Worms: Armageddon

A Video GameReview

by Shad

For almost an entire weekend we've been playing Worms: Armageddon. It is possibly the most enjoyable and addictive party game ever made. Even Fire Pro Wrestling D with all the character add-ons took a back seat, as we tore each other a new one with projectiles, melee items, and weapons of mass destruction.

Worms is a strategy turn-based game featuring little worm soldiers equipped with an arsenal of different tools and weaponry, in which the object is to destroy all your opponent's worms before the time for the round runs out. It is available on Dreamcast and you can play with up to four players at a time. It also has modem playability, which I haven't tested. It comes packed with different scenarios and terrain, a handful of different weapon schemes (which varies the weapons allowed in the game), and a ton of different voices used for the worms to taunt or respond during gameplay. You can create custom team and worm names also, and there is a terrain generator included in the game settings. The rounds cycle either rotating the turn of each worm, or else you can choose to select the worm you want to use.

The player vs. computer gameplay takes a long time. Remember Battle Chess or ChessMaster or Battleship or any other strategy turn-based games? It's like that. You wait about 5 minutes for the computer to figure out what it wants to do, before it just uses the default weapon (a bazooka) and blows itself up because it shot at the ground below itself. On the other hand, it is either very easy or impossible to defeat the computer. It depends on what the physics of the game are at the time.

Player vs. player is a lot of fun though. 4-player is best, especially when you can drop a holy hand grenade onto about 6 worms and send them all to the water below the terrain, straight to Davey Jones' locker. The physics is really really difficult to get used to, because there is not just the distance to consider, but also things in the way, wind resistance, the terrain around your opponent., and the characteristics of the weapons you choose. But, there are also ways around the physics that can work to your advantage and actually spread a weapon's effectiveness across a bigger area, making it easier sometimes to hit multiple targets. Unfortunately, if the game just hates you (like me), then you'll probably get off a few good shots and then pummeled the rest of the round. Actually everyone will get off a few good shots and then it gets really difficult when there are only a few worms left because of their placement apart from each other. Oh, and if you don't kill each other off by the time of the round is almost up, it's Armageddon time! This means that the water level will rise every turn and the air becomes poisoned. Sudden death occurs when the time for the round has run out, and everyone will have only 1 point left on each worm.

The thing that makes Worms really enjoyable and creates almost an infinite amount of playability is the selection of weapons and tools. There are so many I won't even know where to start, but I'll mention a few of my favorites: grenades, shotgun, ninja rope, fire punch, the holy hand grenade, and Super Sheep. Also, the different terrain schemes make it more fun when you're trying to figure out what to use against each other, and you can either end up blowing up a crapload of worms, hitting nothing but terrain or air, or blowing yourself up. For added fun, try playing it drunk with a bunch of friends!

I give Worms a 9 out of 10… only because the physics is sooo damn difficult.