Unfortunately with Worms: A Space Oddity, that's about where the innovation ends. While the new control scheme works very well, and is slightly reminiscent of the DS titles, everything else feels a bit stripped down and bare, especially considering the lack of online multiplayer that was promised early on in the title's development cycle.

The setting, as you probably have guessed, is a futuristic one, and each landscape or battleground you'll encounter fully revolves around that idea. Like in previous Worms titles, there's environmental hazards to beware of along with your enemies troops, and this time out they take on the form of UFO's and other sci-fi trappings. Everything is in 2D, and looks nice and crisp even on larger displays. If you've never played Worms before, the basic premise is pretty simple. Up to 4 different groups of Worms fight it out on a set battlefield, with everything being turn based. Along the way you'll grab weapons and other items dropped on the field to help improve your odds against the opponents. Last worm (or worms) standing wins, and while the whole idea is incredibly simple, the actual execution can take a while to perfect.

In addition to the basic single player mode, A Space Oddity also includes a VS mode, with three levels of difficulty. Each level has its own set time limits per turn and different AI challenges. You can also battle it out with 3 other human opponents via local multiplayer. Then there's the defense heavy Fort Battles, and also the Short Supply mode that restricts weapons to only one spawn for each type.

The Wii motion controls are all performed by the remote, there's no need to have the nunchuk accessory attached here. Instead you'll plot out your vectors of attack with the remote's pointer, or literally control your remote controlled rockets as they hit your intended targets. A Space Oddity picks up on your movements fairly well, and the only thing you'll have to get used to is keeping your hand steady to skillfully hit the targets that you actually want to hit.

There's quite a few sound bites attributed to the Worms, also in a variety of languages, so it takes a while for the comedy aspect of it all to grow a bit stale, which is nice considering how easily absorbed you can get into the local multiplayer aspect of things. There's not much to praise or gripe about when it comes to the music though, and chances are you'll hardly take notice of it.

The weapon selection is a bit bare this time out, with only 10 or so to choose from, definitely marked down from some other titles where you'll find weapons numbering in the 30-40 ranges. However, most of the mainstays make an appearance, and like I said earlier, it does serve as a solid, no frills introduction for new players. You'll also come across 7 different tools as well, but once again it's a bit of a downgrade from previous titles.

If you find yourself bored with the initial map selection in multiplayer you can also opt to create your own maps, something done with ease when it comes to the Wii controller. You can save up to 16 maps at a time, and you can even customize your personal Worms teams with things like colors, voices, and a few other options. You can also map out the settings for map victory, time limits on turns, and weapon/crate tools. The map and team customization is a lot of fun to play with, and if you get a full group of friends going you'll spend quite a bit of time with the map creation options.

So while Worms: A Space Oddity makes a solid first showing for the series on the Wii, it doesn't feel nearly as full fledged a Worms title as previous console versions. The lack of an online multiplayer mode definitely hurts things, and the less than stellar weapon and tool selection feels like a step backwards in the series. However, the motion controls are simple to grasp and work really well, and hopefully this marks a solid building block in the franchise for the Nintendo Wii.