Worms: Armageddon

by Dreamcast

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001OX4N
• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: December 7, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,101 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: Sega Dreamcast

Product Description

Do you ever wonder what all of those worms squirming around subterranean tunnels are scheming? We do, too. As it turns out, according to Worms Armageddon, our wacky segmented friends have a stockpile of crazy weapons and are waging a war big enough to turn the world into a heaping compost pile. Who knew?

Worms Armageddon brings the humorously addictive gameplay of the very popular Worms series to the Dreamcast for the first time. The strategy-based gameplay is as unique as the premise. Commanding a team of worms, players wriggle and shoot through 30 missions and 14 training levels. Players take turns moving a worm warrior into position and then firing at the opposing team, using an arsenal of weapons ranging from mines and kamikaze attacks to the more traditional exploding sheep attack and banana bombs. Naturally, the commander who best combines strategic moves with creative attacks wins the worm war.

Join the throngs of fans of this unique game series and you'll never look at a grinning, gun-toting earthworm in the same way again. --Eric Twelker

GameSpot Review

Do you ever wonder what worms do in their free time? The third chapter of the popular Worms series, Worms Armageddon, has you believe that instead of just hiding under rocks and floating down storm drains, worms are actually ruthlessly militant creatures with boyish British accents. This simple, somewhat innocent premise sets the stage for an excellent turn-based strategy game, as Worms Armageddon is not only the best Worms game, it's also an incredible multiplayer experience. The concept is pretty simple: You control a team of well-armed worms, and your objective is to kill the other worms any way you can. You do this on a 2D plane that's usually a series of odd platforms and objects precariously placed over deadly water. The combat itself takes place in a series of timed turn-based rounds that seamlessly flow into each other. Each of your worms shares a collective arsenal from which you can choose all sorts of weapons - from the devastatingly serious to the laughably wacky. From there, you switch to a manual aiming and firing scheme used to unleash your weapon of choice at the worm you're targeting. This leads to all sorts of havoc, as combat tends to lend itself to poorly aimed explosives and the fun effects they cause. The worms and everything around them have a distinctly animated look to them. Big eyes and oddly shaped household items show the comic-strip influence of the graphics, and combined with the simple 2D layout, it makes Worms Armageddon something of a throwback to simpler times. The detail is simple but effective, and it helps support the humorous themes running through the game's elements. Switching to more offbeat weapons will generally change your character's appearance - a worm will don a headband before administering a dragon-punch, and a worm armed with a battle-ax is also outfitted with a Viking helmet. Explosions and animations are simple - worms shuffle along when you're moving them, and explosives blow up within a pretty obvious radius. Still, more detail to some animations, such as the shotgun fire, could have provided Worms with a bit more graphical prowess and, in turn, could have helped sort out exactly where the blast hit (or missed). Apparently, all worms come from Europe somewhere and have a definite lack of testosterone in their voices. Squeaky, high-pitched speech fills the game with colorful comments from your worm army as you play. If a live grenade is tossed next to you, your worm will scream, "Run for it." If it completely misses, your worm will ask, "What was that?" This effect is only mildly cute and strictly tiptoes the fine line of being annoying. Other sound effects - such as explosions, bouncing grenades, and submachine gun fire - are done well and lend a bit of realism to an otherwise unrealistic experience. Mild, almost unnoticeable music plays in the background and helps you focus on the task at hand. The only particularly bad thing about the audio is the German beer commercial-like Euro-dance that pulses over the title screen. Still, a few button presses, and this is all but forgotten. It's the weapons in this game that make it really fun. Every combat game may have grenades and shotguns, but not a whole lot of them have pneumatic drills, ninja ropes, supersheep, and sticks of dynamite. This huge assortment of instruments used to deal out the pain keeps things fairly fresh and funny, as each weapon has its own silly effect. Still, there are some weapons that are just too powerful, and once you've mastered them, they have a countereffect on the gameplay. On top of that, instead of switching off between worms, the turn system switches off between teams - meaning a team with a single worm will get four turns before four worm on one team goes once. This makes it unduly difficult to kill the last worm on a team, as he easily gets a tactical advantage with his multiple turns. It's terribly frustrating to be killed before you can even get a shot off. Multiplayer is where this game is at. With the Dreamcast’s multiple controller ports, you can easily go at it with up to three friends. And because most players can think pretty quickly, the multiplayer gameplay quickly turns into a barrage of havoc, with grenades and bazooka rounds flying all over the place. The easy-to-pick-up gameplay makes this a great party game, and the ensuing hilarity from the calamity that is bound to happen makes this a game everyone can laugh at. Unfortunately, the single-player game just isn't as good. The computer has eagle-eye accuracy, and down to its last worm it is capable of factoring in wind, trajectory, and ricochet, so it can place that one deadly bazooka shell halfway across a level, through a series of ledges, and right on top of your worm. This makes it all the more frustrating to play against the computer, as it seems to almost cheat. Still, the AI is capable of doing some pretty lame things itself, such as bouncing a grenade back to its sender or shooting the floor out from under itself. But the AI definitely favors certain weapons - the bazooka, grenades, shotgun, and mines are all high on the AI's list of weapons of choice, while the dragon punch, the battle-ax, or the Uzi are almost never wielded by the computer-controlled worms. Unfortunately, even with the Dreamcast's "it's thinking" hardware, the computer still tends to take an extremely long time plotting exactly how it's going to attack your troops, and, as such, you spend a lot of the single-player game just waiting for a worm to make its move. Worms Armageddon is designed so you can play with other people, and the single-player match is really no substitute. If you've got plenty of friends who spend their time lounging around your place, definitely pick this one up for some rewarding gameplay and good laughs. Although the game has its weak points, the solid gameplay and simple control make this game a must-have for anyone who likes to play games with other humans.--Ben Stahl--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More fun than throwing worms at your sister, December 29, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Worms: Armageddon (Video Game)

