The Worms series has been alive and exploding worms since the old 8-bit Nintendo.

The newest in the series from Team 17, Worms Armageddon, adds features and improves slightly on its most recent predecessor, Worms 2.

The game is a team vs. team game. While there is a one-player mode, it comes to its full potential in multi-player mode, either with several people hunched around one screen, mouse and keyboard, or via a Local Area Network (LAN) or an Internet server.

Teams consist of warrior worms that can be customized with names to your liking and even sound files. Our team members found sound schemes for everything from "The Simpsons" to "Pulp Fiction."

So rather than a missed shot resulting in a scolding from a worm with a high-pitched voice, you can hear Homer Simpson yelling "D’oh!"

Teams take turns trying to eliminate all of the worms not on their team. If you were a worm, how would you take out the enemies? Team 17 decided to give the worms 60 different choices, all with their own quirks, tricks and situational uses. The favorites on my team are the Holy Hand Grenade (paying a little homage to Monty Python), the banana bomb, which explodes and then distributes several clusters of volatile bananas. There’s also the Super Sheep, capable of bleating its little heart out before donning a cape and taking to the sky in an explosive kamikaze mission.

Sound weird? It is - but it was instantly addictive and fun to play with a group of people. The game builds on the old game Scorched Earth, in which opposing tanks fired at one another relentlessly with a plethora of weapons.

Most everything can be customized in the game, giving great and varied play. Players can build the landscapes and choose which and how many weapons to start with. There are so many options I’ve yet to totally tweak all the settings.

The game play is very similar to Worms 2. A few weapons have been added, while others areabsent. The biggest additions are improved graphics on each landscape and a couple of more powerful weapons.

Sadly, the multiple random cartoon intros that Worms 2 started up with are gone and they are sorely missed.

But side by side, Worms 2 and Worms Armageddon are pretty much the same game. Neither will disappoint you when you’re looking for a fun multiplayer game with a bit of a sense of humor and a lot of options.

Team 17
Rating: ages 11 and up
Requirements:
Pentium-100,
Windows 95/98,
32 MB RAM,
2x CD-ROM,
50 MB free hard drive space, 1 MB SVGA card,
16-bit sound card

Originally printed in the News & Observer and NandoNext.

When I sat down to play RollerCoaster Tycoon, I meant to play maybe for an hour. I ended up playing it for eight hours straight.

The object of the game is to build and manage an amusement park, not just roller coasters, as the name may suggest.

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The gaming industry goes through trends. For a while, it was all about the fighting games, like “Street Fighter II” and “Mortal
Kombat.” Now the industry is pumping out a lot of control-some-ground-forces-and-blow-up-the-enemy type games. There are a lot of gems out there, such as the “Command and Conquer” series and “Total Annihilation.” But there are lots that are a waste of time. Red Storm Entertainment’s “Force 21″ is one of the latter.

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The movie was the big bomb of the summer theater circuit. The game is a little better than the film, but not much.

Wild Wild West, the game, from SouthPeak Interactive, features really nice, highly detailed graphics that are just fun to sit back and look at. The cinematic introductions between parts of the game are nice the first time around, but like most intros, become annoying after the first few times and end up being skipped.

The game features two distinct types of play. One is the puzzle element, which is like many other games out there, especially those created by the likes of LucasArts and Sierra, where you look, pick up and use items together to solve problems. There’s nothing groundbreaking here. The problems are fairly simple to solve and maneuver through.

The second facet of the game has James West, the hero, shooting against the bad guys. Again, the graphics are great, but the controls are severely lacking. SouthPeak seemed to want to add some realism by making the guns have a little kickback, which translated into targeting being tedious with the mouse.

After firing, the gun moves from the kickback and your character swings his arms slightly. Any increase in realism is outweighed by a corresponding increase in annoyance.

Sorely missed is Will Smith as James West. The 3-D rendered character looks and sounds similar to Smith, but it’s obvious that it isn’t him. Games based on movies and shows need to have the real actors involved to make the game the most it can be. The sound-alike voice is OK, but lacks Smith’s pizzazz.

The game really looks nice, but besides that, there’s not a whole lot that makes Wild Wild West stand out.

If you were one of the few fans of the film, check it out. It does follow the movie loosely. But in terms of being a genuine adventure game, you’re better off snagging any of the LucasArts titles on the shelf.

