''Worms'' is a series of
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
tactical video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s developed by British company
Team17
Team17 Group plc is a British video game developer and publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. At the time, the two co ...
. In these games, small platoons of
anthropomorphic worms battle each other across a deformable landscape with the objective being to become the sole surviving team. The games are noted for their cartoony animation and extensive use of surrealism and
slapstick humour
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...
.
The game, whose concept was devised by
Andy Davidson, was described by the Amiga gaming press as a cross between ''
Cannon Fodder
Cannon fodder is an informal, derogatory term for combatants who are regarded or treated by government or military command as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where combatants are forced to deliberatel ...
'' and ''
Lemmings
A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...
''. It is part of a wider genre of turn-based
artillery games involving
projectile weapons; similar games include ''
Scorched Earth'' (1991), ''
Gorillas
Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...
'' (1991) and ''
Artillery Duel'' (1983).
Games
PC and console games
*
''Worms'' (1995 video game) (1995)
** ''
Worms: The Director's Cut'' (1997)
* ''
Worms 2
''Worms 2'' is a 1997 artillery tactical game developed by Team17 and released for Windows. It is part of the ''Worms'' series and a sequel to the 1995 game ''Worms''. As with the first game, players control their team of worms in combat a ...
'' (1997)
* ''
Worms Armageddon
''Worms Armageddon'' is a 1999 turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Team17. It was originally released for the Microsoft Windows operating system, and was later ported to the PlayStation (console), PlayStation, Dreamcast, N ...
'' (1999)
* ''
Worms World Party'' (2001)
* ''
Worms 3D'' (2003)
* ''
Worms Forts: Under Siege'' (2004)
* ''
Worms 4: Mayhem'' (2005)
*
''Worms'' (2007 video game) (2007)
* ''
Worms: A Space Oddity'' (2008)
* ''
Worms 2: Armageddon'' (2009)
* ''
Worms Reloaded
''Worms Reloaded'' is a 2D artillery turn-based tactics video game developed by Team17 that is part of the ''Worms'' series. The game was first released on Microsoft Windows via Steam, on August 26, 2010.
''Reloaded'' is a port of '' Worms ...
'' (2010)
* ''
Worms Ultimate Mayhem
''Worms Ultimate Mayhem'' is a 3D Artillery game, artillery turn-based tactics video game developed by Team17. The game is a re-release of ''Worms 4: Mayhem'' with improved graphics. It features all-new content, story mode voice acting by Guy Harr ...
'' (2011)
* ''
Worms Revolution'' (2012)
* ''
Worms Clan Wars
''Worms Clan Wars'' is an artillery turn-based tactics game developed by Team17 and is part of the ''Worms'' series. It was released on Windows on August 15, 2013, but is now also available on Mac OS X and Linux.
A console port, '' Worms Battleg ...
'' (2013)
* ''
Worms Battlegrounds
''Worms Battlegrounds'' is a 2D artillery turn-based tactics video game developed and published by Team17 and was released on 30 May 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Set within a world history museum, the single-player story follows th ...
'' (2014)
* ''
Worms W.M.D'' (2016)
Handheld and mobile games
* ''
Worms: Open Warfare'' (2006)
* ''
Worms: Open Warfare 2'' (2007)
* ''
Worms: Battle Islands'' (2010; also released on
Wii)
* ''
Worms 3'' (2013)
*
''Worms 4'' (Mobile) (2015)
Spin-offs
* ''
Addiction Pinball'' (1999)
* ''
Onlineworms'' (2001)
* ''
Worms Blast'' (2002)
* ''
Worms Golf'' (2004)
* ''
Worms Crazy Golf
''Worms Crazy Golf'' is a 2011 action game developed by Team17. A sequel to the mobile-exclusive '' Worms Golf'', the game uses the basic framework of the ''Worms'' series as the foundation for a 2D golf title.
Gameplay
The game utilizes a si ...
'' (2011)
* ''
Worms Rumble'' (2020)
Collections
* ''Worms United'' (1996; included ''Worms'' and ''Worms Reinforcements'')
* ''The Full Wormage'' (1998; included ''Worms United'', ''Worms 2'' and ''Worms Pinball'')
* ''Worms Triple Pack'' (2002; included ''Worms 2'', ''Worms Armageddon'', ''Worms World Party'' and ''Worms Blast Demo'')
* ''
Worms Collection
''Worms'' is a series of artillery tactical video games developed by British company Team17. In these games, small platoons of anthropomorphic worms battle each other across a deformable landscape with the objective being to become the sole su ...
