Worms Battle Islands is a cartoony strategy game that combines quick thinking with heavy artillery.

Players will hold their Wii-motes sideways to control their army of four worms as they take on other worm armies in attempt to wipe out each others’ health points first.  It’s ultimately a battle to kill the other teams worms before your worms are killed.

The Worms are equipped with a large array of different weaponry, such as bazookas, rocket launchers, airstrikes, grenade launchers, fire punches and more. There’s probably 40 different types of weapons available in this game.

At the beginning of each game, players will survey the landscape, and then play begins with each worm given a brief turn to carry out their destruction one at a time.  Play is viewed from the side, with each worm able to move to the left or right. Although turn-based, you’ll need to move fast, as other worms will have set traps or performed other actions that you’ll need to beat in order to carry out what you want to do.  For example, you may want to equip yourself with a bazooka in order to blast away at your opponents worm nearby, but you’ll need to move out of the way of the incoming air strike they called on their last turn before you can fire your weapon.

The game’s cartoony style does soften the destruction a bit, and even the explosion and death effects are not overly realistic. 

Worms Battle Islands requires quick reflexes and smart strategizing in order for players to succeed.  Planning out your moves before the battle even starts is encouraged and rewarded.  We think it offers some good critical thinking opportunities, but it most definitely glorifies weapons, even if it’s only a cartoony manner.  Parents would do well to heed the E10+ warning on this one, and treat this as a title for tweens and young teens in which players with a good amount of video experience will be much better than those who are only casually interested.