and can easily steal away a few hours without you noticing, but if you are an adrenaline junky and need things fast and furious, then this is not for you. However, because it is turn-based it gives you tremendous freedom in your approach. You get a set time (anything from 20 to 90 seconds depending on the settings) in which to complete your go. This means that you can move around the level freely, getting yourself into a good position to attack an enemy, or you can just take a shot from where you are. You can lob a grenade halfway across the level from where you stand, set a sheep going towards a nearby enemy (which explodes at your command!) or use your jetpack to fly over to an enemy and give him a good whack with a baseball bat! Obviously things like the jetpack are limited or it would be too easy, but the amount of approaches you can take is almost endless and no two games are every the same.

When you jump into the game you'll find that the environments are really striking and rendered very nicely. Each landscape is distinctive and impressive, creating a very vivid, cartoon style with bright colours and exaggerated, distorted angles on things like buildings and vehicles. The landscapes are completely static and fully destructible, but despite this the scenarios could not be more imaginative. In one level there are a series of skyscrapers with a giant ape atop one of them and planes suspended in the air all around it, whilst another is an English garden with several massive ants and a gigantic anteater! Other themes include the Arctic, a graveyard, a holiday resort, a laboratory, a planet complete with orbiting spacecraft, a farm, a roller coaster and far too many more to list.

The worms themselves are basic in appearance but this is to good effect and complements the cartoon style of the landscapes. They crawl around at a fairly slow pace but are pretty nifty when it comes to jumping and backflipping! What is highly amusing is the quality of the graphics and animations of the worms when you arm them with a weapon. Every weapon and utility is carefully thought out and has a great look to it. The sight of a worm with a massive bazooka on its shoulder or a grenade in its hand (floating hands appear, Rayman style) is pretty amusing. When using the jetpack your worm puts on a Rocketeer style helmet whilst when using the parachute it's a Biggles hat. When you get out the baseball bat a blue cap adorns your head but for the fire punch you put on a sweatband. Other items in your arsenal include classics like the cluster bomb, land mine, dynamite, airstrike (you actually see a big, chunky plane fly over and release its bombs now!), uzi, shotgun and homing missile, whilst there are new ones such as the old lady, super sheep and homing pigeon, and that's just what's available to begin with!

The weapons are quite unbalanced in their power (some are far more devastating than others) and hence the big hitters are limited. The airstrike generally doesn't become available until you are a few turns into the game whilst the super powerful holy hand grenade and banana bomb are in limited supply if available at all. The super sheep is particularly funny as it runs along and then leaps into the air with a little red cape fluttering in the wind as you guide it manually around the level to its destination! Homing weapons aren't plentiful though, meaning you must get used to the staples of the game for long-range combat, namely the bazooka, mortar, cluster bomb and grenade. All of these weapons are ones where you decide the angle of fire and the power of the shot.

There are two vital displays at the bottom of the screen, one of which shows your current angle (i.e. how far up or down you are aiming the shot) and the other showing the current wind direction and speed, which affects bazookas and parachutes in particular. If you prefer, you can also aim from a first person view or an overhead view where the worms are so small that it looks very similar to the original game and this is a fun view for watching bazookas fly back and forth. The provision of these extra views is a very thoughtful addition to the game and gives you the complete freedom to line things up just how you want them.

When you fire the shot, holding down the fire button results in the power meter filling up, then you release to fire. Experimenting with the angle and power is essential and after a while you get an uncanny sense for how to get the shots dead on, taking into account wind in the case of the bazooka and the fuse time (1 to 5 seconds) and bounce factor of grenades and cluster bombs. It is also highly satisfying to pull off trick shots, such as firing a bazooka so it curves around in the wind to hit a worm that thought it was out of danger. This is more than possible thanks to the very well-designed physics engine and using these weapons are far more satisfying than homing missiles - because it was your skill that got the kill.

The other displays on screen that you'll need are the radar, which shows allies, enemies and crates lying around the level with weapons, items or health in them and the item selection display, which shows your currently selected weapon and the best view to use to fire it, plus your health. Whilst you can kill a worm by repeatedly blowing it up until it dies, it is far more effective to knock it off the level and into the water below - every landscape is set as islands in the sea and a fall into the drink is fatal, so whacking your opponent out into the drink or using a stick of dynamite to send them to a watery grave is both quick and highly enjoyable!

