Gaming Bits .005: Look Behind You! It's a Three-Headed Worm!

Worms 2: Armageddon
Easily the game of the week was Worms 2: Armageddon. The version they should have released the first time. Unfortunately, the tight restrictions of file size around the first release date pretty much crippled that game. This version, however, is Worms in all its fully arsenaled glory. Everything has been polished, the smoke effects are well done, the customization options for your worms are a nice touch, and the vertical levels definitely mix up the map variety. Canceling out of the 5 second wait when it's your turn seems to be the only quirky issue, we had 3 accidental deaths from that in our first multiplayer round. I was surprised to see that the achievements were so hardcore. I thought there'd be one or two quick wins from our first few rounds online, but no such luck. Casual fans of the first Worms probably won't find enough new here to warrant the purchase unless you have friends that are actively playing it. However, if you held off on the first, this is the one to get and you should talk all of your friends into it. Drop a donkey on 'em.

Trine
I was blown away by the Trine demo. Physics puzzles set in a fantasy world with a witty narrator, plus an absolutely gorgeous game engine. I grabbed it off of Steam but I'm going to wait and purchase the full version on the 360 since it's $30 on Steam and $20 on the consoles. $30 just seems a bit steep. The 360 version isn't available yet, but I'll wait for some quality achievement points.

Adventure gaming is back
While I was logged into Steam, I went ahead and played the intro to Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Just needed to confirm that it was indeed Monkey Island, and it was. I'll play through it this weekend. These are brand new episodes from the original developers, but LucasArts is actually doing a release of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition which is where I got hooked on adventure gaming originally. In all the Monkey Island news I got confused that all of them were going to be available on the Xbox 360, but it looks like only the remake is going to be on that console. Tales is going to stick to WiiWare and the PC. After I get through Chapter 1, I'm going to turn my attention to the Sam & Max Save the World that was released on Xbox LIVE recently. I've never played a game in that series, but from the hype around its humor I've decided I need to finally check it out.

Buy Now!
One of my top 3 Xbox Live Arcade games, N+, is on sale this week. Any fan of platforming needs to have this in their collection. Plus, NINJAS! They are still cool, right?

Worms 2: Armageddon
Easily the game of the week was Worms 2: Armageddon. The version they should have released the first time. Unfortunately, the tight restrictions of file size around the first release date pretty much crippled that game. This version, however, is Worms in all its fully arsenaled glory. Everything has been polished, the smoke effects are well done, the customization options for your worms are a nice touch, and the vertical levels definitely mix up the map variety. Canceling out of the 5 second wait when it's your turn seems to be the only quirky issue, we had 3 accidental deaths from that in our first multiplayer round. I was surprised to see that the achievements were so hardcore. I thought there'd be one or two quick wins from our first few rounds online, but no such luck. Casual fans of the first Worms probably won't find enough new here to warrant the purchase unless you have friends that are actively playing it. However, if you held off on the first, this is the one to get and you should talk all of your friends into it. Drop a donkey on 'em.

Trine
I was blown away by the Trine demo. Physics puzzles set in a fantasy world with a witty narrator, plus an absolutely gorgeous game engine. I grabbed it off of Steam but I'm going to wait and purchase the full version on the 360 since it's $30 on Steam and $20 on the consoles. $30 just seems a bit steep. The 360 version isn't available yet, but I'll wait for some quality achievement points.

Adventure gaming is back
While I was logged into Steam, I went ahead and played the intro to Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Just needed to confirm that it was indeed Monkey Island, and it was. I'll play through it this weekend. These are brand new episodes from the original developers, but LucasArts is actually doing a release of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition which is where I got hooked on adventure gaming originally. In all the Monkey Island news I got confused that all of them were going to be available on the Xbox 360, but it looks like only the remake is going to be on that console. Tales is going to stick to WiiWare and the PC. After I get through Chapter 1, I'm going to turn my attention to the Sam & Max Save the World that was released on Xbox LIVE recently. I've never played a game in that series, but from the hype around its humor I've decided I need to finally check it out.

Buy Now!
One of my top 3 Xbox Live Arcade games, N+, is on sale this week. Any fan of platforming needs to have this in their collection. Plus, NINJAS! They are still cool, right?