Review: Worms: Revolution Funfair DLC

Title: Worms: Revolution Funfair DLC
Platform: PC, PS3, Xbox 360 (Reviewed on PC)
Developer: Team 17
Publisher: Team 17
TL;DR: Challenging but uninventive DLC
Family Friendly?: Click here for more info

Worms: Revolution isn’t really much of a revolution at all, but what of the DLC that claims to be “funfair”? Well, I haven’t been to a funfair in many a year, and when I did they certainly didn’t have half the cool stuff this game has, so I think we’ve got a case for flagrantly false advertising. I kid, of course. The Funfair DLC certainly lives up to it’s name: it does indeed have all the fun of the fair…with a tad more death and explosions. But at £3.99 on Steam you may want to think twice about how much you really enjoy the base game before chucking away your spare change for what is essentially a switched up colour palette.

The DLC adds in a decent bunch of new customisation options: you’ve got red noses, masquerade masks, two new ice cream and burger trinkets, a new roller-coaster gravestone, and a funfair (or rather circus) themed soundboard option. Admittedly it’s not just a superficial makeover: there is in fact some more gameplay which unfortunately suffers from all the problems of the base game, but thankfully offers up some brand new (if equally frustrating) puzzles. One of these involves ensuring you get your team-mate to a safe area before continuing the murdering spree, but the method of transport is baseball bat to the face. Certainly an inventive means of getting around. But seriously, figuring that out is fun, and bending the rules to beat up your friend is pretty enjoyable in the typical mischievous fashion that Worms calls home.

The new funfair background setting is colourful and pleasing to the eyes, provided you like purple. Because Funfair missions come in any colour you want as long as it’s purple. I always associated white and red stripes with the funfair but maybe I’m an idiot. There’s also some environmental trickery too: giant chocolate bars and stink bombs provide innovative ways to shield yourself and poison your opponents. It’s important to point out that to take advantage of this stuff you don’t need to have completed the game as the puzzles come in their own little DLC category.

Don Keystone (voiced by Matt Berry from The IT Crowd and Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace) is as funny in his delivery as ever, but unfortunately as delightful as he is there’s not much he can do to save the game from its faults. The problem with Worms is that, while enjoyable for its perfect turn based wild antics and huge explosions, it just gets too repetitive and the difficulty ramps up to a level beyond fair competition. Once enemies have 100% accuracy on all their shots you find yourself repeating the same mission over and over despite figuring out the perfect tactic sheerly because you held down fire for one millisecond too long. All that needs to happen for this game to be amazing is for the AI to be dumbed down the smallest amount. Even 90% accuracy would make the game feel better because you wouldn’t be restarting every time you miss an enemy worm by an inch as you’d know there was a chance of you getting back in the game later.

Maybe I’m just bitter because I suck, but I really feel that AI this powerful sucks the fun out of an experience which should be a joy to pick up and play. The challenge in the puzzle mode specifically should be built around figuring out the puzzle, and the emphasis should be on that, but the emphasis feels more on being able to execute weapon accuracy to perfection.

While the Funfair DLC provides a relatively charming set of customisation options, and some fresh new puzzle ideas, the brutal difficulty level, and relative lack of exciting new content should see people find better uses for that £4. But if the money is just sitting around and you really love Worms: Revolution, then I see no reason why you should squeeze out a little more enjoyment from this update to a turn based classic.

“Step Right Up!”

• A fair few customisation additions
• Fresh puzzle ideas

“What a Good Sport for Trying”

• No margin for error
• Not much new content for your money

Family Focus

If you’re feeling particularly protective then 12+, but Worms has always had a sense of humour about its stylised violence so you can get away with younger.