Worms Armageddon Game by Team 17 Reviewed by Superguy3000 superguy3000@juno.com Size: No idea and who cares? Save: Enter a 4-digit password to unlock landscapes Released: 2000 Works with: Color only and with good reason. **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: I have been a fan of the Worms series since Worms 2, which I got in Hasbro's "Action Pack" with Beast Wars, HEDZ, and some other piece of sidewalk trash. Anyway, I was extremely disappointed with the other three games that I had just shelled out forty bucks on, so I popped in the Worms 2 CD hoping to find some consolation in some platform game, but how wrong I was! After installing it, I watched a cutscene (hilarious if you like that sort of thing) and then played the game. It was one of those "minute to learn, lifetime to master" things. I was addicted and I am still addicted today, even though my WA CD doesn't work. Hoping to get some of the same insanely fun action/strategy on the Game Boy, I took my twenty-five dollars to Best Buy and bought it. Read on to see what I thought. **************************************************************************** Gameplay Descripion: It's Worms, all right! W:A for Game Boy has all the laughs, strategy, and exploding sheep of the PC original, except shrinkitied. Below is a list of all the weapons and why they are so cool. Bazooka: Most versatile weapon (in my mind) in this incarnation of Worms. A straight-firing weapon, the 'zooka will knock up to 50 health points off a worm. This is also the most overused weapon on the PC version. Grenade: Throw it in an arc and then watch it roll. The 'nade is the most conventional way of saying hello to worms from afar. Provided your aim is good enough, it can be your best friend if an enemy is in a notch of the landscape. The grenade also inflicts a maximum of 50 points damage. Fire Punch: Great for knocking enemy worms into the drink, punches straight up and is only useful for close range combat. Dynamite: The most damaging weapon of the lot (aside from the crate weapons), stick it as close as possible to an enemy worm and watch 'em fly! The dynamite is great for knocking out multiple worms that are close together, but it really shines with its pushing force. It's max damage has a base of 75, but it can cause much more if it pushes worms off ledges or into the water. Teleport: The sissy's last refuge! It will teleport one worm to high ground but will also waste a turn. Avoid using it unless it puts the enemy in a really tough spot. BB Bat: Ah, the American pastime. Such a joyous sport indeed. But hand some baseball bats to the trigger-happy worms and you've got quite a force on your hands! The baseball bat's true use is knocking worms into the water, so don't use it to cause plain old damage. I think it only causes 25. Jet Pack: New to the Worms series with W:A, the Jet Pack is somewhat inferior to the almighty Ninja Rope. Unfortuneately, the Ninja Rope requires a physics engine that the GBC just can't handle. It gets you from place to place so you can blow the living daylights out of those whom you hate! Shotgun: One of the most useful weapons against low-health worms, the shotgun gives the user two shots with which to shoot other worms. Each shot shells out 15 damage points. Air Strike: This is a bad air strike compared to the air strikes in W2 and W:A. A plane flies over-head, dropping 3 bombs, moving its target point to the right with each strike. The best times to use this weapon would be if you're out of Jet Packs or if there are enemy worms lined up on a slope. Battle Axe: The Battle Axe was probably taken from Quake 1. It takes away half of the enemy's health. B-Torch: The Blow Torch, tool of industry, symbol of progress, is also the favorite weapon of the average Darksider. What is the Darkside of Worms, you ask? Well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to shove a Sheep down your throat and feed you to the Buffalo of Lies (or the Concrete Donkey, depending on where my allegiance lies at that particular moment. The Blowtorch will burrow your worms safely, albeit cheatingly, into the landscape, safe from the wrath of 'zookas and 'nades and sheep, oh my! Sheep: This seemingly docile farm animal comes in crates to help you win the game. Toss it to the side and watch it bounce toward your enemy. When the timer hits zero, watch the Sheep deliver a blow equal to that of dynamite! B-Bomb: The Banana Bomb in this game is extremely unpredictable, as it bounces with tradgectories that completely defy the laws of physics. Once it decides it's time to explode, the Banana Bomb sheds its many peels, each causing substantial damage. Armagedd.: Armageddon causes all worms to slowly lose health as the water rises, presumably because of the intense radiation that is sometimes associated with nukes. I could go on and on about the gameplay, but then I would have no fingers due to the typing that would require. In short, W:A is the most fun and original experience you will ever find on Game Boy. Liked: It's Worms! Hated: My beloved Ninja Rope is absent from the game. Boohoo! **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: There are something like 50 landscapes in W:A, making up fully for the lack of any kind of random landscape generator such as previous Worms games have had. Each theme has three landscapes, an island, a spindly island, and a cavern. All landscapes are beautifully colored and look just like Worms is supposed to. Go to gamesages.com to get a list of all the passwords (4-digit using Worms pictures) for all the themes. Try out Circuitry, it rocks! As for the worms, you'd have to be crazy to think that Team 17 could fit the 20,000 frames of animation that Worms:Armageddon for PC had. But the worms do some of the random things while they're standing absently, such as eating apples and blinking. When you fire a bazooka, the shell looks just like what one would expect a bazooka shell to look like. When you toss a sheep, the sheep doesn't look quite as fluffy as I might have hoped, but it looks like a sheep. Liked: Excellently drawn landscapes. Hated: The sheep doesn't look very fluffy! **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: Well, the music is kind of weird, unlike most other Game Boy music. I think the effect is acheived by not having a clearly defined melody and instead having several different melodies which are only vaguely related playing. There is plenty of music, though. It does an adequate job of giving that special Worms feel. The sound effects aren't much to hang one's mouth open at, but then other Worms games have had soundbanks to do that (Soundbanks are collections of sound files annotated to be used in-game when certain events happen. There are quite a few available for download over the Internet. For instance, I have one that uses sounds taken from the Budweiser "Wassup" commercial and one that has sounds taken from Starcraft.). Even the default international soundbank from Worms 2 would have taken up an entire megabyte. Plus, the sounds would have made the game sound ugly on the Game Boy. Liked: Music is just bouncy enough. Hated: That Game Boy can't support soundbanks very well. Cross your fingers for GBA! **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: The controls are simple: B to fire, A to jump, double A for a backflip, Select to change weapons, Start to pause, up and down to aim, left and right to move. The game design is much like other Worms games, choosing the best strategic means of attack, choosing your weapon, aiming, and firing. It's much more than that, much, much more, but this review would turn into more of a strategy guide than it already is if I wrote more about that. Liked: It's Worms! Hated: Uses that weird Select button thing like MGS. **************************************************************************** Improve: Higher resolution on GBA, include Ninja Rope and maybe a level editor. Rumble would also be nice. RIYL: Worms, Worms 2, Worms:Armageddon for PC **************************************************************************** Final Words: Ignore all those bad reviews this game has gotten. If you like Worms, this cart is a must buy. If you hate Worms, you're an idiot and you don't deserve to have $25 anyway. Seriously, though, you really have to be a Worms fan to appreciate W:A. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: ***** Graphics: ***** Sound/Music: **** Play Control/Game Design: ***** Personal Opinion: ***** Total: * x 24 Final Score: 96% **************************************************************************** Currently Known Codes: Go to gamesages.com to get the passwords for the themes.