New 2D Worms ready to hit Xbox 360 Live Arcade

Those who’ve been with me for the long haul may recall a post way back in March concerning the release of Worms Open Warfare, which was a brand new 2D game in the Worms series. Unfortunately, the game didn’t turn out to be so great as it lacked a lot of the weapons introduced in the earlier versions and was a bit buggy, consequently failing to make much of an impact.

However, it looks like Jake was predicting the future in his comment on my post; Team 17 are releasing this new Worms game on Xbox 360 Live Arcade, set to go by the end of January! There’re surprisingly few details about the game on the web right now, but a mysterious chap just sent me the URL to a video that debuted yesterday, showing off the upcoming wormfest. Not only is the new graphical style introduced in Worms Open Warfare back, but the Xbox 360 version comes in high definition too! Sadly, the weapon selection seems to be pretty much the same as in Worms Open Warfare, which isn’t even close to the volume of equipment found in the older 2D Worms games.

But, regardless of the fact that the Xbox 360 version (unimaginatively entitled “Worms”) lacks the depth of the older 2D Worms titles, I sincerely hope that it proves to be popular with the crowds of today and gets this new generation of gamers into a series that just never stops being fun. With the game penetrating the market via the Xbox 360’s online distribution service, Team 17 couldn’t ask for a better way to achieve exactly that.

While I don’t have an Xbox 360, superb sales may be enough to give Team 17’s publishers the courage to attempt another full-blown PC release, which – let’s face it – is the best medium for playing Worms. Every single console version thus far seems to be compromised in some way, be it the graphics, the controls, or the equipment selection; although saying that, I must admit the general gameplay flow in the Xbox 360 version seems to have been tuned to perfection. The much needed adding of zooming and various other small things that only an obsessed series fan would notice make all the difference.

For a little more information on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade version of Worms, which is unofficially dubbed Worms HD, check out the Wikipedia article; I imagine that it’ll become more filled out before long. If any of you guys own an Xbox 360 and spot Worms on there, do feel encouraged to snap it up and post your thoughts! Also note that you can easily download the high definition Worms HD video for leisurely viewing.