 
If you've played any of the Worms games, you're
already on familiar soil. Worms is a game about
trajectory, strategy, and healthy doses of luck. By
controlling an infantry of four worms through turn-based
action, your goal is to destroy the opposing teams. Lob
grenades, shoot a bazooka, or even rappel over a ledge
and drop a sheep bomb. The last worm left standing wins.
The Dreamcast port has been adapted to fit its new
host. The menus have been rearranged to work with the
controller limitations. All in all, the layout of the
controls works really well, effectively substituting for
the mouse and keyboard. While there aren't hotkeys or
shortcuts anymore, it's still easily manageable.
There are plenty of play options. Deathmatch sets you
up against multiple computer-controlled teams. Quick
Start lets you get right into the game without the hassle
of configurations. Training takes you through an
extensive set of exercises to improve your aiming
abilities and familiarize you with the weapons. After you
complete your training, you can take on some Missions.
And of course, multiplayer...
The game uses only one controller for its multiplayer
modes. The controller must be passed around to each
player. This makes sense and does save you hard-earned
dinero, but there are inherent problems with this setup.
What if the person you are playing against doesn't want
to pass the controller, and decides to make your worms
commit suicide ?
The graphics look crisp on the screen in all its old
school glory; nothing dazzling, but it does its job well.
The lower resolution of the standard television means
that this is a bit blurrier than the PC version, though
most of you won't mind too much. Leave the game alone at
the title screen and you'll get to watch some hilarious
animations of worms blowing each other up.
Every weapon has a unique little sound effect that
lends the game its personality. The worms each shout high-pitched
insults and cries. But you are limited to one sound bank
of voices during a game (example: all the worms only have
Scottish accents). It would have been better if they
allowed each team to choose their own sounds, thereby
granting more customizations. There are also fewer sounds
available then the computer version; the PC allows you to
create your own sound banks, download additional sounds,
etc. I missed the Thespian voices - you can't top the
sound of a pompous little worm screaming, "Zounds! I
am undone!"
Obviously, the system isn't even pushing its resources
- not the best graphics and sound, or a demand for
processing power. That's okay. But the one resource that
should have been utilized is the modem. After all, it's
there for a reason. Worms is a multiplayer game tailor-made
for network play. I'm just disappointed by the complete
lack of Internet support; think of the Dreamcast worms
that could have been...
As the Dreamcast matures and develops more network-supported
games, I hope they will re-release Worms: Armageddon with
everything that should have been there in the first place
- network support, additional modules, and maybe a
multiple controller option. Nonetheless, this is still an
incredibly fun game.
**********
8/10
|
