Worms Armageddon review
(This game is several years old but still available. It’s the last great Worms game before they went 3d and spoiled it all)
This is the funniest game I have ever played and I reckon it should appeal to a wide range of people. Even someone not particularly fond of computer games could have fun with Worms Armageddon.
The idea is very simple, and playing it is simple too. You have a team of worms, and your opponent(s) have a team of worms. They are all trapped together in a confined space - armed to the teeth and a bit touchy. You must kill or be killed, trading insults in the process. The terrain you fight on is often surrounded by water and guess what? None of them can swim. You take it in turns to control any one of your worms, select a weapon and try to inflict death and damage on as many enemy worms as possible.
The worms are cute little squiggly things, animated in a humorous way. It’s a delight to watch them get blown up. A ninja punch can send one soaring from one end of the screen to the other. When hit by an exploding weapon they fly up into the air and slide down slopes bouncing about helplessly as they return to terra firma. They moan and groan all the way, and if still alive after the experience they’ll often jump up and down, shake their fists and shout out, “I’ll get you for that!” or, “I’ll tell our kid!” Just before they die they’ll shout something like, “oh I’m gonna peg it!” or, “I’ll be off then.”
As it is a turn based game you can only watch helplessly as your opponent singles out one of your faithful worms, takes aim, and with a suitable war cry lets it have it. If they miss, then your worm will shake his fist and scoff dismissively. If your opponent runs out of time before they can fire, you will laugh at their pathetic efforts and your worms will shout scornfully at them. On the other hand, they may inflict some damage and this will really annoy you. You may then find yourself shaking your own fist and handing out your own insults. This is serious fun. The funniest thing that can happen though - and believe me it is always relentlessly funny - is for the wind to blow their nefarious objects back onto one of their own worms and blow it clean into the water.
When it’s your turn, you select a worm and choose its victim. You don’t have much time to do the deed so make it snappy. You can move your worms about and even get right up close but don’t forget that when you’ve done your worst, if your victim is still alive, your worm can only stand there helplessly and receive vengeance.
Right clicking with your mouse will bring up a list of weapons and tools. Some of the tools can help you get closer to your target (bungee rope, parachutes etc.) There are many imaginative weapons to use and some air assisted ones that can drop bombs for you.
Some weapons are elaborate and all-powerful, but some (like machine guns and grenades) are more basic. Baseball bats fall into the crude-but-effective category, but the crudest of all, the finger prod, can be just as effective as a bazooka if you nonchalantly prod a worm over the edge and into the sea.
Worms Armageddon is the sequel to Worms II, which in turn was the sequel to Worms. It’s been around for ages and has improved with each version. Having said that, I do remember not being particularly astounded with the changes when I upgraded from Worms II to Worms Armageddon. So if you get a chance to buy Worms II cheaply, it is just as playable and just as funny.
Customising
This version gives you incredible customisation control. You don’t actually need to customise anything, but if you are that way inclined you could spend hours doing just that. There is virtually nothing that you can’t customise. I found customising the terrain great fun. There is a simple terrain editor where you can knock up new fighting arenas or tinker with existing ones very easily. All you need do is select a brush size and squiggle some lines or shapes. It looks unimpressive at this stage but when you select preview, the editor converts your doodles into the proper terrain. It is so easy that anyone can do it.
Customising my team of eight worms started with the team name, “Andy’s Lads.” Nothing particularly imaginative there maybe - but it sounded menacing enough to me. You can assign names to each of your own worms, which are displayed above each worm when in action. You can type in any name you like - even filthy, disgusting outrageous ones. You can pick the tombstone that will mark the demise of one of your worms and even the tune that will accompany your worms’ victory dance.
There are 49 accents and phrases to choose from as worms are very talkative and very funny too. My favourites are, Angry Scots and Yorkshire Tykes. Each language set has its own phrases and ways of delivering them. You can download more from the Internet or even record and assign your own with the sound editor.
You can play against the computer, or have a team game with several humans fighting against each other. You can play on a local area network or the Internet. There are training missions to familiarise yourself with the weapons, some (like the flying exploding sheep) can be tricky to control.
There are also missions, which will earn you the right to use extra special weapons. The playing area is actually about three screens wide and two screens high. As you move your mouse the screen will scroll revealing more of the terrain. Missiles and blown-up worms are automatically tracked as they fly across the long terrain even through to the next screen.
Summary
I have found this game to be highly amusing and very addictive. It is very simple to play and lots of fun for all the family. It’s particularly funny playing against your mates but still good fun even if you have nobody but the computer to play with.
Written by Andy(ArT)Trigg on April 14th, 2008 with
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