The Worms franchise is one of the best known artillery war-game franchises, dating back to the original release in 1995. Now, fifteen years later, we have a late port of Worms 2: Armageddon arriving on the PlayStation Network. That's a year after its debut on the Xbox Live Arcade and two weeks after the release of the re-imagined PC variant Worms: Reloaded. It is worthwhile to note that this is not an original digital game, like Flower or Echochrome, rather this is a fully fleshed out title that is only available digitally, so this does have a platinum trophy.

Due to the classic nature of the Worms franchise, gameplay hasn’t really changed since the first game. The only things that have changed are minor updates to the visuals, new weapons, and the performance of the random level generator. The only major problem with this game is that since this a port, it’s hard to call these changes specifically new.

Gameplay is simple. Lob your weapons at your opponents and drop each opposing worm's health to zero. If any worm falls into water that goes above roughly 50% of their body they die instantly, as these worms can’t swim. There are some abilities that can be used to get close to or away from the enemy. The jet pack and ninja rope allow the player to travel some distance across the map, where they might place a mine or stick of dynamite next to a worm, and give you about 5 seconds to escape the blast zone. Meanwhile, the teleporter and emergency teleporter allow you move to a completely different location on the map. In the case of the emergency teleporter, you have no control over where the spawn location is, so it can actually land you in deep trouble if there are a lot of enemies still on the map. My advice: avoid using the emergency teleporter.

There are a few notable 'new' weapons worth mentioning. The first two are the bunker buster and super bunker buster. These weapons act in a similar fashion to the concrete donkey in their ability to go through the ground to hit your opponent. The only difference is that instead of smashing through like the donkey, they seem to drill through like the jack hammer. The other new weapons are the lightning strike, electro magnet, and the poison strike.

The single player campaign consists of 30 missions, containing a mixture of combat and puzzles. Some puzzles are just mazes, while others are damage-based ones where you must figure out how to kill a few enemy worms with just one or two weapons. On top of the 30 main missions there are also 5 optional ones, available to purchase from the in-game store at 100 points a piece. These missions are the hardest ones in the game, and truly will seem impossible when you first attempt them.

Two forms of multiplayer grace this title. There is local play, so you can play with up to four of your friends on your couch, and unranked online play. Ranked matches are played with only two players. All matches, except for ranked ones, can be played with preset rules or custom rules in case you want to make things interesting.

When it comes to the technical side of the game, the audio and graphics haven't really changed since the second generation of games in the franchise. The worms keep their 2D cartoon visuals and the colors are very vibrant and eye-catching. There have also been a few touch-ups made to the visuals and some anti-aliasing, and the game runs smoothly, with flawless HD visuals. Sound effects for the majority of the weapons, expect of course the new weapons, are similar to their past selves, although they are now a lot clearer.

Overall, Worms 2: Armageddon is a fun party game. It is extremely playable solo, but it is much better with friends. Since this is a full retail game, albeit one available at a digital distribution price, there's a lot of content to explore and hours of fun to be had. This game is definitely worth its $14.99 price tag if you enjoy this style of gameplay.