The story mode can be fun at times. It introduces more objective based gameplay, but it’s easy to notice the flaws of such objectivity. For example, in one stage I had to collect a bunch of scattered construction tools before the NPC construction workers show up. After collecting the first tool, they show up, it was a pre-scripted event, so that was okay. I then proceed to collect all the tools and killed all the enemy worms. Yet, even though all the enemies were dead, I still had to collect all the tools. At this point it may just be nitpicking, but if every single enemy is dead and no one else is joining in the fray, why am I being forced to collect the final tool? I was forced into arbitrary platforming with inaccurate controls for practically no reason at all.
My biggest complaint of all though, is the unnecessary difficulty worms adds to aiming weapons affected by wind conditions and gravity. In the original Worms games it wasn’t hard to get a feel for using angles to score amazing shots, and aiming was relatively easy and mostly intuitive. In Ultimate Mayhem though, along with other 3D Worms games, this isn’t the case. Although going into first person to aim a weapon is useful, trying to angle and throw a grenade or rocket in first person is extremely difficult. It usually boils down to trial-and-error in order to successfully pull off shots from a distance.
Although colorful and somewhat full of personality, Worms just wasn’t made for a 3D plane. Then again, I may be wrong, but if I am, then I can at least say Ultimate Mayhem fails in its attempt at making a fun, 3D Worms game. This is evident in the fact that online multiplayer is practically empty, and in today’s landscape, it would be hard finding someone willing to play Worms on a single console. It’s hard recommending Worms Ultimate Mayhem to anyone but the most avid Worms fan.
