Worms Armageddon

Worms Armageddon is the best party game since Bomberman! Alright ... it's as much fun as Poy Poy, Thrill Kill, and CTR ... but it's in the top five! Worms doesn't rely on good graphics. It doesn't rely on good sound. It doesn't rely on solid control. It doesn't rely on the story line. In fact, it's a baffling product, since it doesn't rely on any common focal point. And while all those bases are covered and well represented indeed, the game excelled in something I would like to call "the sadistic factor". This factor is the same factor that makes you want to destroy your friends in any way possible. Literally, this is four player hearven!

Of course, this game can be played with just you, or up to twelve of your clones ... but 12 is a bit much. When you go past four players, you realize each player is control ONE worm. All that responsibilty, and the fact that some worms can be killed well before they even have a chance to play, make playing it 5+ a bad idea. Regardless, with two it's a blast, with three it's a superb, and with four it's the stuff of rock legend.

The premise is simple, you have four extremely 2D worms in your team, your cycle through these worms in order, back and forth between you and your foe, turn based fashion. The last person standing is the winner. You start with grenades, guns, missile launcher, etc. However, soon you get into traps, homing birds, and even nuclear attacks (coupled with earthquakes ... but no after shocks). There is so much fire power, and a raw energy of parody (A Clockworm Orange?).

And did I mention the graphics are 2D? As 2D as can be. You can literally cut through levels with no effect to stability. Think Lemmings. The levels are what you make them, however they can be extremely wacky fields. Everything from your New York level, to your Garbage, Satanic, Heavy Metal, Roman, and GIRL levels ... not to mention tons more. And making your own is easy, too. And there is a random generator that according to the literature with the game can generate over 10,000,000 different levels. Damn.

The graphics and music are perfect, too. From the back of the box (or the pictures above) you may find it difficult to believe the graphics are actually GOOD, but they are, in spades. No fancy pants polygon graphics, no kick ass lighting sources, scaling, rotation, or even rendered graphics. What we have here is simplicity at its finest. Yet, the closer you look, even the small 2D graphics seem to be detailed. The music is the same way. Generally it's very subtle, just a bass noted extended, way off in a back ground, or so on so forth. The music doesn't over power, in fact, after playing the game many times you might not even believe there is in game music, but if you took it away, you really would notice. And perhaps that's proof perfect the music is fantastic. The only thing missing from this game to make it a royale event is the internet play ... however, the upcoming Worms World Party should clear that up. Even until then, though, go find Worms Armageddon ... NOW!