Not to be mistaken for Unnatural Selection, Fault Line creator Nitrome has unleashed its own subversive worm-based browser game. This one, though, takes more of an arcade route and seems to follow the example of Taito’s Syvalion. Mechanically, it seems to; thematically, it’s… you know those old 8-bit games based on horror movies that got flak because you played as Leatherface or Freddy Krueger? Imagine a game like that, based on Tremors.
In Worm Food you play as a ravenous sand worm. Left and right turn; up speeds up; down speeds down. You can burrow through dirt and swim through water. Doing either speeds you up. You can also use your momentum to burst through and leap into the air. The goal is to gobble up as many villagers as possible within the alloted time, and maybe smash as much as you can along the way. As you progress the game introduces new twists, including spike traps, bottomless pits, and impassible stone walls.
Although there isn’t really a huge lot to the game, the action has a great sense of pillow fight catharsis. As you dig around, you leave a winding trail behind you that persists until the end of the level. Whatever you destroy stays destroyed. By the end of a level, you will have made it pretty much your own.
Nitrome has a pretty big back catalog of games, all highly polished, all experimental, and all based around one or two basic mechanics. Generally the strength of the game depends on the strength of the mechanic, and the tunneling/leaping action here works pretty well. It isn’t high art by any means. It is, however, a bit of a hoot. It’s got a charming presentation, it plays well, and it pretty much milks its concept as well as it might.
You can play Worm Food here.
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07/31/2010 05:02 AM
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