Worms United

Now that takes me back to my final primary school years. Hard to believe this is almost 25 y.o. But hell, it was marvelous back in the days, and still is. Like many have said, I' also one that the first game influenced the most. I played some later games, but this one still is #1 for me. I played for 3 hours today and the fun tastes just the same it did 25 years ago. Those who know this title will agree that it's pure old school and sentiment at its finest. Up to a maximum of four players (people and/or A.I.) using one, yes, one computer, keyboard and mouse. Show me any modern game that will service up to four people like the Original Worms. This game has so many neat features: the banana bomb, the mole bomb, the sheep bomb, kamikaze, ninja rope, bungee rope, the drill and so much much more. Plus so many things that can be modified in the options menu. Just make your own settings, ask a few firends and go on a total rampage blowing up and shooting hapless pink worms. Plus those adorable animated movies that played just before a match. It's something one can play casually or hardcore. I don't need to recommend this to anyone who played it. But I do challenge you younglings, who have never seen it to try some old school fun.

This might not look as good, be as refined or have as many features as the later entries in the series but it remains one of the most fun. The main theme music is so good. The crude cutscenes are super charming and the gameplay is simple yet effective. This is very much a classic and weather you play this on the Sega Megadrive, Amiga, PS1 or PC you are sure to be having some exceptional fun. Especially if you are playing with a friend.

A great 30 minutes of mayhem. Everything you could want and nothing less, easy to learn hard to master.

I wasn't gonna write a review for this, but seeing the review section I've decided it is needed, just to give anyone who ISN'T a Worms fan yet (and I do mean "yet" ;)) a clear understanding just what the heck is going on here. First of all: what is "Worms"? Well, this and virtually every other title in the series is a MULTIPLAYER (there are single-player modes, but they are NOT why you buy these games) game that allows friends to sit down to it (either online or via hotseat) and blast each other with bazookas, granades, mines, dynamite, bananas... wait, what? It's true - for all the "carnage", Worms series always took a more comedic approach to violance with its cartoonish graphic, ridiculous sound and wacky arsenal. So yes - you have your average uzi, flamethrowers etc., but you can also smash your opponents with old women, mad cows or even holy hand granades. The gameplay is turn-based and (for the most part) highly customizable, so you can adjust most aspects to your liking like round time, number of rounds, the length of a turn etc. And that's really all you need to know about "Worms" as a series... maybe with the addition that I have NOT met a person who played the game in multiplayer and have not enjoyed it. The original "Worms" started it all and pretty much every title that followed used that same formula... but most of them added to it. This is why I cannot agree with the claims of many reviewers that this is "the best Worms game ever", because nearly ANY other installment in the series offers AT LEAST the same amount of fun, but a greater variety of custimization. Yes, for the sake of minimalism, "Worms United" is sufficient, but realize that further Worms titles allow up to 6 players to play a single game (United is maxed out on 4), provides with a greater amount of option to make your team more unique (aside from naming it and every worm within, you can choose flags, hats, even forts in some versions... and voice packs; so many voice packs :D) and give you a much greater control over HOW you want the match to the arranged. "Worms United" falls short compared to later titles in LITERALLY every one of these categories. Plus the graphics of the original Worms have not aged that well, while the one used for later, 2D titles are pretty much timeless and look just as good as they did back in the day. To sum up: "Worms United" IS still a VERY GOOD game, make no mistake about it... but if you wanna start you adventure with the series and have no nostalgia for it from the early days, than pretty much any other title available on GOG (Worms Forts being the exception) is a much BETTER choice in my opinion. Particularly "Armageddon" (the pinnacle of the series, as most fans would claim) and "World Party" (basically "Armageddon" but with greater customization within the game) are a much more worthy entries. "W.M.D." (which offer most changes to the gameplay since "Worms 2") could be considered an "modern-day Worms" and is pretty good (though, personally, I still like Armageddon and World Party better) and "Worms 2" is a decent transition between this and "Armageddon". And if you have a different Worms 2D game in your library, there's EXTREMELY little point of buying "Worms United", unless you want a full collection. Plus, at the current price (around 5$ as of this writing), I find it to be pretty high, especially since you can have "Armageddon" for not much more. Also of note is that both "Armageddon" and "World Party" receive fan-made content (voice packs and maps mostly) even to THIS DAY. That is saying something.

When they talk about many sleepless nights, they ain't kidding. I probably spent as much time playing as I did hunting for funny sound banks for my teams. Can't wait to see more of the WORMS franchise make its way onto GoG. Tried it on PS2, but it's so much better on PC.