'' (2012; included ''Worms (2007)'', ''Worms 2: Armageddon'' and ''Worms Ultimate Mayhem'')
Gameplay
''Worms'' games are
turn-based
In video and other games, the passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. This is usually done in one of the two ways: real-time and turn-based.
Real-time
Real-time games have game time progress cont ...
artillery games presented in 2D or 3D environment. Each player controls a team of several worms. During the course of the game, players take turns selecting one of their worms. They use whatever tools and weapons are available to attack and kill the opponents' worms, thereby winning the game. Worms may move around the terrain in a variety of ways, normally by walking and jumping but also by using particular tools such as the "Bungee" and "Ninja Rope", to move to otherwise inaccessible areas. Each turn is time-limited to ensure that players do not hold up the game with excessive thinking or moving. The time limit can be modified in some of the games.
Over fifty weapons and tools may be available each time a game is played, and differing selections of weapons and tools can be saved into a "scheme" for easy selection in future games. Other scheme settings allow options such as deployment of reinforcement crates, from which additional weapons can be obtained, and
sudden death where the game is rushed to a conclusion after a time limit expires. Some settings provide for the inclusion of objects such as land mines and explosive barrels.
When most weapons are used, they cause explosions that deform the terrain, creating circular cavities. The types of playable terrains include "island" (terrain floating on a body of water), or "cave" (cave with water at the bottom and terrain at both top and bottom of the screen that certain weapons such as "Air Strike" cannot go through; this type is not available in 3D versions due to camera restrictions). If a worm is hit with a weapon, the amount of damage dealt to the worm will be removed from the worm's initial amount of health. The damage dealt to the attacked worm or worms after any player's turn is shown when all movement on the battlefield has ceased.
Worms die when one of the following situations occurs:
* When a worm enters water (either by falling off the island, through a hole in the bottom of it, or by the waterline being raised above the worm during sudden death)
* When a worm is thrown off either side of the arena
* When a worm's health is reduced to zero
Weapons and tools
The ''Worms'' series is notable for its extensive variety of weapons. With each new game that is released, weapons are added, though many were removed in the 3D versions for gameplay reasons. As a result, the 2D series has accumulated 60 weapons, and the 3D series 40 weapons.
The weapons available in the game range from a standard timed grenade and homing missiles to exploding sheep and the highly destructive Banana Bomb, both of which have appeared in every ''Worms'' game so far. The ''Worms'' series has seen weapons such as the iconic
Holy Hand Grenade
The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog is a fictional character in the Monty Python film ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail.'' The scene in ''Holy Grail'' was written by Graham Chapman and John Cleese. The rabbit is the antagonist in a major set piece ...
, the Priceless
Ming Vase and the Inflatable Scouser.
Some of the bizarre weapons in a particular game are based on topical subjects at the time of the game's release. The Mail Strike, for example, which consists of a flying postbox dropping explosive envelopes, is a reference to the postal strikes of the time, while the Mad Cow refers to the
BSE
BSE may refer to:
Medicine
* Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, a neurodegenerative disease of cattle
* Breast self-examination
Stock exchanges
* Bahrain Stock Exchange, Bahrain
* Baku Stock Exchange, Azerbaijan
* B ...
epidemic of the 1990s. The French Nuclear Test, introduced in ''Worms 2'', was updated to the Indian Nuclear Test in ''Worms Armageddon'' to keep with the times.
Other weapons are inside jokes. The MB Bomb, for example, which floats down from the sky and explodes on impact, is a cartoon caricature of Martyn Brown, Team17's studio director. Other such weapons include the "Concrete Donkey", one of the most powerful weapons in the game, which is based on a garden ornament in Andy Davidson's home garden, and an airstrike known in the game as Mike's Carpet Bomb was actually inspired by a store near the Team17 headquarters called "Mike's Carpets".
Since ''Worms Armageddon'', weapons that were intended to aid as utilities rather than damage-dealers were classified as tools. This classification mainly differs in the fact that they do not fall in ordinary weapon crates, and instead appear in toolboxes. Many tools were left in the wrong class for the sake of keyboard-shortcut conveniences. This was resolved in ''Worms 3D''.
