As a Worms "outsider," I've wondered what the big deal was with these games. I never got a piece of the action on PC or console until now. The conclusion: what was I waiting for?! This is a great premise for a game and it is spendidly executed on PSP, with only a few things missing.

On the graphical end, there's no moss on Worms: Open Warfare, as they say. The play environments are static, meaning that you get a fixed game "board." In the background, depending on the theme of each level, there are animations like weather and even a host of singing, stone heads at one point that had me laughing out loud. These are all backdrop for the main game, where you and your Worms assault team fight for life or death. The eye-candy on the main stage is equally nice, with weapons that range from an exploding sheep to a full blown airstrike. Man, I love the smell of burnt Worms in the morning!

As themes and design changes go, so goes the music. Everything musically is strictly background, but well crafted for that purpose. Where the sound design really gets top marks is in the voices. Worm teams have assigned voice themes that include several different nationalities, and regional or cultural icons from the English language like the Dumb Jock and the Sexy Babe. As you get deeper into the game, you can customize teams according to voice themes, and every team you oppose will use one of what seemed like about 20+ voice samples. Hilarious! The actual accents are almost as funny as what the Worms say during combat.

The premise of Worms: Open Warfare is similar territory to previous games, and the logic of the game is not unlike Team 17's other entry in the Puzzle category, Lemmings. But where the latter is all about teamwork, Worms: Open Warfare has more focus on individual action. In a team of four fighters, each one of your Worms has the same access to weapons. Not only does your team have the weapons, but the other team or teams also has the same choice of weapons. This makes for some interesting strategic decisions, since you know what the other guys have access to, and you know what they've used. The ability to edit teams and schemes is a key attraction, I think. Once you work through the increasingly difficult challenges, structured initially as a tutorial, you'll find that the action is fairly consistent. Team opponents get smarter, hardier, and more numerous. So, there's much to be said for ad hoc wireless multiplayer, and the ability to fiddle with the conditions of play in single player. What's missing is true online play capability, any type of story mode, and very limited unlockables or specials.

The key to winning in a standard game is to position your worms strategically, use weapons with precision, and match each weapon to whatever tactical situation you encounter. Weapons are split between short- and long-range, and there are some weapons that are purely defensive. Others allow you to move Worms around the battlefield. The battlefield itself is destructible, which can help or hurt you. In the helping category, carving out foxholes - or wormholes in this case - is a common use for the Shotgun. Working against you are levels where the only thing standing between your Worms and a watery grave is a thin layer of ground that can easily be blasted away. One of the more advanced tactics in Worms is the notion that you don't actually have to hit the Worms to take them out.

Being turn-based helps Worms: Open Warfare feel less frantic, and avoids the play style of a typical fragfest or knockdown party game. There is a time limit that prevents players from really sitting and deliberating forever, and when you edit your own levels, you can adjust the time limit up or down. Each round of play has an overall time limit, and when that limit is reached, the Worms go into "Sudden Death" mode, where one good hit is enough to take them out. Early on, there is major handicapping done against your opponents, and none of the opposing teams are very skilled with their weapons. Later in the game, opposing teams are at full health, and they are generally crack shots. Strategically, the A.I. never approached the level of deviousness a human would possess, but the CPU will definitely capitalize on your stupid moves. I actually found that outside the Challenge Mode, Worms: Open Warfare wasn't challenging enough to hold my attention. Happily, the editing that is possible, even for a single player, brings back the fun. My favorite so far is a custom level I named "Grenade!!" where the only weapons available are grenades and rope. Playing this with several teams is a lot of fun, since it is impossible to throw a grenade without hitting friend and foe. By the end of the round, I usually have two fighters at opposite ends of the screen, trying to achieve that perfect lob.

Worms: Open Warfare is a perfect "pick up and play" game, which is very appealing to folks who don't want to suffer under ten or twelve pages of instructions. The setup for wireless multiplayer is easy, and basically has you hosting or joining a game. You can tweak combat with other human players in much the same way as described above, which offers great variety.

All the editing of schemes, teams and weapon sets is easy and intuitive. The design and layout of each level is randomized, but you are presented with a code that represents that level, so you can always go back to a style you like. It would have been great to see some type of design editor, or at least have new levels available for download online. Especially this last piece seems so obvious, given the direction that is being taken with other similar games. The verdict on the available content in Worms: Open Warfare is that it will keep you occupied for a while, but not as long as you might like. For deeper challenge, you'll want to start creating custom schemes and tweaking teams or weapon sets. Ultimately, playing against real live people is where Worms: Open Warfare will really ring your bells. It's a shame that a true online experience isn't available, and Game Sharing would have also been preferable to requiring that all players have copies of the game running on their system. Still, Worms: Open Warfare is a great entry from Team 17, and a great introduction to folks like me who missed the Worms phenom on other platforms.