Review: Worms - The Director's Cut

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                    Review: Worms - The Director's Cut
                            By:  Ken Anderson 
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Worms - The Directors Cut (AGA)
By: Ken Anderson

Team 17 / Ocean

It's sad that Team 17 seem so resigned to the fact that the Amiga games
market is dead.  They've stated it countless times before, but as the last
paragraph in the Worms - The Directors Cut manual is titled "Bye Bye" [and
gives their thanks and sendoff to the Amiga...  -Jason], maybe this time
they really mean it when they say this is their last Amiga title.  It's
especially sad, as Worms DC is fine game, far better than some of the crap
Team 17 were foisting on the Amiga 3 years ago (anyone remember ATR? 
Didn't think so).

I can't honestly imagine there's anyone reading this who hasn't played
Worms in some shape or form, but to summarise the gameplay: players take
turns to fire various weapons at each other across an uneven landscape. 
Whoever stays alive the longest wins the match.

Of course, Worms adds more to this: dozens of weapons, wacky battlegrounds
and silly samples.  It's became as much as part of the Amiga as Lemmings
and Zool, and Amiga owners can feel proud that the game that's taken every
platform by storm, from the PC to the PlayStation, started out on the
Amiga.

Worms DC doesn't add too much; instead, it enhances what's already there. 
The graphics - in particular the backgrounds - are now far prettier, with a
pleasing parallax effect and an alleged 300+ colours in total.  Cavern
levels have been introduced - the playing area has a roof, which renders
air strikes useless, but does allow the use of "batropes" to swing across
chasms.

One interesting new addition is the "graffiti" mode, giving the player the
chance to draw their own level within the game.  This is actually more fun
than it sounds - use the mouse to scratch down a base landscape and the
computer will then add the peripheral objects to clutter up the playing
area.  Now you can battle on your initials without going through the
rigmarole of loading paint packages, saving bitmaps etc.

If you really want that truly custom landscape, Worms DC has improved
facilities for custom battlegrounds; in fact, a small GUI utility is
included for just this.  Factors such as gravity, background colours, water
type and even the quote that appears at the start of each level can be
altered, and already Aminet is filling up with more custom landscapes from
avid players (methinks it's time for game/worm, Urban)

There's a few new weapons, some more for effect than practical use, but
with names like Old Woman, Mad Cow and Sheep-on-a-rope, there's enough
entertainment value just finding out what each one does to keep you going
for a while.  Some of your armoury from the previous Worms has been subtly
enhanced - for example, it is now possible to choose which direction an air
strike will fire from.

Every Amiga gamesplayer should have a copy of Worms; it's a fine blend of
action and strategy that works well and is genuine fun to play, especially
against human opponents.  I'm not sure if there's quite enough different in
Worms DC to convince the occasional Worms player to buy it, but if you
played the original to death and are eager for more, or just have a
hankering to blow up your friends with furry mammals, grab Worms DC now.

Pros: The ultimate Worms. Looks good, plays well and is as silly as ever.

Cons: It's still just Worms - nothing radically new.

Worms - The Directors Cut is distributed by Ocean and should be available
from your local stockist, priced at 19.99UKP.

[Quick note: The title of WormsTDC is somewhat confusing since the original
Worms starts up with a note designating it "The Director's Cut." However,
this is in fact not the same game.  WormsTDC starts up with a big spinning
grenade.  That should keep you clear as to which is which.  -Jason]

Team17
Longlands House
Wakefield Rd
Ossett, West Yorkshire
WF5 9JS
United Kingdon

http://www.team17.com

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