Just a Peek - Fun Four From Feral (Part I): Worms 3D

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New Column, Same Guy

I can't believe that Bryan, my editor, let me get away with this; I must have caught him on a good day: He's giving me another column to write. In this column, I get to play with all kinds of stuff, then tell you what I think of it. Look at it as a casual review, a peek at something that might be of interest to you. My reviews won't be covering every nuance of the featured product, my goal is to give you an idea of what a product is all about, pointing out good as well as the bad.

I'm going to be peeking at just about anything and everything, some of it not directly related to Apple or its products, but that's OK, because Apple fans are not a herd of one-trick ponies; we get into all sorts of stuff.

Which brings me to a serious request: If there's some device or software you'd like me to take a peek at, drop me a line and let me know about it. If the manufacturer is willing, so am I.

I thought about using a rating system, but even that seems too formal, so you'll just have to read through the article. I'll try to keep the columns short; the operative word being 'try'.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the column and find the info I present useful and entertaining. Now, let's take a peek.

Four From Feral

Gaming on the Mac has never been better, especially if you have one of those dual processor monster G5 Power Macs Apple sells. With such processing power, any game, no matter how many pixels, polygons, frames, or shading effects it has, is easy pickins.

The problem is that most of us don't have a dual G5 monster sitting under our desks. If we're lucky, we may have a two year old G4 iMac sitting on our desk. As game machines go, these older Macs may not cut the mustard when it comes to playing bleeding edge polygon-pushers like Doom3, but for a wide variety of other games that demand less horsepower, your aging iMac is just the ticket to a good time.

I took a peek at four such games from Feral Interactive, and I gotta tell ya, no matter what your gaming taste may be, there's something in this four course gaming feast that is bound to satisfy your appetite.

The four games are Worms 3D, XIII, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, and Total Immersion Racing. I'll divide the review into four parts, each part dedicated to one game. The first in this fabulous foursome is a slither-fest of destructive proportions: I give you Worms 3D.

Cute Can-O-Worms

I believe Worms 3D is a game that can be best described in one word: Cute!

Not cute in the dimples, ribbon, and baby fat cute, or even the bouncy, care free, puppy dog cute. No; when I use 'cute' when referring to Worms 3D I mean Saturday morning with a bowl of Honey Coated Sugar Bombs soaking in a half quart of milk, and eyes glued to the TV cute.

Worms 3D is about as close as you might get to playing one of those old Saturday morning cartoons, the ones were slapstick violence was taken for what is was, funny. The nicely animated characters, worms, of course, are as cute as can be, and the levels that they romp in look as if they came right out of a Looney Tunes feature. What's more, between levels there are little vignettes, a la Spy vs. Spy, that are a hoot to watch.

Wassup?

Basically, Worms 3D is a strategy game and turn based combat game rolled into a cartoon-like environment.

The game play is simple: members of your team of worms gets a chance to move and shoot at members of the opposing team of worms, then they get to move and shoot at you; sort of like chess, but with bazookas. The team with the last worm standing, or I suppose slithering is more accurate, wins.

Sounds simple enough, right?. Now throw in a hodgepodge of weapons -- everything from shotguns and hand grenades, to sheep (yes, sheep) -- and a complex three dimensional landscaped, then toss in the ability to modify the environment using 'utilities', and you've got the makings of a really fun and (dare I say it again) cute game.

The weapons, as I said, are many and varied, and it takes a bit of practice with each to get the hang of using them. The same is true for the utilities, which can help your worms build bridges and scaffolds to allow them to get into areas that they could not normally.

Game controls are a little clunky, but you'll get the hang of it easy enough. At first, I found the keyboard and mouse controls somewhat non-intuitive, but after a short while, I was blasting worms with the best of them.

I've mention the scenery, but it bears mentioning again because each level is based on a theme and has something whimsical about them.

I had a blast just going through the tutorial, but there's so much more to Worms 3D than just a bunch of levels: There are three gaming choices to pick from; a quick one round game where you pit for worm blasting skills against a computerized team, a campaign option, where you have missions to complete before moving on to another level, and a challenge option where you try to complete a level before the allotted time runs out.

Wormy?

Once you feel confident enough, you can also challenge other players, either on the same Mac (it is turn based after all) or over the Internet via GameRanger. Loads of fun there, I can tell you.

If I had to pick at something in Worms 3D to gripe about, it would be the music; which, in my opinion, is the sonic equivalent of pabulum, especially in the setup screens, but that's a very minor annoyance that is easily compensated for by listening to your iPod while playing.

Worms 3D played well on my 800mhz G4 iMac (512MB), the graphics were crisp and colorful, and the little movies in between levels played without any pauses, hesitations, pixelations, or other digital anomalies. Each level takes a bit of time to load, but I don't believe that even sufferers of Attention Deficit Disorder will get bored between rounds.

Due to solid game play, and interesting graphics, Worms 3D is one of those games that you'll come back to time and again because it is a different game every time you play it. When you go up against other players on the Net, you'll find that Worms 3D really shines. Who would have thought that blasting worms could be such a, um, blast?

Next up in part two of this Feral four-parter is a first-person shooter that requires a bit more than the reflexes of a Shaolin Monk, the dexterity of an assembly line robot, and the attention span of a five years old on two cups of espresso; I'm talking about the computer game that thinks it's a graphic novel: XIII.

See ya next column!

is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He's been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.

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