You'd think this must be one hell of a funny game when you take the box of Worms: Open Warfare from the shelves. Worms packed with guns, smiling, making funny faces, trying to blow each other's heads off. It really seems like Worms, the classic pc hit from 1994 is back and better than ever for DS. 'Classic Worms gameplay, updated, improved and designed specifically for handheld' the back of the box tells us; sounds promising.

But let me temper your enthusiasm right here, right now. Worms DS really is nothing to get excited about. This is one below average, doing-nothing-special edition of Worms. You thought a DS version of Worms might be worth buying? Not really…

Ok, imagine a one-on-one Worms fight against the CPU. Here I'm aiming my bazooka at a worm named Slayer. Bingo! Right on the head went that one, but wait! I forgot to bring my own worm to a safe distance and I'm standing right next to water. Oh man, that hostile worm is going to hit me hard now…

But no. Seconds past and worm Slayer is just standing there, doing nothing. Another 20 seconds past and my sweat starts to dry. What the hell is the CPU doing?! The background starts to shake, possibly from the thinking the CPU is doing now. He's got to think of one hell of a brilliant move. Just ten seconds left now for Slayer to move. Wait! He's moving now. Yep, he's definitely moving to the left side of the screen, right into the water. Worm Slayer is drowning. He just killed himself…

These things really happen in Worms: Open Warfare, but luckily not all the time. The bad CPU would've totally ruined the modes available, if there were any decent ones. The only promising one available is the 'challenge mode' where as the manual says 'you will take on a number of computer controlled teams in an ever-increasing spiral of difficulty'. What's the point with this challenge mode if you just have to do the same things you do in the normal game mode: fighting another team. No special objectives, no special weapons, no special levels, none of this all. An ever-increasing spiral of difficulty? Yeah, maybe if the CPU controlled worms stopped running into the water…

Add to these complaints the lack of new special worm's weapons, let alone the inclusion of classics like the exploding old lady. Creating your own team is hardly fun to do with little options to customise, the graphics are average and the charming voices of the worms sound like they're coming out of a deflating balloon. You see, there's nothing to be really excited about. Everything in this game tells us the makers haven't put a lot of effort in this title.

If you're a big Worms fan and have some friends who are also into these games, this title does have something new to offer at least to you. Even in this average Worms game, a match between human players is still pleasing. You just need one game card for a multiplayer match with up to four players. Next to that there's the option to play multiplayer on just one DS. Unfortunately there are long loading times with one-card multiplayer and almost no adjustable options in both modes so the fun doesn't last that long. This is the most basic Worms multiplayer experience you can get.

So, you're left thinking of buying Worms: Open Warfare for a good single player experience? Think again. You're gonna get a very average Worms version. You like taking your friends on in a game of Worms? Maybe, just maybe, you can satisfy your needs with this version, but there really are better multiplayer titles out there for the DS.

Let's just hope this isn't the last thing we see of Worms on the DS. The concept is great; it's a pain to be cheated away from it by lazy developers.