Some weapons were inspired from popular films and TV programs, including the
Holy Hand Grenade
The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog is a fictional character in the Monty Python film ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail.'' The scene in ''Holy Grail'' was written by Graham Chapman and John Cleese. The rabbit is the antagonist in a major set piece ...
(from ''
Monty Python and the Holy Grail'') and Ninja Rope (named the Bat Rope in early demos of the original game).
History
Creator
Andy Davidson is the creator of the original ''Worms'' video game by
Team17
Team17 Group plc is a British video game developer and publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. At the time, the two co ...
. The game "Worms" is based on the 2D classic "
Artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
", and originally did not feature worms, but the ''
Lemmings
A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...
'' from the popular game of the same name.
Background
Davidson was working on a program called "Jack the Ripper" for the
Amiga personal computer, which allowed him to trawl the residual contents of
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
after applications had been run and quit. In this way, he "ripped" the graphics from Lemmings, and used them while developing his version of "Artillery". The original name of the game was ''Lemartillery'', and it was created purely as a bit of fun for him and his school friends in 1993. The positive reaction he witnessed encouraged him to develop it further. Knowing he could never commercially release the "Lemmings" characters, he changed them to worms and changed the name of the game to ''Total Wormage''.
Development
Created as an entry for a
Blitz BASIC
Blitz BASIC is the programming language dialect of the first Blitz compilers, devised by New Zealand-based developer Mark Sibly. Being derived from BASIC, Blitz syntax was designed to be easy to pick up for beginners first learning to program. T ...
programming competition run by the ''
Amiga Format
''Amiga Format'' was a British computer magazine for Amiga computers, published by Future plc. The magazine lasted 136 issues from 1989 to 2000. The magazine was formed when, in the wake of selling '' ACE'' to EMAP, Future split the dual-format ...
'' magazine, a cut-down version of the programming language having been
covermount
Covermount (sometimes written cover mount) is the name given to storage media (containing software and or audiovisual media) or other products (ranging from toys to flip-flops) packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper. The name comes from the ...
ed previously. The game at this stage was called ''Total Wormage'' (possibly in reference to ''
Total Carnage'') and it did not win the competition. Davidson sent the game to several publishers with no success. He took the game to the
European Computer Trade Show
The European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) was an annual trade show for the European video game industry which first ran in 1988, the last event being held in 2004.
The exposition was only open to industry professionals and journalists, although it w ...
in London in September 1994, where Team17 had a stand. Team17 made an offer on-the-spot to develop and publish the game. It subsequently evolved into a full commercial game, renamed ''
Worms Worms may refer to:
*Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs
Places
*Worms, Germany
Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...
'', available initially for the
Commodore Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
. As the game was popular, it was regularly released for other platforms.
During the development of ''
Worms 2
''Worms 2'' is a 1997 artillery tactical game developed by Team17 and released for Windows. It is part of the ''Worms'' series and a sequel to the 1995 game ''Worms''. As with the first game, players control their team of worms in combat a ...
'', Davidson wrote ''
Worms: The Director's Cut'', a special edition produced for the Amiga.
''The Director's Cut'' would be the last ''Worms'' game released for the Amiga.
For ''Worms 2'', the engine was redesigned using
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
's
DirectX. The game would overhaul the series' visuals, dropping the darker tones of its predecessor and adopting a more cartoonish look. ''Worms 2'' would be the first game in the series to introduce internet play. The following release, ''
Worms Armageddon
''Worms Armageddon'' is a 1999 turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Team17. It was originally released for the Microsoft Windows operating system, and was later ported to the PlayStation (console), PlayStation, Dreamcast, N ...
'', featured the series' first campaign mode and was initially intended to be released as an expansion pack for ''Worms 2''. ''Armageddon'' marked the introduction of "WormNET", an online services which required registration and provided leagues and ranks. A variety of "schemes" have been developed by the WormNET community that are often played instead of the official schemes created by Team17. Some schemes have "rules" agreed to by the players but not enforced by the game itself.
