| A l'occasion de la sortie de Worms Open Warfare sur PSP et DS le 24 mars prochain, Team 17 nous propose un petit historique des jeux Worms, du premier sur Commodore à nos jours.
Worms: Open Warfare, Not a Developer Diary #1
With the imminent release of “Worms: Open Warfare” for the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS, let’s take a look at where the game originated and how and why it’s evolved over the years…
A Brief History of “Worms”
“Worms” first began life on the Commodore Amiga, back in the early nineties. The original creator of the series, Andy Davidson, was a college boy at the time and when faced with a choice of doing his A-levels, or seeking a career in the games industry, Andy chose the latter.
| The game was originally developed under the moniker of “Total Wormage” and entered into a competition run by Amiga Format, for the best homegrown computer game. Andy’s entry didn’t win the competition, but he had faith in his efforts, and continued to try to drum up interest in the game by sending copies to various European publishers and developers. Andy’s efforts were eventually rewarded, when in 1994 he met with UK
publisher/developer Team17 Software, at the European Computer Trade Show. Team17 spotted the potential of the game immediately, and a deal was struck there and then which saw Team17 help further develop the game and also publish it. |
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Perhaps the only surviving screenshot of the original demo
that made it to the ECTS, “Total Wormage”!
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| “Total Wormage” underwent a name change, and with the help of Team17 the graphics were improved and the game was tweaked and refined. The original “Worms” was initially released for the Amiga, and was a huge commercial success, such a success in fact that it spawned a host of add-on packs and sequels and was also ported to practically every other format of the time.
As they say, “the rest is history…” |
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Although often referred to as a “cult classic”, Worms gained
widespread popularity, especially after release in other
territories, and upon the home console formats,
such as the PlayStation. |
They’re Evolving!
The “Worms” series has continued to evolve up to this day. The original version received enhancements in a number of different ways, including the release of the expansion pack “Worms: Reinforcements” and the much improved “Worms: Directors Cut” for the Amiga. With the updates, players received weapon upgrades, new single player missions, the ability to use an in-game landscape editor, and with “Worms: Reinforcements”, play
one on one using dial-up modems.
| The next major release in the series was for the PC only. “Worms 2” saw a complete overhaul of the original game and included lots of new ideas. The worms themselves sported a fresh new look and they had access to more weapons than ever before. Team 17’s imaginations were allowed to run wild, manifesting in such ludicrous new weaponry like the flying “Super Sheep”, the explosive tambourine tapping “Sally Army”
and the docile but dangerous “Homing Pigeon”. Of course, with the rise of the internet it was only a matter of time before “Worms” went online, and with the release of “Worms 2” they were soon crawling all over the internet. The “Worms” games are best known for multiplayer mayhem, and giving players all over the globe the opportunity to face off thanks to the power of the net was a total no brainer! “Worms” was now online, and
a fledgling internet community was beginning to grow around it. |
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“Worms 2” was a marked departure from the previous
graphical style of “Worms”. The increased size of the
characters allowed the developer to pack much more
personality into the little blighters!
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| The next two titles, “Worms: Armageddon” and “Worms World Party”, continued Team17’s trend of offering continued refinements to the game, without fixing what wasn’t broken in the first place. Key improvements were made to the game’s single player missions and online capabilities. These titles were to first to introduce “WormNET”. “WormNET” is still running to this day, and is a chat room style server that was
designed to take some of the sting out of organising online matches. It provides a great place for players of all abilities to meet-up, trade tips and organise competitions. |
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“Worms World Party’s” “Worm Net 2”.
A place for players of all abilities to meet, make friends…
and err… smash each other into tiny pieces.
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| Of course, the biggest update in the series was when the game moved into 3D! The release of “Worms 3D” saw battles take on an entirely new dimension. “Worms 3D” was the first ever videogame to contain completely deformable landscapes; just like its 2D older brothers, if you could lay eyes on it - you could destroy it! “Worms 4: Mayhem” took the same ingredients, spiced them up a little and baked them at a
higher temperature. The game included a slew of new weapons (like the popular “Sentry Gun”) and took customisation to a new level. It was now possible for players to create their own weapons, and customise the looks of their armies. “Worms 4: Mayhem” was the last title in the series, but bringing us right up to date now is the release of the new boy. Ladies and Gentle-worms, I now give you: “Worms: Open Warfare.” |
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Worms 4: Mayhem: The Sentry Gun in action.
The construction worker is admiring his handiwork,
and we’re not talking about the scaffold. |
“Worms: Open Warfare” is a return to the series’ roots, featuring classic game-play harking back to the earlier games. The worms do battle once more in two dimensions and this new handheld title features everything that makes “Worms” so popular! Players can create their own armies, battle through up to twenty single player challenges and face each other in multiplayer battles; even with just a single system !
With an almost infinite number of randomly generated landscapes, and six different environments to choose from, the worms will never be founding wanting for a remote island to blow up.
| Worms can duke it out upon the planes of the arctic, in the far reaches of outer space, deep in the bowels of hell, beneath jungle canopy, upon sun kissed Hawaiian beaches, and perhaps most frightening of all: beneath the smoggy skies of London. “Worms: Open Warfare” retains everything that makes “Worms” so great, including all the classic weaponry and the crazy squeaky utterances of the worms themselves.
With over 50 sound-banks to choose from, the little guys are never short of a comment or two regarding their perilous predicaments. |
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The depths of Hell: warm, but certainly not without its faults. |
“Worms” on the Small Screen
“Worms: Open Warfare” makes for a neat little handheld game. You don’t have much time on your hands? Got a bus to catch but need your quick “Worms” fix? Fear not, you’re safe in the hands of the “Quick Game” option.
| Can’t afford to go out tonight? Got time to kill? Have no fear, “Worms: Open Warfare” has a few challenges in store! The artificially intelligent worms (we like to call them “Wormbots”) are standing between you and victory. Each Wormbot has its own distinct personally; there is a personality for everyone! The Wormbots are either Reckless, Vengeful, Cocky, Strategic or (perhaps a little like someone you know)
Stupid. If you’re a “Worms” newcomer we can show you the basics via the game’s Tutorials, so there’s no need to worry – you’ll be up and wriggling very quickly in no time. |
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The Sony PSP version makes use of the portable powerhouse’s advanced graphics processing to allow for beautiful 3D background location effects. You’ll almost feel the chill in the arctic night, and feel as if you can fill your lungs with the… *cough* *cough* “air” of London’s street.
The Nintendo DS edition makes use of the system’s unique touch screen capabilities, and selecting weapons and picking out opponents upon the island is made all the more intuitive.
The worms are waiting, and they’ll be out there soon – slithering across the current handheld platforms in an entirely new outing.
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