Worms Forts is a game with interesting ideas, but rather unsatisfying execution.
The main problem with the gameplay is the lack of focus. The game tries to retread from the established formula of the series by centering it around buildings, yet it still keeps some of the general Worms gameplay, with us controlling single worms and being able to walk freely around the map. While it's an interesting concept on paper, it ultimately proves to be not very fun in practice, for several reasons.
For one, despite the buildings being the main focus, your worms are still susceptible to being harmed and killed, and seeing how the buildings are often much more durable than the worms, it usually is much more worthwhile to just target the latter instead of trying to destroy the former. Also, the maps are huge, and navigating them can be really tedious and time-consuming, especially because the worms move really slowly. It can sometimes be rather difficult to control your worms, too, especially while jumping. The worst part is that the fall damage is still in this game, meaning that you can sometimes end up accidentally harming your worm and wasting your turn just because you miscalculated a jump between two buildings.
Not only that, but there are also problems with how the buildings aspect is designed. For instance, the buildings are required by default to always be connected to the main stronghold - if that connection is lost, all of the buildings are immediately destroyed. What makes it a thousand times worse is that usually, you HAVE to start out with the weakest buildings, and only after you capture some crucial points can you build the stronger ones. This means that your stronghold is surrounded by the weakest buildings... and all the stronger ones rely on the connection to those weak ones. Add in the fact that you don't have any option (that I know of) to upgrade existing buildings, and you have a recipe for frustration.
There's also things like it being excessively hard to be any accurate with the weapons, caused by the fact that the actually good weapons can only be shot from the top of your buildings, and by the lack of any indicator where the projectiles will land. The fact that there's no oomph to the explosions (mostly thanks to indestructible terrain) takes away a lot of the fun out of the experience as well.
All of those problems cause the game to be very tedious, rather frustrating, and just plain unrewarding. And it's a shame, too, because I can tell that a considerable amount of effort went into the creation of this game, and I really enjoy the overall aesthetics of the game (surprisingly, the game's graphics still hold up relatively well to this day).
In conclusion, Worms Forts isn't really a recommendable title, but if you do get your hands on it in a sale or something, then it's worth to at least give it a shot and experience this interesting, but sadly failed experiment.
VideoGame Worms Forts - an interesting, but very flawed idea
Worms Forts is a game with interesting ideas, but rather unsatisfying execution.
The main problem with the gameplay is the lack of focus. The game tries to retread from the established formula of the series by centering it around buildings, yet it still keeps some of the general Worms gameplay, with us controlling single worms and being able to walk freely around the map. While it's an interesting concept on paper, it ultimately proves to be not very fun in practice, for several reasons.
For one, despite the buildings being the main focus, your worms are still susceptible to being harmed and killed, and seeing how the buildings are often much more durable than the worms, it usually is much more worthwhile to just target the latter instead of trying to destroy the former. Also, the maps are huge, and navigating them can be really tedious and time-consuming, especially because the worms move really slowly. It can sometimes be rather difficult to control your worms, too, especially while jumping. The worst part is that the fall damage is still in this game, meaning that you can sometimes end up accidentally harming your worm and wasting your turn just because you miscalculated a jump between two buildings.
Not only that, but there are also problems with how the buildings aspect is designed. For instance, the buildings are required by default to always be connected to the main stronghold - if that connection is lost, all of the buildings are immediately destroyed. What makes it a thousand times worse is that usually, you HAVE to start out with the weakest buildings, and only after you capture some crucial points can you build the stronger ones. This means that your stronghold is surrounded by the weakest buildings... and all the stronger ones rely on the connection to those weak ones. Add in the fact that you don't have any option (that I know of) to upgrade existing buildings, and you have a recipe for frustration.
There's also things like it being excessively hard to be any accurate with the weapons, caused by the fact that the actually good weapons can only be shot from the top of your buildings, and by the lack of any indicator where the projectiles will land. The fact that there's no oomph to the explosions (mostly thanks to indestructible terrain) takes away a lot of the fun out of the experience as well.
All of those problems cause the game to be very tedious, rather frustrating, and just plain unrewarding. And it's a shame, too, because I can tell that a considerable amount of effort went into the creation of this game, and I really enjoy the overall aesthetics of the game (surprisingly, the game's graphics still hold up relatively well to this day).
In conclusion, Worms Forts isn't really a recommendable title, but if you do get your hands on it in a sale or something, then it's worth to at least give it a shot and experience this interesting, but sadly failed experiment.