Quick quiz: what were the most momentous events of 1995? For anyone who answered Braveheart and Toy Story topping the movie charts, Bill Clinton taking up residency at the White House and Microsoft raising the curtains on Windows 95, go to the top of the class.
For anyone who answered with just one word: “worms,” well, pat yourself on the back and have a shiny gold star. Back then in the hazy, carefree years of 1995 gaming was dominated by teams of mischievous invertebrates hell bent on blowing each other up with rocket launchers and exploding sheep. Side scrolling 2D was the cooler than Michael Jackson’s moonwalk and iconoclastic British game developers Team 17 were the Rockstar’s of the day.
Flash forward to 2012 and Team 17 have dusted off the Worms series and bundled it up in one sweet offering, the Worms Collection.
The gameplay remains untouched. The idea is simplicity itself: take control of a team of four worms and destroy the competition. At your disposal are an arsenal of creative and wickedly ingenious weapons ranging from flying postbox’s dropping exploding letters (the Mail Strike), The MB bomb ( a cartoon caricature of Martyn Brown, Team17’s studio director) , the Holy Hand grenade (from Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and of course, our office favourite; the exploding sheep.
Worms Collection includes the original 2D games Worms, Worms 2 Armageddon and the less successful 3D outing, Worms Ultimate Mayhem.
For anyone who has played and loved Worms, the first game will be an introduction to the series that can be skipped without fear of missing anything. The weapons are less varied, the randomly generated terrains are less adventurous and games against the AI can take a long, long time. There is very little fun to be had in multiplayer unless you’re happy to pass the controller from player to player.
All of these gripes however are done away with in Worms 2 Armageddon. Originally released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2009, Worms 2 Armageddon featured a host of new weapons, including the bunker buster, lightning strike, electro magnet, emergency teleporter, the poison strike and the super bunker buster. Single player was pumped up to 30 missions that got progressively more challenging the further you got into the game and Team 17 waved their magic wand over the multiplayer side of things. There were now six game types: Beginner, Standard, Pro, Fort, Rope Racing and Crazy Crates and the game supports upto four players either going head to head locally or via Live. A leaderboard has also been thrown in so that you could compare your progress against your mates. Sweet.
Team 17’s foray into the world of 3D was, however, less successful. Worms Ultimate Mayhem was plagued by fiddly camera issues, slow game play. The graphics were improved and content for this game was taken from a compilation of Worms games including the lacklustre Worms 3D.
Worms Collection also includes a wealth of downloadable content that you can install to improve your Worms experience. There are six sets in all, all focusing on different aspects of the game, for example, Battle Pack that adds new weapons, a Puzzle Pack, and a Retro Pack that lets you play missions from the original Worms game. How cool is that?
Worms Collection is a welcome blast from the past for you’re a*** (Hey! Ed). For anyone yet to experience the sinful pleasures of throwing explosive sheep at their mates, this is a great way to find out what you’re missing. For gamers who enjoyed the series the first time round, get ready to be happy. Recommended.