Those not quite up on their Worms history might not really understand the charm of what makes this game so cool and clever. Honestly it's not much more than that old computer game where players shoot at each other in tanks by plotting trajectory and power of their cannon, calculating the arc based on the wind speed. Actually, Worms is a lot more than that, but the concept is pretty much rooted into that original, old-school computer game. The charm of Worms is its unexplained use of worm critters who seemingly have it out for each other. That, and their use of over-the-top weaponry to get the job done.
The original game - the title that really grabbed the Worms fans - was on the PC during the age of VGA graphics and not much else. It was a strict 2D design, but Team 17 made it work with some really competent and impressive effects. It included explosions that literally took chunks out of the terrain when they detonated and clever physics that enabled players to bounce and ricochet grenades into the battlefield in a way that made even accidental rebounds appear like you always meant to do it that way.
So, one would expect the Nintendo DS system, a piece of hardware that excels in 2D, to get it right. That's the real problem with Worms: Open Warfare - the team might have gotten some things right, but they're done in such a way that it looks unfinished, or simply programmed by a team that's simply satisfied with the fact that the game's running satisfactorily and not much more than that.
The game pushes the tried and true Worms game mechanics on the Nintendo DS hardware by shoving the action on the top screen and the weapon select on the lower screen. This is what works and makes sense for the Nintendo DS - players can simply cycle through and select their attack from a list of touch-sensitive icons. The touch screen also serves as a "mouse look" so players can shift the view around to any place on the map. At the very least, the dual screen is functional and well thought out for DS gamers.
Then we get into the meat of the production: the gameplay. Visually Worms: Open Warfare is a huge letdown, not just because the worm characters are low resolution blobs of pixels - but because the actual graphics engine is completely unstable. Every couple of seconds the background flashes and flickers away for a millisecond as if the game can't handle what the artists throw at the screen.
We can't blame just the graphics, though. Many people will play Worms: Open Warfare by themselves, so it's a good thing that there's at least some sort of level progression involved in the game in the form of "challenges." Most of the challenges are standard Worms battles, but each one has specific elements - four worms against one computer AI worm, four worms against four worms but with half the energy, that sort of thing. But when the AI routine will frequently do ultra stupid moves like walk off a ledge to kill itself or fire a weapon into its own teammate, you know something's up: inept programming routines.
Most of the enjoyment will come from playing against a friend, which is why we welcome the ability to play this game in a four player system network using the single cartridge "Download Play" function of the Nintendo DS. On the downside, this is the only way to play Worms. Why is this a bad thing? Worms gives players the opportunity to customize their own team with unique Worm names and other settings. But without the ability to link two or more cartridges together, those who spent the time creating their team won't have the opportunity to use it against anyone but computer AI opponents.