Only the Worms SurviveWorms aren't supposed to be the subject of games. Which is exactly what makes the great subjects for games! Earthworm Jim, and the Worms series are proof of that. And why? Because we find it amusing to think of one of the simplest of creatures wielding heavy weaponry.
Worms Armageddon is the first N64 foray for the worms, and it brings all the classic Wormy gameplay to life in glorious 3D! Ok, I'm just kidding, it doesn't. Boy, I hope no one makes a game like that *wink wink* Worms belong in 2D. For those who don't know, the Worms series is about you controlling a team of five worms, one at a time, and making strategic attacks against your opponents' teams of five worms. The environments are fully destructible, as are the worms. The environment is like one big sand castle, with each armament chipping away at the landscape and the worms' health bars until only team is left standing.
Standard weapon choices abound, such as grenades, bazookas, shotguns, blowtorches, ninja ropes, etc. These are all well and good, and perfectly capable of causing lumbricine (look it up) destruction. But a game in which worms are the main characters must have just as zany weaponry. Enter things like the exploding cow, the banana bomb, and my all time favorite, the Holy Hand Grenade. Each brings a unique style of destruction to the game, and are equally fun to use as their more mundane counterparts.
Success at Worms is like an art form. To correctly judge the wind when you fire your bazooka shot, watch as it curves in toward your target and then explode in his face takes quite a bit of skill to get right consistently. But when it succeeds, and you watch your opponent's worm careen into the drink and drown, it is that much more rewarding because it is so difficult. However, this is a game in which your failures are just as entertaining as your successes. To incorrectly judge the wind when you fire your bazooka shot, watch as it curves away from your target and then explode in your own face can happen, and will happen often, as sometimes you just make a miscalculation in the power or trajectory of your shot. I just hope you are capable of laughing at yourself, because your friends certainly will be.
Which brings me to this game's problem. It simply must be played with friends. I don't mean that there is no single player way in which to play the game, because there is. What I mean is that that single player way is complete worm poo poo. Sure, you can still get your shots off the same way you would against a human opponent, but the Worms AI is at once both superhuman in awesomeness and superhuman in stupidity. I think they take it in turns. I've seen the computer controlled Worms make shots that no human could ever achieve, sending a perfectly shot bazooka through a tight cluster of scenery to explode exactly, and I mean exactly, on my worm, only in the next turn to chuck a primed grenade straight up in the air, bounce it off the ceiling straight back down onto their heads. It is baffling. I seriously do believe that they programmed them to take turns being once awesome and then next moronic. Which does not make for a fun gaming experience, because it means that you are either getting crushed by the AI, or winning because of some stupid mistake you don't feel was completely justified. So take my advice; get some friends together if you want to play this game. If you don't have any friends, make some. And then play this game.
Graphics
9 Sound
10 Addictive
10 Depth
10 Story
5 Difficulty
10
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