Worms

Worms for PlayStation is Team17's 2D turn-based artillery strategy game, published by Ocean Software for Sony's console in 1996. This PlayStation version brings the opening chapter of the Worms series to PS1, staging comic battles between small armed teams on colourful, side-view landscapes. It turns a simple last-team-standing objective into a contest of positioning, timing and improvised destruction, whether played alone against computer-controlled rivals or shared locally with other players.

A match places opposing teams of four worms around a randomly generated battlefield. Players take control of one worm during a timed turn, walking across ledges, jumping gaps and selecting a single tool or attack before play passes to the next side. Every worm begins with a health total, while a long fall can cause damage and the water surrounding the terrain is immediately fatal. Victory goes to the team with worms left alive after the opposition has been eliminated.

The key to Worms on PS1 is judging shots across uneven terrain. Bazookas, grenades, shotguns and other weapons give each turn a different tactical purpose, and the player must account for direction, distance and the landscape between the firing worm and its target. Explosions dig into the ground, leaving craters that reshape safe routes and can send worms tumbling. Crates, mines and explosive barrels add further hazards and opportunities, so an apparently safe position can change with one well-placed attack.

Movement tools are as important as the arsenal. A worm can use equipment such as the Bungee and Ninja Rope to reach awkward ground or descend more carefully, while digging tools can alter a route through the soil. That combination makes the terrain part of the strategy: players can seek height for a clear shot, hide behind a ridge, cut off an approach or try to knock an enemy into the sea. The turn limit keeps these decisions moving, even when the match's broader pace is deliberately methodical.

The PlayStation release retains the series' mixture of cartoon presentation and artillery tactics, with an emphasis on pass-the-controller multiplayer. Up to four teams can compete, and their different starting positions, the terrain layout and the available equipment make successive games play out differently. The underlying premise is intentionally slight; the character comes from the exaggerated weapons, the worms' reactions and the chain of consequences produced by a missed shot, a collapsing bank or a blast near water.

Worms began as a project by Andy Davidson before Team17 developed it into a commercial release, and the game first appeared on Amiga in 1995 before reaching PlayStation and other systems. The PS1 edition is therefore an early console version of the original game rather than a remake or a later sequel. Its destructible battlefields, time-limited turns and local competitive play established the core format that Team17 would revisit throughout the long-running Worms series.