App review: Death Worm

Death Worm

Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS

Price: £0.59

Death Worm is an iPhone game that lets you take control of a giant subterranean worm, which- as the title suggests – doesn’t helpfully fertilise the ground, but wreaks havoc and death upon humanity.

The game is split into 45  levels, each one requiring you to complete objectives such as racking-up 20 kills in under 40 seconds, or making 10 kills without taking any damage.

The levels are more like arenas, with fixed boundaries, and are themed around three different environments – jungles, deserts and cities. Each one begins by pitting you against civilians that can’t do much else other than run away in terror.

But humanity doesn’t take too kindly to being eaten by giant worms and before you know it the army gets called in and you have to battle tanks, helicopters and even UFOs.

Controlling the worm is simply a case of using your left thumb to move around and leap out of the ground to hit your target head-on. Power-ups and extra points are awarded for making a number of kills in quick succession and global high-scores can be viewed via the iPhone’s Game Centre.

Worm vs Worm

Death Worm will probably sound very familiar to those of you who have played Mega Worm, the other iPhone game in which you play as a giant worm. In fact Mega Worm and Death Worm are – on paper – pretty much the same game.

But Death Worm hones its concept into a much neater package. It doesn’t have the same retro charm as Mega Worm, but its controls and physics feel more intuitive and it has a much quicker pace to its gameplay.

Death Worm won’t win any awards for its graphics – and it may be more for hardcore gamers than casual ones – but developers Play Creek have done a great job at making a fun, intuitive and addictive point scoring arcade title, which at £0.59 (for a limited time) is also great value. If you only have the stomach for one ‘giant-worm-wreaking-havoc-on humanity’ iPhone game this Christmas, then Death Worm is the one we recommend.

Pros

Smooth and intuitive control system.

Intense fast paced action.

You get to play as a giant worm!

Cons

May be a bit too ‘old school’ and hardcore for casual gamers.