Interview With Team 17 - Worms Open Warfare 2 Questioned

Recently, DS-x2 got the chance to speak with Kevin Carthew, the lead designer on Worms: Open Warfare 2 from Team17. Ben Johnson sat down and fired questions at Kevin.

The original Worms: Open Warfare seemed like a modern recreation of the original Worms on the PC in 1994, Worms: Open Warfare 2 seems to build on that 'original' feel but introduces many new weapons, could we get a brief overview of these weapons and how they can affect the game? The game contains all of the weapons and utilities found in the previous game, and has an additional eleven items. The additions are a mixture of returning classics, ideas borrowed from the 3D Worms games and some completely brand new ideas.

For the fans of the series this game sees the return of the much missed Holy Hand Grenade and we've also brought back the Super Sheep, Concrete Donkey, Parachute and Pneumatic Drill.

For this game, we've created a 2D version of the Sentry Gun (first introduced in Worms 4: Mayhem). Once placed on the landscape the gun basically keeps watch over the area around it. Should any enemy worms stray within that area it will open fire. It's a little bit slow at tracking moving objects however, so skillful players (ropers, I'm looking at you) are able to avoid its fire.

We have five completely original weapons.

The Boomerang has multiple uses; it can push worms around, pick up crates and even be used as a step or to build a bridge. It's perhaps the weapon in the game that takes the most skill to master, but it's extremely satisfying to pull off a good looping shot. Also, if you manage to return the Boomerang to your worm it goes back into your weapon inventory so it can be used again.

The Electro Magnet is a new addition we're particularly pleased with. After selecting the magnet, the player can choose whether they want to magnet to attract or repel. The magnet is then placed on the landscape, and basically effects an area of the land until it runs out of power. Any metallic shells (Grenade, Bazooka, Air Strike, etc.) fired near it will come under its influence. For example, if it looks likely that one of my worms is under threat from such a weapon I might place down a repelling magnet, and any weapon fired near be will be pushed away. They're a great addition to the game because of the way they affect so many of the other weapons. (An Air Strike fired directly on top of a repelling Electro Magnet is a sight to behold!)

The Lightning Strike is a good one too. The Lightning Strike has the power to resurrect dead worms! If the strike successfully hits a gravestone, the owner of that gravestone will be brought back to life (albeit with a low amount of health). For the first time ever in a Worms game the player is wise to consider whereabouts their worms might die, and might also strive to keep their gravestones in positions where they could be hit by the Lightning Strike, in the chance they might resurrect one of their worms.

The Buffalo of Lies is part of 'Worms Mythology'. This shadowy creature runs across the landscape like the Sheep does. However, whereas the rather placid Sheep will attempt to jump over any obstacles, the Buffalo blasts his way through. A good weapon for either making tunnels or exposing them!

The Bunker Buster drops from the sky, and drills through the landscape before exploding. It's a good weapon to expose those underground networks that your enemy has been building up over the course of the round!

Many fans requested an online function for portable Worms, and with Worms: Open Warfare 2 players are given the chance to compete online. What type of online modes are there and can we see how players rank in the world? Worms: Open Warfare 2 has three main multi-player modes, and all of them can be experienced online. There is the classic Deathmatch mode, which is the mainstay of the game. There is also 'Forts Mode' whereby each team of worms is relegated to their own fort either side of the landscape (a fort of their choosing I might add), and finally there is 'Race Mode'.

In a race game, players use the Ninja Rope or Jetpack (or whatever they wish if they want to customise their game) to negotiate a maze-like map. The player who makes it to the exit in the shortest time possible is deemed the winner.

There are a number of leader-boards in the game. Each leader-board can be viewed with a number of different options, and of course there is a main leader-board to display..

We see that in Worms: Open Warfare 2 for the Nintendo DS, players can customize their Worms team to make them unique - what options are there for customizing your Worms experience. For team customisation, the DS version features all of the usual stuff like naming, speech-banks and gravestones but also allows the user to select the colour of their worms, choose a fortification (for fort-based games) and choose a victory dance that their worm will perform should they be victorious.

We hear there are new multiplayer and single player modes in Worms: Open Warfare 2, could you explain what these new modes are? For multiplayer there are three modes. The classic death-match mode sees the last team standing declared the winner. Fort mode sees each team relegated to a half of the landscape and their own fortification. Race mode sees the player use Ninja Ropes or Jetpacks to navigate maze-like landscapes in as short time possible, and get to the exit.

For this game I'd also like to point out that we've given the user some quite feature heavy tools, so that they can customise their game as they wish. Players are able to create their own fort-like landscapes and own race maps to play against each other online.

There are two main single player modes in this game. The 'Campaign' section of the game is like a classic Worms single player experience. The player basically dukes it out against the cpu on preselected landscapes with specific weapon sets. The second section of the game, 'Puzzle Mode' sees the player faced with a very specific task and a small amount of weaponry. Players have to either kill the enemy or negotiate the landscape with what they've got, and occasionally have to use weaponry in unconventional ways to achieve their goal. Because of this we hope that players will actually be able to transfer the skills they learn in the single player game into situations they might encounter when playing multi-player too.

And last but not least - are there any plans to continue the Worms: Open Warfare series on handhelds or even consoles? What are the chances of a Wii version in development? We're only just finishing off Worms: Open Warfare 2 at the moment. We do of course have a few irons in various fires but it's too early for us to be able to comment on them.

We'd like to thank Kevin Carthew and Team17 for aswering our questions and wish the team the best of luck in the future!

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Comments

• 

  great interview

  MAD_BOY, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  Let's just hope the A.I. level is a lot higher than the previous one. On the first Worms DS, the computer controlled players are no smarter than common tree stump.

  LeSomeGuy, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  Nice work Ben.

  Andrew, 30-11--0001 at 00:00