Worm War I

"The Worm Kaiser stole our word for twenty!"

Once again I return to the best of the third-tier third party developers for the Atari 2600. While certainly no Activision or Imagic, 20th Century Fox managed to turn out games with a quality record that US Games could only dream about.

Today's subject is an overlooked gem called ''Worm War I''. The city of ''Teriyaki'' (Hey, I didn't write this!) seems to have a worm infestation problem, and the Teriyaki authorities have decided the best course of action is to call in the tanks. You are in the position of a tank commander in what generations of the future will come to know as ''Worm War I''!. Over there! Over there! It's not over 'til it's over over there! Sorry, got carried away.

The first thing you're going to notice when you begin your tour of duty in ''Worm War I'' is that it is ugly. The graphics are nowhere near the quality of anything from Imagic or Activision during this time period, and they are also below 20th Century Fox's usual standards as well. Very basic representations of the worms and your tank are the norm here, and there were no attempts at any sort of graphical flairs or flourishes. The city is riddled with ''blocks'' (even the manual doesn't try to pass them off as buildings) and there is a crudely drawn ''fuel pagoda'' that crops up occasionally. Let me put it this way, games like ''E.T.'' and the notoriously ugly ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' look state of the art next to ''Worm War I.''

However, good game play can overcome bad graphics. WWI has the groundwork for a solid game. Your tank scrolls upward along the play field, avoiding/shooting blocks and worms, while grabbing fuel from the pagodas. Rather than have a set number of lives, you have limited amount of fuel, and when the fuel is gone, it's ''Game Over.''

It's just not enough to offset the graphics however. If a little more development time had gone into WWI, it may have been in contention for ''Best Game from 20th Century Fox.'' That honor still belongs squarely with ''Turmoil.''

I don't dislike ''Worm War I'', but it's not my favorite game in the world either. This is one of those ''style over substance'' issues, and it's how you feel about ugly, but fun, games that will ultimately decide how you will feel about WWI.

I'm on the fence here. 5/10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/03