I first played Worms on the PlayStation several years ago, and instantly knew that Team 17, stalwarts of the Amiga age, had produced yet another classic. What could be simpler than teams of worms blowing each other up? And yet, what could be more fun? Erm… within reason, obviously.
First Impressions
Worms Armageddon is an obvious improvement on both the original Worms and the later Worms United (which was basically Worms with a few bells and whistles attached). The increased number of options and playing modes, along with the greatly enhanced graphics and extra weapons, mean that even though the integral gameplay is exactly the same, Worms Armageddon is on a completely different echelon top its predecessors.
Oooops...
... thanks to Chromekiller for pointing out that I haven't actually told you what kind of game this is! So, for all of you who have been living on Neptune for the past decades, let me tell you...
Worms (and all of its sequels, including this one) is a turn-based strategy war game. Two or more teams of worms battle it out over a randomly-generated terrain, and have a limited time each turn to select a weapon and then use it - hopefully well (against the enemy) and not foolishly (against your own team... whoooooops...). Obviously, the last team left standing wins the round (in Worms Armageddon you can play a tournament where up to 9 victories are needed to win the tournament). Each worm has life points (100-200, user-set), and may not be killed with a single shot of whatever weapon, though falling into the sea means instant death. Action replays are available, which can be truly hysterical!
Some of the more bizarre (and most destructive) weapons include the banana bomb, sheep (yep you read that right), and mad cows. Yes, it really is that strange...)
Interface
The menus are all mouse-driven and are both attractive and clearly presented. Everything you could possibly want to customise is customisable.
The in-game controls are the same mix of keyboard and mouse commands that worked so well in the old games. You more your worm around with the cursor keys and angle of the weapon, jump with the return key, and shoot with the spacebar (holding it down for a particular length of time to determine the strength of the shot (depending what weapon you’re using), and the mouse for accessing the weapons available and selecting the target of homing missiles. The interface was perfect to begin with and has not been tampered with, thus it is still perfect (QED).
Difficulty
Unlike Worms United, the AI worms can sometimes make silly mistakes – though they often display deadly accuracy, too… With the different modes single player modes there is a lot more variety and challenge (as opposed to simply being wiped out without a chance), and the training levels, missions, and deathmatches are all great fun. There is also an option to play a quick game against the computer, though I prefer to set up a multiplayer game (with the computer controlling one or more opposing teams), as you tend to develop grudges against particular teams (and even individual worms) after a while!!
The long-term playability and challenge as a single player game is very much in evidence – something that was sadly lacking in Worms United. Of course, as a multiplayer game it still can’t be beaten!
Aesthetics
The graphics are greatly improved over the original, being higher definition, more detailed, and having a very nice cartoon quality to them. There also seem to be even more animations, though I can’t quite be certain of this.
The sound sets are as hysterical as ever, with a few new ones thrown in for good measure. (There’s even a Brummie sound set! – though my personal favourites are Geezer (real cockney gangster voices, classic!), and Rastafarian (with lines like: “It’s not happening, man!”, and “You’ll stare into the eyes of a demon!”).
Will You Still Be Playing it in 6 Months’ Time?
The question that’s really more pertinent is, will you ever stop playing it?!?!?!? And the answer is: NO.
Is it Worth the Money?
Even if it were still full price it’d be worth every penny and more, but now it’s out on budget, it could very well be the bargain of the century!
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Final Ratings
(Ratings from Worms United in parentheses.)
Graphics: - 92% - very cartoon-like and animated, the graphics have truly been updated with style. (64%)
Sound: - 91% - some of the sound sets aren’t really as funny as they should be, but the one or two hysterical ones more than make up for that. (84%)
Playability: - 97% - just as playable but with a better menu system and more weapons, added of course to the superior AI and graphics… just perfect.(90%)
Longevity: - 98% - you could get bored of it… in a few years, maybe… (10-90% - depending on whether you have friends to play against!)
Replay Value: - 96% - even if you play two games against the same team on the same backdrop, they’ll be completely different games. (10-90%)
Value For Money: - 100% - if I could give it more than 100%, I would. (Well I suppose I could, but you’d probably complain…) (10-90%)
Overall Rating: - 96% - as near to gaming perfection as has ever been achieved. (66%)
Though there’s a patch that comes with the Sold Out release, it doesn’t address all of the problems. Point your browser at:
http://wormsarmageddon.team17.com/main.html?page=supp&area=upda
Personally, I still find that the colours sometimes go screwy on the Mission mode, and have had very occasional crashes, even after installing the patch. There’s bug reporting information on the update web page.
System Requirements
Useless Bonus Material
My worms team is called Epinionaters (yes, I know it’s sad…)
It consists of:
CaptainD (Naturally, the leader…)
DrDevience (Lori is my faithful - if somewhat unreliable - sidekick…)
Flamepillar (All bow down before Tim’s mad teleporting skills! Erm…)
Hist (Dave can quote from Discworld and Dr Who books fearlessly…)
29th_Candidate (Jim confuses the hell out of the poor little enemy worms…)
Sleeper54 (Tom’s gentle manner belies his fearsome bazooka skills…)
PostHumanBeing (Mess with PHB at your peril…)
CosmoAndGunner (Shelly’s bark is bad… but her bite is worse!…)
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