Weeeeeeoooooooooo, Weeeeeeoooooooooo, Weeeeeeoooooooooo, Blough, Blough, Blooouuuggghhhh, Bllllllooooooouuuugggggggghhhhhhh.
The PC squeaker effects in this classic are so memorable. I sometimes imagine those squirly blibbledy broogloguglup noises during movies or games that have weak explosion noises. To myself of course… never out loud… definitely not in the middle of meetings or randomly around the office… ehhem. 👀
Anyway, this classic was one of my absolute favorite games back in the day. I would play for hours and hours adding additional matches and buying up all of the weapons. This was one of the few games that I played with my younger sister. We would team up and take on the computer players, and then I would cruelly obliterate her. I felt bad (except when I didn’t…) and would let her win occasionally. It was a great time.
There have been dozens of clones over the years, some of them went on to be far more successful (Lookin’ at YOU Worms series) but this will always be my hands down favorite. Recently there have been a couple of games on Steam that are worth mentioning. ShellShock Live and Tank Wars Anniversary Edition. The former being a game I have played a fair bit and the latter being one I’ve only just discovered. TW:AE appears to be a fairly faithful recreation with an artistically retro look but some newfangled lighting effects. I will likely pick it up and give it a whirl at some point. ShellShock Live is excellent and absolutely worth playing if you enjoyed Tank Wars.
Let’s see here, where was I?
The AI has various tactics that are based on their name and their ability to cope with some of the mechanics of the walls and weather. I recall many a match where I was one of the first to get obliterated and then the remaining AI couldn’t hit each other. Watching them repeatedly lob back and forth until either they kill themselves or the mercy lightning erodes enough of their landscape to drop them to their deaths. Mr Stupid, as you would assume, tends to kill himself more than others. The rest have strengths and weaknesses that I will let you discover for yourself. (Or, I guess here… read this. Sorry for the ads there. I can’t stand taboola…🤮 )
In my opinion the recipe for maximum fun from this game is you vs 9 computer players with random walls and random wind. Crank up the game count to 99 so you’ve got a good shot to earn some dough and buy some big weapons (Seriously, the big nuke is BIG). Then kick back, watch some A Team on your combo 14” TV / VCR and lob away your bombs. I love it when a plan comes together.
Man, I’m drowning in nostalgia over here. I really wish I could find the creator of this game and pay him for this game several times over. If you’d like to experience it you can check it out over at archive.org, right from your browser. This game maintains a lofty position in my top 10 most favorite games of all time. Mr Morse, thanks for this absolutely perfect game.
Till next time, stay healthy and safe!
