Worms: Armageddon

Worms is a game that heralds  fun memories in the minds of many games players. Its comedic presentation coupled with the zany, cartoony weapons has provided players with a great party game that offers hours of enjoyment. Worms: Armageddon, the series' third installment, was originally released for the Sony PlayStation, PC and N64 and is generally considered the finest game in the explosively fun franchise.



Okay, so let's start with the game's overall presentation. For a game that was released back in the early 2000's, Worms: Armageddon still looks beautiful. Sure, nowadays, fans are used to the three-dimensional visuals of the latest releases but the 2D graphics of Armageddon give the game its own charm, presenting the series' trademark quirky landscapes in a cartoony style; in some landscapes, you'll have giraffes and donkeys, in others, piles of car-wrecks - the level design is that random. In terms of the gameplay itself, these levels offer a variety in challenge as players must strategically determine how to scale the landscape, should it be via the use of a few well-timed jumps or even ropes or jetpacks to recah a good vantage point to take out your opponent's worms. When you successfully get from point A to point B, you can't help but be impressed with yourself!

 

The weapon variety in Worms: Armageddon is commendable, offering players a wide range of comedic and satisfying ways to take out their opponent's worms. There aren't many more satisfying moments you can gain than from blowing up a whole group of enemy worms with the Holy Hand Grenade! Likewise, the Concrete Donkey, a contender for the title of Armageddon's most random weapon, that falls from the sky above your opponents, destroying everything, even the landscape that surrounds them. It's the way you can cause complete mayhem in this game that makes it so enjoyable and great for multiplayer.

 

As fun a game as Worms: Armageddon is, its going to have its bad points. The zany fun and antics do start to wane after a while of playing, especially when your worms are dotted in ridiculous places on the landscape and you're forced to spend a couple of turns traveling from A to B before you can finally kill something. Another flaw arises in the form of the game's single player mode; it really does benefit most from having multiple players in the room (or online on WormNet if you have the PC version), mainly because the enemy AI can become predictable after a while and you have no-one with which to trade banter through the game. The game's single player mission mode, although it tries to challenge the player, again, suffers from a lack of multiple players and most missions are so difficult that you'll end up wondering why you're playing them in the first place when you could be indulging in the excellent multiplayer mode.



However, I wouldn't let any of the aforementioned flaws of the game detain anyone from playing it. Worms: Armageddon is a fun and engaging multiplayer party experience that will appeal from the most casual gamer to the most hardcore, which is rare in a game. By providing players with a large array of weapons and levels thanks to its random level generator, Armageddon contains hours of fun and replay value.