Overview

Everyone loves worms. (Not the medical condition, the computer games. Nobody likes having worms…) Oky, so there’s going to be a whole ton of people leaving a comment saying I don’t love Worms. But whenever you make broad, sweeping statements like that, you’re bound to have people disagreeing with you.

Er… yeah. Worms. Opposing armies of the little critters, blowing ten times of hell out of each other with bazookas, shotguns, missiles, and bananas. (Yep, you saw right – bananas…) And… that’s it, that’s the whole game, basically.

First Impressions

Playing it single-player is a real disappointment. You can set various numbers of teams with varying difficulty levels and varying amounts of life for your own team and the others (4 worms per team), but unless you have a degree in trigonometry you won’t be much cop against the computer AI at the higher levels. (Cue some smart whatsit leaving a note saying: “I managed to beat the computer at its highest level easily”. (Don’t believe them.) Thus, the playoff matches, leagues etc are a little wasted as it just isn’t much fun playing against the computer, whether it be dumb or Einsteinian.

But when you play against one or more real people, it’s a riot. You can name your team and the members of it, and blowing up your mother-in-law with a well-aimed nuke is extremely satisfying. :-)

Interface

You move your worm around the screen with the cursor keys and space for jump, and select your weapon with the mouse, then target and fire it with the cursor keys / space again. It’s very simple and intuitive, and I can’t see anyone having particular trouble with it. The menu system is well designed too. Easy to pick up but damn hard to work out the right angle and power for your bazooka when there’s a strong wind…

Difficulty

See my comments in first impressions – against the computer it’s not possible to find a decent match (challenging but beatable) – at least I couldn’t find one (okay it is possible, but by that time all the fun’s been sucked out of it…). In multiplayer mode you can handicap the better players, so that’s all right then – no-one will end up with an unfair advantage. (Unless I;m at the controls… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...)

Aesthetics

Using the same tileset as the classic game Lemmings (yep still the same look as it had on the Atari ST :-O), it’s certainly not going to win any awards, except for perhaps “Retro-Look of the Year”, but that’s not a problem for the gameplay. The sound FX, though, are hysterical, with several soundsets to choose from (my favourite is Scottish) that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter. (Especially when the mother-in-law’s worm gets blasted and the worm says We’re All Doooooomed…. – hey I like the old girl really… :-P)

Will You Still Be Playing it in 6 Months’ Time?

In one player mode, no way. But in multiplayer it’s one of the best games ever released. However overall I think it’s only worth 3 stars since a good game should really be enjoyable in single and multiplayer modes. (After all the in-laws aren’t always here… if I can help it… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA .. damn my mother always told me that if I did my EVIL LAUGH often enough it would stick…)

Is it Worth the Money?

If you’ve got mates round to blow up often enough, certainly. But not otherwise.

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Final Ratings

Graphics: - 64% - the graphics belong in the 80’s but the animations are quite funny. (Oh yeah there are some funny movie clips as well, but I forgot to mention them as they won’t work on my computer… may be an XP problem as they worked fine on my old computer running Windows 98.)

Sound: - 84% - some of the funniest speech samples since Mega-Lo-Mania. (Anyone else remember that one?)

Playability: - 90% - very easy to play.

Longevity: - 10-90% - it just depends if you’ve got human-type-people to play against.

Replay Value: - 10-90% - see above.

Value For Money: - 10-90% - see above!

Overall Rating: - 66% - a fantastic multiplayer game but lousy in single player mode.

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To what shall I compare this game? Er… nothing, it’s like nothing ever before. (Well okay I will cede Bomberman and its myriad clones)… But my favourite type of computer game is the Graphical Adventure, and the following are not only some of the best ever released but also among the funniest games you’ll ever play:

The Monkey Island Archives (Monkey Island 1, 2, and 3)

Escape From Monkey Island (Monkey Island 4)

Grim Fandango

Discworld Noir


This game is available from Sold Out Software


Recommended: Yes