SouthPeak Interactive
Requirements:Pentium-233.
3D hardware accelerator recommended,
Win 95/98,
32 MB RAM,
8x CD-ROM,
SVGA capable of 800×600,
PCI/AGP video card with 2MB
Rating: Teen
(animated violence, blood)
** of ****

Originally printed in the News & Observer and NandoNext.

Whenever the name Westwood Studios appears on a new game, I automatically have a desire to at least check it out. Westwood’s Dune and Command & Conquer series helped pave the way for an entire new genre of games on the PC, flooding the market with real-time strategy/action games.

The newest in the series, Tiberian Sun, builds on the already established Command & Conquer and Red Alert.

Westwood doesn’t do anything extraordinary in this newest version of the game, but like the others it’s fun and has great replay value.

Tiberian Sun is set in the future, with two warring factions, the GDI and NOD, each with their own buildings, soldiers and military units.

The game is a cross between Sim City and a strategy fighting game. Using the mouse, the player has complete control over each unit and is able to build structures, which in turn enables new options of other structures and units to build.

One of the coolest new features (but also the most annoying when it happens to you) is the added risk of harm from explosions and debris.

An attacking unit coming at my base might be stopped and destroyed, only to shower my units and buildings with debris, damaging them. It’s more realistic and a great feature, but equally frustrating.

Some of the vehicles and weapons in the game are just plain fun. The Titan is reminiscent of the huge Imperial Walkers from Star Wars, though Tiberian Sun’s units pack a little more punch.

I’ve found that once I can air-drop a Titan into an enemy base, it’s all over. The Walker fires a high-powered rail gun that can shoot through multiple units, destroying even the toughest structure with a few shots

The interface is almost identical to the previous games and game play is similar. Westwood did a lot of tweaking to make the game more interesting — it features 3-D terrain and burnt-out cities, and mountains rise out of maneuverable maps — but there’s really nothing innovative here.

For example, one new feature — units that get better as they fight longer — has been done by other game makers. Players looking for an all-new game are going to be disappointed. It’s still addictive and great fun, but like a lot of sequels, much of it is "been there, done that."

Westwood Studios
Rated: Teen 13+ (animated violence)
System Requirements:Pentium-166, 32MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM, SVGA w/ 2MB, mouse, sound board, Windows 95, Windows 98
$44.99
*** of **** overall
* of *** for originality

Originally printed in the News & Observer and NandoNext.

Count the number of games that start with the word Sim. There’s the original — Sim City and two sequels. Then you have SimLife, SimAnt, SimCopter and now even just The Sims. Bullfrog/Electronic Arts just added Sim Theme Park to that list and really should not have.

Bullfrog was the original creator of the amusement park simulation, Theme Park, for the PC. That game was ahead of its time and is still fun to play. While updated, Sim Theme Park already has a competitor that plays much better: Rollercoaster Tycoon.

The biggest annoyance is the animated adviser. The thing reminded me of the pop-up assistant in Microsoft Office, except this one won’t shut up. It would benefit from a little bit of variety. I can’t tell you how many times he told me I was this close to reaching my next goal. (Unfortunately, you can’t use the cursor to strangle the guy.)

His tips and hints were very repetitive. Annoyingly, he would frequently warn of an imminent breakdown of a ride — five seconds before it would happen, not enough time to react. (Bullfrog really should have looked into a “strangle” command.)

The graphics are great and the ride animations are cool, but there just aren’t enough. Research gets you more, but it’s a slow process and I went on for a long time, getting every shop, attraction and piece of scenery that I could. I also spent a lot of time twiddling my thumbs (and acknowledging ride breakdowns).

The people management is cool, hiring grounds keepers, entertainers, security, etc. based on skill level. But the prices of things were skewed. I was selling balloons for $35 apiece, and paying a janitor $80 a month. Admission to the park started at $20. This did not seem very logical.

Sim Theme Park means well and looks good, but I found myself wanting to play Rollercoaster Tycoon the whole time I built my initial park in STP.

If the desire comes to build your own Disney World, pick up RollerCoaster Tycoon and leave the newest Sim on the shelf.

Bullfrog Productions
System requirements: Windows 9x (NT not supported)
200 MHz or faster Pentium MMX/AMD K6,
300 MB hard drive space,
32 MB Ram,
4MB PCI/AGP video card
** of ****

Originally printed in the News & Observer and NandoNext.