WORMS
VARIOUS, 1995
By the mid-Nineties, Team17 had fostered an excellent range of videogames, chiefly for the Commodore Amiga market. But with that computer’s popularity dwindling, it decided to branch out with its next game, requiring help from a third-party publisher. The game was Worms, a light-hearted artillery tactical title that brought an idiosyncratic sense of humour to the death and destruction. Devised by Andy Davidson, each player controls a squad of annelids, selecting weapons and tools to eliminate the enemy over a series of diverse scenarios. The simple playability of Worms endeared it to a large audience, with the game appearing on an assortment of formats, including the Mac, Game Boy and PlayStation, and the game would come to define its developer. Ocean also published Worms: The Director’s Cut in 1997 before its relationship with Team17 ended.