When was the last time you played a game and laughed so hard that you cried? Never? Well, that's an experience you won't want to miss. So play WORMS: ARMAGEDDON. Although it takes a LONG time to get the hang of (like another DC favorite of mine, Toy Commander, which I haven't reviewed yet), once you get past the very steep learning curve the fun is endless because the game is totally customizable. Create your own team of worms. Name them all, then name your team. Then play on the endless amount of randomized levels (which ensure you'll never play on the same playfield twice if you don't want to--and they all seem actually thought out even though they were generated randomly!), or the incredible and really cool custom levels, and so on and so forth. IT's all quite fun. A couple of gripes though. For one thing the computer is perfect. Although they occasionally blow themselves up, for the most part they make perfect use of wind direction and fuse settings on s to totally screw you up without fail. All of these can be overcome if you have a friend or two, but there's another gripe in that department: it doesn't make use of multiple controllers. I hope you don't mind passing the controller around because you'll be doing this a whole lot. It's worth it for all the fun you'll have though. Exploding sheep, mole brigades, and "Dragon Balls" (read: hadokens) all add to your destructive fun. Although sometimes it's a bit ic, there is NO crude humor in this game, which is a relief after playing South Park, Earthworm Jim 3D, and countless other games full of fart jokes and boogers. One more gripe: The training is not really a tutorial. The manual is too busy trying to be funny to help, adding to the already steep learning curve. Although the training does sharpen your skills, it won't help you learn the game. BUT IT'S SO DARN FUN! 5 stars. Here's a tip: On the Press Start screen, WAIT. You'll see about 10 randomly played FMV sequences that WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH HYSTERICALLY! Enjoy!

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the funnest games ever, December 18, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Worms: Armageddon (Video Game)

Worms Armageddon has 2d graphics and is a very good strategy game, although it may look simple it is actually very deep and the graphics are actually quite good compared to most titles. Even when you know nothing about this game it is still a lot of fun and once you get to know most of the weapons it is a blast! A must buy for any gamer!

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars review for non-professional gamers like me..., December 23, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Worms: Armageddon (Video Game)

Let me begin by saying that I have played video games regularly since I was a young kid in the 1970's, and I have almost every game system ever available in the U.S. BUT, while I am no newbie, I am also not an expert gamer by any means. What I am I think, is a good measure of your average gamer out there. So, if you wonder if average 'ol you will like this game, then read on. Worms has gotten under my skin for some reason despite the fact that I am still no good at it (I haven't figured out how to wield the weapons properly yet). This is a unique and intriguing game, but it is not for those who want fast action and easy gameplay. Worms requires serious patience for many reasons. First, you must wait your turn before you can make a move and the computer is painfully slow. Second, the worms played by the computer are deadly accurate, bordering on Godly in their knowledge of what can be done (for example, in one game I played, my opponent jumped to what looked like his death by drowning, but instead landed on a piece of ground that could not be seen by a human player. Of course, the worm was able to take the perfect shot from that angle). Third, there is no area that walks you through how to actually DO anything. There is an area that they call a training area, but it requires that you already know how to do whatever it is "training" you to do. The instructions are totally insufficient for someone with no previous experience with this game, which is really frustrating to me. Maybe I am an idiot, but I still need more simple, basic help getting off the ground with this game. Still, I can tell that once you know how to play Worms, it must be INCREDIBLE. I love the premise, love the worms, love the zillions of different accents with which you can have them speak, love the weapons, and love the idea of being able to skillfully play it. I just hope I can get there on my own. Do not buy this for a young child or for someone with little patience, but do buy this for someone that is intelligent and intellectually-inclined. I find myself thinking about it while I cook dinner, or while I am taking a shower. You will find yourself strategizing and planning how to kick some serious worm butt throughout the day, which I think is a sign that this is a great game, even if it should have had much more help.

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