Game Rant: Worms Blast

Developer: Team 17
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms and Release Dates (US): Windows (October 23, 2002), Nintendo Gamecube (October 24, 2002), Playstation 2 (January 1, 2003), Mac (March 4, 2003)
Genre: Puzzle, Action

Worms Blast is a Puzzle game based around the Worms franchise, and it does alright.

The goal in most circumstances is to clear away the colored blocks on your field. You have a Bazooka which fires different colored missiles in random order. You clear away blocks by hitting the same colored blocks with a same colored Bazooka shell. If your Bazooka shell is of a different color than the blocks it hits, it will turn blocks in the blast radius to the color of the shell. If your Bazooka shell falls down in the water, it will raise the water level by a bit. If you shoot a shell out of the edge of the screen, a heavy item will fall on you and drain some of your health. Loose blocks free floating will fall down, and will hurt you if you are under them. Crates can be collected after they fall to the water, they contain helpful items to aid you, you can store as many crate items as you feel like, you can switch over to crate items and use them one at a time, you can switch back to the Bazooka too. Stars are also on the field, if you collect a Star, it will lower the water level a bit. Be careful, you can destroy crates and stars if you hit them with a Bazooka shell or crate item. Crates and Stars will also sink after they are on the surface of the water, so grab them quick! If the water gets high enough or the blocks get low enough, you can run into the blocks as well, hurting you. Along with the regular colored blocks, there are Anchor blocks, which act as anchors for all other blocks. Bouncy blocks will bounce Bazooka shells and items off them. Dead blocks have no color, which means the cannot be cleared on a fiesta shot. Rainbow blocks will be set off by any color Bazooka shell, and will chain reaction to the colored blocks of the same color as the shell.

The Single player mode involves working your way across various paths each having 2 puzzles to complete. You start your way at the bottom right corner and work your way to the volcano in the center. Not all paths need to be taken to reach the volcano, but all paths must be taken to unlock the extra characters. Most routes are White, and the more difficult paths are Red. Taking the Red paths are usually quicker routes to the volcano. When you make it to the volcano and clear the puzzles there, you clear the game. There are many different variety of puzzles in the Single Player mode, twisted the rules around to give you a handicap, even including a version of the Snake game. The multiplayer mode is a 2 Player Vs, either against the CPU or agianst a 2nd player. The standard Deathmatch mode pits 2 players against each other in a battle to the death. Each player gets half the screen as their field and a divider in the middle. Both players have 2 lives, when both lives are lost, that player loses. The mechanics are the same as Single Player, with some additions. Blocks are always steadily being pushed down. When you shoot out groups of colored blocks, candy falls. If you collect 10 pieces of that candy before they all fall, you fill in that color in the word BLAST. When you fill up BLAST, you enter Blast Mode. In Blast Mode, all the blocks from your field are cleared, and targets will fall. Shoot a target to make a crate fall. Targets will keep falling for about 20 seconds. When you exit out of Blast more, you return to normal play and blocks start dropping again. The divider in the middle will also open up periodically, when it is open, you can shoot over to your opponent's play area. If you hit blocks in your opponent's play area, they will turn into Dead Blocks. You can also attack your opponent directly if you can hit him/her. There are also more items in crates that can hinder your opponent or aid you found only in the Vs mode. There are also different modes, such as a race through a set of blocks or a Fight mode that is just Anchor and Bouncy blocks. The single player also has a few special modes such as Shooting Gallery where you go for a high score. The Single player puzzles are entertaining, although the later ones can get almost too hard. The 2 Player Vs is fun with a 2nd player, and the variety of modes can help spice it up, but you'll probably be playing Deathmatch or Fight the most.

Bottom Line: Worms Blast is an alright Puzzle game with some Action Combat elements thrown in. The single player Puzzles can keep you occupied for a while, and the 2 Player Vs mode can be fun for hours with a 2nd person. This is worth a Play or Rent.