Worm

I got worms!

Every so often, I come upon something so ridiculous it's weirdly enjoyable. Well, today I found an absurd game called Worm which I can imagine was made for kids. Oddly enough, the big kid within me still found it very amusing. Worm was developed by Craig Graham of Data Uncertain Software and is a public domain release (shocker). The title screen says it was released in 1991 but the game files are time-stamped 1989 on my floppy disk so who knows... Maybe a default?

The story is, we're a worm called Ooey Gooey who is on a mission to save the world from an unnatural disaster. Yep, we have been invaded once again by monsters that threaten our very existence. These nasty creatures have they've taken all the worm's eggs so it's our job to rescue those before it's too late (hey, do worms actually lay eggs?).

Wow, I've just googled it and worms do indeed lay eggs!! On that note, I think we better see some screenshots...

The title screen oozes a professional presentation easily on par with the Bitmaps ;)

There is a designer used to create your own levels. Look what I've started making...Hmm!

Let's play

There are 25 whacky levels and each is displayed side-on like many platformers. Using the joystick, Ooey can crawl along the ground, ledges, and other objects looking for eggs. This isn't exactly mind-blowing but there are some located in high areas and worms cannot fly so how can we grab 'em? Well, it's a good job Ooey has a hidden gadget - a helicopter pack! This is actually pretty cool and he uses it to reach those dizzy heights no worm was ever designed to see.

Don't be too quick to rush off and collect the eggs because there are other items for points and helicopter fuel. Also, there are power-ups like extra lives, invulnerability, and ice - used to freeze both enemies and everything else. Once all the eggs are collected, we are automatically whisked onto the next room to repeat the task on a slightly tougher level.

Interestingly, the main menu has a scroller but it's incredibly lame!! However, it does mention about a possible cheat code "Craig Loves Andrea". Perhaps it's for the high score table or maybe a key combo? I didn't have any luck but YMMV. If anyone's still reading this review, then let me know in the comments below.

And that's about all there is to this bizarre game. It's dead simple to play and quite enjoyable in a terrible way...

Leave the title screen alone and you get to view the instructions.

The evil eyeball looks drunk!

The CryptO'pinion?

To be honest, there's not a whole lot to this game and its design feels very amateur with crude aesthetics. Weirdly, I actually found the concept humorous, and enough to warrant writing about it. I really admire what Craig was trying to achieve but sadly, the sprites are far too big and this also comes with a bunch of truly dreadful collision detection too.

Sadly, this spoilt what might have been a silly and childishly enjoyable game. Regardless, it's worth downloading especially if you have kids - who might need punishing for spending all your money and ruining your life. Whaaaat?

You can find this game and lots more over at Exxos' excellent Floppyshop archive (GAM-3341)