Worms Open Warfare 2

Worms: Open Warfare 2 is an artillery game, which is a subgenre of strategy game. It was developed by Team17 for the Sony PlayStation Portable and Two Tribes for the Nintendo DS, published by THQ as part of the Worms Series. It was the sequel to Worms: Open Warfare.

Gameplay
In Open Warfare 2, the player takes control of a team of four worms. The goal of the game is to defeat the opposing teams by reducing the health points of enemy worms to zero without losing all of one's worms. This can be achieved by using various types of weaponry and tools. The player is able to select victory dances and color schemes for their worms, and to make custom race courses or fort maps using the level editor.

Differences
The PSP version allows players to select hats for their worms and features FMV cutscenes for the campaign stages, the DS version includes some exclusive minigames, via the "Laboratory" mode. A demo of the game has been released by download for the Playstation Portable, and for the Nintendo DS via DS Download Station Vol. 7.

Weapons
The game includes melee and projectile weapons. Some weapons are unavailable until a specified number of turns has passed, and some weapons are air dropped.

Single player
In the Nintendo DS version of Worms Open Warfare 2, there are four modes in the single player menu: Puzzle, Campaign, Laboratory (DS only), Training

Each level in a mode completed will earn 300 coins, to buy a feature in the Shop.

Puzzle mode consists of over 20 different puzzles to train your brain.

Campaign allows your created team to complete a certain amount of missions before entering another area of the worms world such as World War 1 and Space.

Laboratory is unique to the DS. This has four different sets of mini-games for you to play from blasting your worms about with the stylus to drawing a path to safety for your worm.

Training will allow you to have a full description on how to play Worms Open Warfare 2. The training session is played when you first start a new game. You can play training as many times as you want in order to get your bearings in the worms world.

Multiplayer
Open Warfare 2 supports online and offline multiplayer. Modes include classic deathmatch, fort mode, and a new jetpack/rope race mode. The servers were shutdown on 03/02/2009 due to a lack of players, server problems and that the game had been out of date for some time. THQ has been heavily criticized for this.

Reception
Both versions of the game were praised by the gaming critic community. GameSpy called it the best Worms game to date and, comparing it to Worms: Open Warfare, said it "Improves on the previous title in every way imaginable." They did note that the game was essentially unchanged and that the series, to some extent, is starting to get stale. They also noted that connectivity was buggy in the DS' single-card two-player mode, but that this did not seem to be a problem if multiple games were used. IGN's major complaint, about the Worms series in general, as much as Open Warfare 2, was that battles proceed slowly. However, this, along with the inability to save or restart mid-battle, were their only complaints. One reviewer also noted that the game felt "less like “Another good Worms game,” and more like a definitive compilation for fans that also happens to be portable".

For the PSP version, GameSpy appreciated the sharper graphics and ability to zoom the camera out, making it feel "less cramped" than its Nintendo counterpart. One IGN reviewer noted that the DS version made good use of the DS' special features in its "Laboratory" mode and added that they helped to add a bit of variety to a stale series.