Computing runs down from 20 to 11 in its all-time ranking of the best Amiga games from yesteryear
18. Worms
Worms may appear superficially harmless (besides the parasitic kind, which we won't go into here), and may even be claimed by gardeners as their friends, but thanks to the game first released in 1995, we now know them for the war-mongering, bazooka-toting pugilists they really are.
In essence Worms is a squad-based combat game where players take turns to attempt to wipe out the enemy team, using a range of weaponry and skills.
Interestingly, it was originally created by Andy Davidson as an entry (brilliantly called ‘Total Wormage' at the time) in the Blitz BASIC coding competition run by the Amiga Format magazine. It didn't win the competition, and in fact was turned down by several publishers when Davidson subsequently hawked it around. But when he went to the European Computer Trade Show, he met with Team 17 who made him an offer on the spot, and a hugely successful Amiga (and other formats) series was born.
The game has spawned an impressive list of sequels across just about every format imaginable, so we won't list them here. Suffice to say that just about every conceivable way in which one animated annelid can mete violence out upon others has been fully explored in the Worms pantheon of games.
The original was loved by fans who bought it in their droves, although it garnered mixed (although largely positive) reviews. Some reviewers criticised the game for being repetitive and slow. Hopefully none of them ever tried chess. Now whatever happened to that game? (Hint: we'll find out shortly).