''
Worms 3D'', released in 2003, was the first installment of the series with three-dimensional gameplay. The game features a 'poxel' engine, described as a hybrid of
polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...
s and
voxel
In 3D computer graphics, a voxel represents a value on a regular grid in three-dimensional space. As with pixels in a 2D bitmap, voxels themselves do not typically have their position (i.e. coordinates) explicitly encoded with their values. I ...
s (the 3D analogues of pixels), which allows for pseudo-realistic
terrain deformation
In video games, the term destructible environment, or deformable terrain, refers to an environment within a game which can be wholly or partially destroyed by the player. It may refer to any part of the environment, including terrain, buildings an ...
similar in style to the 2D games, in which the terrain was represented by a
bitmap
In computing, a bitmap is a mapping from some domain (for example, a range of integers) to bits. It is also called a bit array or bitmap index.
As a noun, the term "bitmap" is very often used to refer to a particular bitmapping application: t ...
. The game was followed in 2004 by a spin-off, ''
Worms Forts: Under Siege'', and the fourth-numbered sequel, ''
Worms 4: Mayhem'', in 2005. In the same year as ''Worms 3s release, Team17 would announce the cancellation of ''Worms Battle Rally'', a
karting game that would allow players to frag their opponents.
''
Worms: Open Warfare'', a handheld game was released in March 2006, returned to the original 2D gameplay and was considered to be a remake of the first ''Worms'' game. In addition to
a sequel,
a console port of ''Open Warfare'' would be first released on
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...
in 2007. In turn, the port would be followed by 2009's ''
Worms 2: Armageddon'', which was directly inspired by ''
Worms Armageddon
''Worms Armageddon'' is a 1999 turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Team17. It was originally released for the Microsoft Windows operating system, and was later ported to the PlayStation (console), PlayStation, Dreamcast, N ...
'', and tries to mimic the game's physics and several other aspects. ''Worms 2: Armageddon'' would itself be ported to home computers as ''
Worms Reloaded
''Worms Reloaded'' is a 2D artillery turn-based tactics video game developed by Team17 that is part of the ''Worms'' series. The game was first released on Microsoft Windows via Steam, on August 26, 2010.
''Reloaded'' is a port of '' Worms ...
'' in 2010.
In an attempt to revamp the series' gameplay, ''
Worms Revolution'' was released in 2012. ''Revolution'' was a
2.5D
2.5D (two-and-a-half dimensional) perspective refers to gameplay or movement in a video game or virtual reality environment that is restricted to a two-dimensional (2D) plane with little to no access to a third dimension in a space that other ...
game that features a class-based mechanic, with each class having their own advantages and disadvantages. ''
Worms W.M.D'', released in 2016, introduced vehicles to the series.
Reception
While initial installments were generally praised, later games in the series have been criticized for the lack of meaningful additions.
[ In 2001, ]Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
quoted '' Worms World Party'' reviews with comments such as "it's virtually nothing more than an expansion pack for ''Worms Armageddon''" and, as ActionTrip's Dejan Grbavcic put it: "And I thought that only Eidos was impertinent enough to keep selling the same game with a slightly different name...". In 2007, ''IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' included the ''Worms'' series in its list of game franchises that have jumped the shark
The idiom "jumping the shark" was coined in 1985 by Jon Hein in response to a 1977 episode from the fifth season of the American sitcom ''Happy Days'', in which Fonzie (Henry Winkler) jumps over a shark while on water-skis. The phrase is pej ...
.
Sales
The ''Worms'' series is commercially successful. Its combined sales by January 2002 had reached 6 million copies. By May 2014, 60 million copies of the games in the ''Worms'' franchise had been sold since launching in 1995. By December 2015, the 25th anniversary of Team17, the franchise has sold over 70 million game units. By March 2020, the 25th anniversary of Worms series, the franchise has sold over 75 million game units.
Awards
Titles in the franchise have received a variety of awards.[Team17]
Worms franchise awards
*"Most original game" - EMAP Awards
*"Best game" - BBC's Live & Kicking
*"Most original game" - ECTS Awards
*"Best game" - Micromania Awards
Micromania-Zing, formerly Micromania is the major video game retail company in France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territ ...
*"Best strategy title" - PSX Developers
*"Strategy game of the year" - EGM
*"Best strategy game" - Trophee d'or
*"Multiplayer game of the year" - GMBH
References
External links
*
*
{{Team17
Artillery video games
Multiplayer hotseat games
Turn-based strategy video games
Fictional worms
Video game franchises introduced in 1995