Incoming!

It makes me feel pretty old, but I'll have you know I've been loving Team17's Worms for well over a decade.

I'm glad to say very little has changed from version to version, because the game's formula was near-perfect when it made its debut on the good old Commodore Amiga all those years ago.

Every incarnation since then has added something new (for instance going 3D at one stage), but the core gameplay has remained amazingly simple and eminently enjoyable throughout.

Worms: Open Warfare 2 on the PSP is no exception.

I decided to start off by going through the tutorials to get myself accustomed to the PSP's controls - not having a mouse and keyboard with which to command my invertebrate combatants, I was wondering how the classic Worms interface would fare with the move to a handheld console. Rest assured it works really well - dare I say it, perhaps even better.

So I've just put down the PSP after a marathon session and I've been laughing out loud pretty much the whole time (yeah - actual laughing, not that half-hearted "LOL" you find out there on the interweb that really just means "that was slightly amusing").

The phrases these Worms come up with just keep getting better, with all the old favourites in there (Oy! Nutter!), and a whole load of new ones that will leave you dangerously close to needing to change your sodden undercrackers.

The visual format of Open Warfare 2 lends itself beautifully to the PSP’s luscious widescreen. The worms’ animations seem smoother, more varied, and funnier than ever. There may well be some new weapons in there but I don’t want to spoil it for the long-time fans. You won’t be disappointed.

Getting online and finding a real human to battle against was a breeze, and let’s face it, playing head to head (whether in the flesh or virtually) has always been one of Worms’ best features. There’s a really easy lobby system where you can search for existing games or set up new ones. They’ve also included buddy lists, clans, and a variety of game modes to spice things up.

There’s even chat functionality but to be absolutely honest I have no desire to strike up conversation with someone via the current PSP text-input system, as it’s just too clunky for that. Then again, I’m the sort of person who finds it more time-consuming to write “thx” than tap out “thanks”.

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