The Worms series hails from a different, simpler era of gaming, when multiplayer was a side-by-side affair that offered huge entertainment as players vied to bump off the opposition's chirruping antagonists in ever more inventive ways and when a suicidal sheep was in every player's arsenal.
This collection offers a chance to revisit those days with a group of previously download-only titles – two 2D games Worms and Worms 2: Armageddon, and the 3D Worms: Ultimate Mayhem. All three stay true to the classic, comical Worms formula, where teams of invertebrates take turns to destroy one another over randomly-generated maps.
The first, Worms, is the stripped-down original experience from 1995 with just a small selection of weapons and a few basic challenges and is easily skipped for the more expansive Armageddon, which adds a satisfying single-player mode (including puzzle elements), plus a wealth of weapons and customisation options. It looks great in HD and is easily one of the best 2D Worms games available.
However, Ultimate Mayhem doesn't quite match its 2D counterparts. The visuals are poor, the camera fiddly and loading times are long. None the less, it, too, remains enjoyable, with plenty of modes and two diverse story campaigns. There's plenty of good fun to be had here, particularly with friends, but as the core gameplay has remained pretty much unchanged for 17 years, whether all three variants are actually needed may depend on how nostalgic you are for those simpler times.
