|1-I've got Worms.


            Review of Worms on the A1200 by WiZzard/Carnage.

Well,  Team17  have  done  it again.  That's right, they buggered up the
hard-drive  install script.  When will they learn?  Ah well, I saw sense
and  used  Opus  to  copy all the files from disks one and two (not disk
three, as I don't speak any other language fluently apart from English).
Got  it  running from Workbench.  I hit the sleep option by accident and
find  that  a  Workbench  reappears and a little gadget box appears with
Worms written in it.  I find eventually that the only way to get back to
the  game  is  by  closing  the  gadget window.  The options seem fairly
comprehensive  and  there's  plenty  to  choose  from.  There's also the
uncannily  fabulous  feature  of naming the teams.  So you can name your
team  as  your heros and your opponents as your worst enemies.  I know I
enjoyed blowing the crap out of them even more when I did this!

The gameplay is superb.  With a worthy opponent, games could go on for a
good  few  hours.  The computer opponent, though is a little too perfect
for my liking.  Control is via the mouse and keys (or a CD32 joypad, but
I  don't have one).  The mouse controls the screen, so you can look over
to  where  you  want  to aim and the cursor keys move your worm left and
right.   The  up and down cursor keys moves your worms aim.  Enter makes
your  worm  jump or rebound off something that is too high to jump on or
over.   Space fires the selected weapon and if space is held down before
being  let  go,  determines  the power of the weapon.  Oh, and the right
mouse  button  chooses through your available weapons and the left mouse
buton sel\ects the weapon that the mouse pointer is on.

The  main  thing to take into consideration (if you have it switched on)
is  the  wind.   A  scale  on the screen tells you which way the wind is
blowing  and  at what speed.  This means that you have to compensate the
power  and aim for the wind factor.  This can be used to good effect, as
if you aim into the wind, it can be blown back and can often reach those
previously  hard to reach places.  Also there are mines.  These are very
deadly and I often mistake them for parts of the landscape.  If there is
a  group of mines, avoid them as you would avoid the plague, as they are
extremely dangerous.  The only good thing about mines is that if you aim
right, you can blow a mine into or onto your enemy, causing mass damage.

Another  point  to  make  is  the  excellent  speech  samples.  They are
excellent  and  often  cause  me  to laugh.  If they tend to get on your
nerves,  though, you can easily change them via a bit of work in Opus or
Cli.  There's also instructions on how to build your own levels.

The  thing  that  is  distinctly  lacking in Worms is music.  There just
isn't  any  at  all.   I would have appreciated something playing on the
title screen, maybe something like Sensible Software's recent "songs".

Another  thing  is that you pay out £20 for the game, but every time you
load  it  in,  you have to look through a booklet (!) of codes.  Oh, and
these  codes  are  black  printed  on black, so you have to hold it at a
wierd  angle  to  the light in order to read the blasted thing.  I think
that this is unfair, as it is only going to be hacked out anyway when it
is released by the crackers.

It's  also  a  pity  that  the  Amiga  version  doesn't  have  the zoomy
in-and-outy bits like on almost all the other versions.

Anyway,  apart  from  the minor discrepencies, this game has a lot going
for  it.   It  might  not  be  "the  game" of 1995, but it's pretty good
nonetheless.  I'll be playing it for a while to come, anyway.

TITLE:  WORMS.
PRICE:  £19.99.
WHERE:  GAME.
MANUAL: FUNNY, WELL WRITTEN.
PROTECTION: OH DEAR..

GRAPHICS: Could've been A LOT better, functional though.      > 76% <
SOUND:    You really get a feeling for those poor worms.      > 87% <
PLAYABILITY: This is what keeps the game going strong.        > 90% <

VERDICT: Very playable. Could've been much better with more attention
         to it.
                        FINAL MARK:     > 89% <

WiZzard/Carnage.

End