Team 17’s Worms series has always been about over-the-top cartoony violence, incredibly silly weapons (exploding sheep will always outperform Call of Duty’s bomb dogs) and addictive multiplayer. However, one thing it’s never really done before is sports. Combat is usually the name of the game when it comes to this franchise, but Worms Crazy Golf takes it in a trailblazing new direction. Instead of killing worms, you’re actually playing golf – but you’re doing so with the kind of recognizable chaos that the series has become known for. It’s a hybrid that works very, very well.
Throughout the game, you’ll play on eighteen hole courses, varying from quiet (or rather, not-so-quiet) countrysides to trap-laden amusement parks, completing each hole in as little strokes as possible. Get a bogey or worse and you’ll have to start the hole over again, so precision counts the first time around. Worms Crazy Golf adds tremendous replay value with a number of collectibles and items on the course, such as bonus utilities (like slowing down time), gadgets scattered throughout the hole (including transporting castles, cannons and gondolas), and opposing forces, such as suicidal worms that explode when you hit them and grannies that will knock away your ball without a care in the world.
Traversing each hole is part of the fun, and discovering things and gathering every collectible, make them worth replaying over and over, score be damned. There are also point-building challenges that pop up, including taking potshots at the green, blowing up sheep that roam around the course and more. These offer a nice little breather when you’re not collecting stuff on each hole.
Along with a single-player campaign that will take you through five courses, the game also features local multiplayer, so you can challenge friends for the best score. You can also mix your players together, including custom creations with out-there outfit designs and voice dialects. Though not as rousing as a full-blown battle between teams of worms, this is easily the next best thing. It’s just a shame you can’t play it online.
Worms Crazy Golf looks like a winner. Rather than going with the 3D format that Worms: Ultimate Mayhem previous followed, it’s strictly 2D, and it clicks in just the right way. Courses are beautifully laid out, with lots of traps and hidden areas to explore, and some cool stuff happening throughout. The animations are minimal yet cute, especially when a worm decides to take itself out, rather than explain to his chums how he was knocked down by a golf ball. Furthermore, you can zoom your camera in and out and get an entire view of the course, which is quite helpful.
The sound department is minimal, but acceptable. The worm voices are the real highlight here, with adorable little bits and pieces of whiny dialogue. The music is okay fare, but sounds like something you’d hear in an elevator – well, if you were trapped in one, anyway. Tthe sound effects mix routine golf effects with bleating sheep and the angry nannies. So, yeah, very odd.
Even though Worms Crazy Golf is priced higher on PSN than it is on the iPad ($10 compared to $5), it’s a great deal, especially for long-time fans of the series that have been looking for something new to do with their wormy friends. Grab your clubs and hit the links. Those grannies aren’t going to gripe at themselves.