One of the best things about Worms 3D is the amount of diversity and variety available in all aspects of the game. Whilst the basic objective remains to eliminate a team of worms before they eliminate you, there are so many weapons and items to use, so many different environments to choose from and so many game modifiers that you'll never get bored and it will never feel too familiar. In fact, there are over 10,000 different game types that can be created by the range of modifiers, which are readily available at random in the form of a slot machine. Pulling the lever on the machine randomly picks three different modifiers, which can be anything from a certain type of crate dropping in at the end of each turn or low gravity mode to all worms starting off poisoned or explosive weapons being extra powerful. Throw in the random landscape generator with settings for density of objects, height above sea level, island spread and so on and you've got infinite variety in the game.

The single player modes are very varied too. The Campaign mode features a range of scenarios. In some you are fully armed with team on team play but in others you have only one or two worms and there often objectives such as collecting certain crates or rescuing a trapped worm. In some levels you have no weapons at all and must collect crates whilst trying to keep out of the enemy's reach, whilst in others the jetpack or parachute comes into play as you fly up or glide down very tall levels, such as one where you glide from plane to plane, landing finally on a battleship. There is also a Challenge mode, which features tests of your aiming abilities with the shotgun and your flying abilities with the jetpack and parachute again, amongst others. There are also a series of deathmatch challenges where you are racing the clock to kill all the worms and win a medal by beating the existing high scores. So there really is plenty to keep you going.

It's not all good news however and there are a couple of parts of the game that do slightly mar the experience, at least in single player. The computer AI doesn't always work quite right, I suppose because there are simply too many factors to bring in. However, whilst it's definitely a good thing that they don't get a perfect shot every time (their hit rate with bazookas and grenades is actually pitched just right) sometimes they get confused, firing at an enemy that is completely out of sight with a shotgun, or firing a bazooka at a far off enemy when one of your worms is right next to him, just waiting to smack him flying on the next turn. Also, the camera is a little temperamental and whilst it serves the game, it often zooms in a bit too close and goes all over the place when following a homing missile to its destination. The angles chosen for viewing a bazooka or grenade landing is often not ideal, either.

The final point that spoiled things a little for me were some features of questionable taste. The first campaign level puts you in a WWII setting where the scene is one of storming the beaches and later on there is a Titanic level, complete with drowning worms, sunken rowing boats and a ship broken in half. In both cases I feel that these subject matters are not to be taken lightly and have no place in a comical game of this nature. Also the comments the worms make are often quite annoying and the stereotypes (which include various nationalities as well as things like nagging wife, Viking, pirate, surf dude and so on) often come off as obvious and unfunny. Still, none of these gripes are enough to seriously spoil what is at heart a highly addictive and fun game.

Where Worms 3D really thrives is in multiplayer mode and it is here that the infinity of options really comes into play. You can create your own teams, choosing their names, voice style, flag and so on and up to four teams of four worms can play against each other, with any combination of human and computer players. Although this game is turn-based (meaning that in multiplayer you'll be watching more than playing) it is so much fun to watch and you can laugh as your mate's bazooka goes whistling past you and into the drink or lament when it blows you up and sends you plummeting to your doom. When you pull off really skilful shots it really is dead satisfying and with other human players the game becomes far more alive and unpredictable. Your friends will quickly catch on to using the weapons and so you never know what's going to happen next. Of course, this would be the perfect online game but there is sadly no support for online gaming, which to me is a very big omission. Surely it would have been better to hold up the release date a couple of months and support online play? Releasing a game whose main strength is in multiplayer fun but restricting it to the living room really is a bit criminal these days.

Worms 3D is a deceptively addictive little gem of a game that faithfully takes the Worms into the third dimension. It looks lovely and with endless variety in the landscape, weapons and tactics of every game if you get hooked it will last you a very long time. The single player mode is surprisingly addictive but multiplayer is where it's at for Worms 3D - however the slow-paced and simple nature of the gameplay won't be to everyone's tastes. You should give this a try, it might not be the latest guns-blazing, graphically stunning action romp, but it does offer a highly entertaining turn-based strategy game that is truly like no other.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).