Worms

System: Playstation

Review

Game Type: Strategy
Much like Lemmings except that you control each of your four worms individually, one at a time. Your goal is to take out as many as four other teams of worms before they get you. Many different weapons and tools are available, and are used in a style similar to Artillery Duel, where you must adjust the angle and power of your shot to try and hit your target.

Gameplay: 90/100
I'll make it clear now - don't even consider this game unless at least one of your friends is into strategy games. It's miserable as a one player game, as the computer AI is awful and tries to make up for it by making impossible shots (usually successfully). But unless your friends have a strictly-action mentality, it shouldn't be hard to convince them to play. The game moves along at a very speedy pace, and is easy to learn.
But best of all, the game is quite literally a laugh a minute. Lay a stick of dynamite in the right spot and worms will fly in every direction. Dragon punch (they even squeak 'shoryuken') a worm into a field of land mines and watch the explosions bounce him about. Or, for the ultimate insult, walk up behind a worm at the edge of a cliff and lightly push him off into the water (or lava, or toxic sludge) below. Get four friends together and you'll have the biggest guffaw you've had in ages.

Graphics: 50/100
No fancy polygons here, just 2D parallaxing backgrounds and tiny character sprites. Just as well, 3D graphics would be inappropriate for this type of game (as Lemmings 3D proved so well). The camera can scale out where necessary to follow the action. The backgrounds look nice but there are very few background types and since they're randomly generated they all start to look alike after a while, probably the game's biggest flaw.

Sound: 70/100
Probably the best part of the audio is the samples of the worms' squeaky voices. They yelp, shout epithets at each other, urge the player to hurry up, and more. The music is decent, too, but quiet, slow tempo, and very unobtrusive. (The mad laughter while fighting in Hell is creepy, a very nice touch.) Aside from that there's little to distinguish the game's sound, with weak explosions and other effects.

Overall: 90/100
I cannot recommend Worms strongly enough to anyone looking for a four player game, especially since you don't have to have a multitap (you just use one controller and hand it off to the next player). With over twenty weapons and countless ways to use each, the game offers excellent depth and yet maintains a simple interface. You have to be sick to enjoy killing off cute little worms, but hey, laughter is the best medicine.

Codes

Instant Bananna Bombs, Sheep, and Minigun
Enter the Weapon Options screen and without highlighting anything press X, S, S, X, S, S, X, S, S. Certain menu options will change to reflect the newly available weapons.

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Copyright © 1997/1998 Jay McGavren. All Rights Reserved.