Worms 3D is a strategy game based on the popular Worms franchise and available for the Playstation 2, Xbox, PC and Gamecube. It's the first time we get a chance to see the clash of worms in three dimensions, so the question is whether they've made the transition in a fun way that adds strategy and depth to the battle or if you'll spend most of your time cursing at the scenery and camera.

Worms 3D pits gun-toting worms against each other on various themed landscapes. The worms themselves are as cute as ever. They have facial expressions, like the fear of an oncoming worm with a bazooka, and random quips that add personality, even though they get old fast. There are also nice animations between battles and a few during the game, like air strikes, that are smooth and well done.

But it's not easy to pick up and play. The tutorial for moving, aiming and firing is tedious and far too long. That may be because moving, aiming and firing is tedious. Your worms move very slowly and clumsily. It seems to take forever to get from point A to B, and jumping doesn't help because it's imprecise and judging terrain can be difficult. Movement is so annoying it's almost like they tried to make a simulation of life as a worm, then added guns and limited speech.

Everything is made harder by the graphics and camera. It's difficult to aim at all, but it's even harder when you can't get a decent view of what's around you. The terrain is uneven and very difficult to judge, and the lack of detail makes navigating around the map a headache. You'll get hung up on rocks, ledges and walls on a fairly regular basis, even with practice. And don't even try firing from a distance because you can't really make out the other worms until you're right on top of them. Even though they're pointed out for you on radar and with a nametag, it's often hard to tell exactly where the worm in question is. And the environments manage to be destructible and unrealistic at the same time. If you get a worm to some high ground (a great place from which to lob grenades) the rocks below him may be blown up. But unless the rock he's standing on is destroyed it will continue to float in mid-air.

The game is played in turns, which include a set number of seconds to move before you fire a weapon. There are many, many weapons and gadgets to choose from, like bazookas, homing missiles, grenades, jet packs, baseball bats, pigeon missiles, exploding sheep and banana bombs. But because the game makes it so hard to judge enemies at a distance or around a corner, it's usually a waste of time to bother with the more interesting weapons because your chance of scoring a hit are so low. You're better served by getting up close and personal to your target and hoping you shoot it before it shoots you.

Multiplayer matches offer lots of options, like the colors of the map, weapons available, length, amount of health, etc. There's no online multiplayer for the PS2 version, but the Xbox version will support Xbox Live.

There's also a single-player mode, challenging the player to lead a team of worms against the computer in various situations. They do vary in complexity and challenge instead of always being a fight to the death. But the gameplay makes these missions even more unplayable because you're playing against a computer enemy that doesn't have the same issues as a human opponent. The computer, for example, doesn't get annoyed every time his worm gets stuck next to a rock or have to spend five or six turns just trying to see where he can go next because the graphics and camera are so bad.

All the wacky weapons and wormitude are present in Worms 3D, but it offers far more frustrating moments than fun ones. With enough patience, any controls can be mastered. But whether you find the world of Worms cute enough to endure the practice time it will take to make Worms 3D a rewarding, fun experience is another question