The Worms series of games has it’s roots in the earliest recesses of computerized gaming, as a spiritual successor to the various ‘artillery games‘ like Scorched Earth. At their core, you have two teams of cartoony worms facing off, firing weapons ranging from simple shotguns to homing missiles to holy hand grenades to the super sheep. Many of the games also have a campaign mode to work through, but the real meat and potatoes of the game is playing against someone else.
Once you get a feel for selecting and firing the various weapons, the Worms games -and I’m speaking mostly of the 2D games, from Armageddon (1999) on up – hit the sweet spot for games you can play against just about anyone. It’s easy enough to blow yourself up that even if you are terrible, you can have a good time playing. It helps that you can customize your team of worms with various voices such as Angry Scots, Aussies and the like. Even the computer is good enough to occasionally humble even a decent gamer, but playing against a friend is the absolute best. Mocking them when they shoot a rocket an inch in front of them and blow their own worm to smithereens, or howling in frustration when they make an impossible shot not only knocks you down, but puts you next to a mine – or in the water.
If you’ve never played a Worms game before, you can get Worms: Reloaded on Steam for about $20, and that’s PC or Mac, though you will see it on sale for less at times. There are also Worms games (both in 2D and 3D forms) for various other platforms such as the PSP, DS, Wii and Xbox. This Amazon link has sources on some of those.
Everyone should play one of the Worms games if you can. They are great fun.
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