Developer ? Team 17 Number of Players 1-6 offline/online/LAN ESRB Rating ? E for Everyone (Violence, Mild Language) System Requirements IBM PC Intel Pentium 100Mhz and compatibles. 32Mb System RAM. 2x CD-ROM. Microsoft Windows 9x/ME. (Win2k/XP with v3.0.5.0 update) SVGA. 2Mb Video RAM. 1 CD per machine for Multiplayer Mode.

Introductory Comments

Worms Armageddon is a 2d turn-based strategy game that takes teams of cute, harmless-looking worms, and arms them with an arsenal of over 50 unique weapons and utilities, including bazookas, grenades, shotguns, and even exploding sheep. The goal is to take out the opposing team(s) by any means necessary.

Game play

The basic game goes like this ? 2 or more teams of worms take turns attacking each other. A simple concept, but one that requires strategy and skill. Knowing which weapons to use and when to use them is crucial, since each one is distinctively different. The landscape is completely destructible, and almost any weapon can blow holes in it. Weapons such as the Blowtorch and Pneumatic Drill are meant for digging through the terrain. The land is usually surrounded by water, and often one of the easiest ways to kill a worm is to simply knock it into the water. Aside from being able to blast each other to bits, the worms are also very mobile little creatures. They can jump in three different ways, or simply walk on their own, but with the use of teleports, parachutes, bungees, and other useful items, they can do a whole lot more. With the ninja rope, your worms can freely swing from place to place like they?re Spider-Man. You can make your own terrain using the game?s built-in editor, or basically any image-editing program. I?ve made several using MS Paint. You can also customize your own weapon schemes, choosing which weapons/utilities will be available, how powerful they will be, etc. All of this allows for some very interesting possibilities. People have come up with dozens of different user-made games to play, using custom schemes and maps. The most popular are games revolving around the ninja rope. If you choose to play online, you should be able to learn some of these games pretty quick.

Multiplayer

WA is a great multiplayer game. Up to 6 people can play together, either on a single computer, over the Internet, or over a LAN. This is where much of the game?s lasting appeal lies. It?s easy and fun for multiple people to play on one PC due to the game?s turn-based gameplay. If you have too many people, however, it gets a little crowded around the keyboard, unless you have a wireless one that can be passed around. LAN and Internet games work much the same. There?s a handy chat window that appears when you press the ?Page Down? key, and then goes away when you press ?Page Up,? so it doesn?t get in your way while it?s your turn. Hosting a game is easy to do, but not possible if you?re behind a firewall. There are usually other games to join though, so the inability to host isn?t too bad.

Singleplayer

No friends? No Internet? No problem! The singleplayer portion of the game is great too! You can choose to play a regular game against the computer, compete in deathmatches of increasing difficulties, train with different weapons, or attempt missions. The missions are the singleplayer game?s bread and butter. There are tons of missions to complete, but before you do, you need to complete training. Training requires you to efficiently utilize different weapons by shooting targets, collecting crates, or completing other goals in a limited amount of time. Missions usually require you to collect a certain crate or kill the opposing force with limited supplies. The different settings and equipment for each mission really do add variety though. Each mission gets increasingly difficult, and I have to be honest and say I haven?t completed all of them. By completing missions and other goals in singleplayer, you can unlock cheats and other goodies.

Graphics

Everything is pretty sharp and cartoon-like. It all fits the spirit of the game so well. The worms make different facial expressions depending on their situation. There are many different screen resolutions supported, going up to 1280x768 with the current 3.6 beta patch. You can also import your own graphics for level terrains, the flag that represents your team, and the gravestones that replace your worms when they die.

Sound

Explosions make a booming sound like they would in a cartoon. Many weapons have their own unique sound effects ? Sheep say ?Baaah,? Madcows say ?Moo,? Holy Hand Grenades sing ?Hallelujah,? etc. Worms often say funny things, depending on their voice, or soundbank. You can choose from a big list of voices and victory music, or you can import your own.

Appropriateness

There is obviously violence, though it is all cartoon-like. Optional blood effects can be unlocked. When a worm dies, it blows itself up and is replaced by a customizable gravestone. Mild language is rare, though present in a few of the soundbanks and mission briefings. I?ve encountered d---, a--, and h---. There are some suicide attacks, as well as exploding animals and old ladies. All of this is comical though. There are also a couple rather morbid terrain sets, including one called ?Hell.? Anything else you see or hear online is because of the people who you?re playing with, and there?s not much you can do about that. There is an optional language filter you can use in the main lobby, but unfortunately it doesn?t work for in-game chat. All in all, I wasn?t offended by any part of the game itself, though I would have left out the language.

Closing Comments

I should thank my brother-in-law for introducing me to the Worms games. It quickly became one of my all-time favorite game series. I can easily recommend it to just about anyone. There is very little to be offended by, and it is incredibly fun. You should be able to find them pretty cheap these days too. Armageddon is sold separately, and included in the Worms Triple Pack in the US, which includes two other great Worms games, (Worms 2 and World Party) as well as a demo of Worms Blast. If you haven?t played any of the Worms games, I suggest that you do so today. Armageddon has probably the largest online community, and new content and bug fixes are being added all the time, thanks to Deadcode?s work on the patches. You can download the demo at the official website, and see if you like it before buying it.