Super Mega Worm may sound like some low-budge horror movie,, but it is an outrageous 2D retro gaming romp that puts you in control of a giant worm known as ‘Wojira’, on a mission to destroy the human race. Yes, you read that correctly, you’re controlling a big friggin worm eating his way through wave after wave of tasty human morsels.
To navigate Wojira, players have their choice of two control schemes, tilt or slider, both of which also have dynamic ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons. Personally I just could not get the hang of the tilt controls, but after a bit of practice, the slider control works quite well. By sliding your finger left or right, it allows you to pretty much change directions on a dime. That being said, I think a d-pad type control would require less ramp up time, would feel a little more familiar and natural and complete the game’s NES-like feel. Fortunately it appears that this is already on Deceased Pixel’s to do list. Another option would be to eliminate the static positional slider and instead have a virtual relative slider wherever the player decides to touch the screen.
The “playing field” is split into underground and above-ground worlds. While underground, Wojira is safe from enemy attack and players can tap/hold the A (gas) button to help propel the worm faster to build up some momentum before blast its way through the Earth, allowing it to achieve higher jumps. Once above ground, you’ll see a nice variety of enemies and yummy treats including soldiers, tanks, planes, helicopters, women, babies, cows, trucks and more. Players can strike vehicles from below to launching them into the sky, hopefully taking out some other enemies in their path. Or vehicles can be struck from above, by jumping up and onto them. When Wojira strikes a vehicle in this manner, he will launch into the air like a diver propelling off his springboard, allowing players to hit airplanes and other flying object with Wojira’s dangerous spit. This is really where the game shines and where you can have the most fun with absolutely absurd and chaotic destruction. To make the game more difficult, you can enable “tremor” mode where everything above ground is blacked-out, until Wojira bursts forth out of the ground below.
On the right side of the screen there is a count of the number of humans one must consume in order to get to the next level. Eating multiple objects at the same time will earn some big combo points. As the time passes enemy attacks and Wojira’s own fierce metabolism will cause his health to drop, so it is important to keep eating objects or humans in order to maintain your health meter. Progression through levels, also unlocks some really cool power up abilities like acidic spit and EMP. While in the air, pressing the A button shoot spurts of toxic spit acid at the unwitting targets. If a player can gain enough height, then, instead of spitting, the A button performs a devastating “Meteor Slam” which actually causes the action on the screen to shake and blur (a very cool effect that would be even cooler if the device vibrated as well). Beating several more levels, will enable the ‘B’ button, allowing Wojira to activate a temporary EMP burst. When used, this EMP burst, temporarily slows everything down and does some serious damage to certain enemies. The EMP power can be recharged by collecting glowing purple crystals from underground.
The game was just updated adding a couple of nice new features including Game Center support and the ability to continue where you left off when you die. Although, your score will be reset back to zero, if you choose to continue. One unconventional aspect of these abilities, is that once they are unlocked, they are forever available, meaning that when you start a new game back at level one, Wojira will retain his spitting and/or EMP abilities if they’ve been unlocked in a previous game. While this does make the slowness of the earlier levels a little more bearable, players must use their EMP sparingly as there are no crystals to recharge in the games’s earliest levels.
Super Mega Worm features some sweet 8-bit graphics that gives the game a cool NES-era feel to it. The animations are smooth and Deceased Pixel has included some really cool visual effects, like the aforementioned screen blurring with the “Meteor Slam”. Deceased Pixel has also thoughtfully included a nice chiptunes soundtrack which fits the game perfectly, adding to the retro feel. When you sink your teeth into the panic-stricken civilians, you’ll hear their screams of pain agony as the 8-bit blood is spattered across the ground.
In Conclusion
With it’s fun 8-bit graphics and primary goals of destroy as much as you can and get as high of a score as you can, Super Mega Worm feels like a classic arcade game. At times the gameplay can feel a bit repetitive, but that’s not unexpected given the style of game. There is just something cartharthic about it, allowing you to just zone out and wreak havoc. I wish the game ramped up a bit faster, because it is the most fun when things get extremely chaotic in the later levels. Deceased Pixel is obviously committed to building the title, with one update already out the door and a nice roadmap of additional features including new power ups, achievments and a new game mode planned. The absolute absurdity of Super Mega Worm is what makes it so amusing! If you are in need of a fun outlet for a little carnage and mayhem then I’d recommend scooping up this little slice of retro fun while it’s still on sale for 99¢.
Want a FREE copy of Super Mega Worm?
Deceased Pixel has been kind enough to give us a bunch of codes to giveaway. There are three ways to participate, each will earn you ONE entry to win a code:
- Follow @OTGGamer and tweet the following message “I want to win a copy of Super Mega Worm from AppAddict.net and @DeceasedPixel #BigWorm”. Note: Tweeting multiple times WILL NOT increase your chances to win, only your first tweet will count toward the contest, so no need to spam your followers.
- Leave a comment below, saying why you’d like to win a copy.
- Click here, become a fan of AppAddict.net on Facebook and either like or leave a comment on the post for THIS review/contest.
Each method above will earn you one entry into the contest for the five promo codes, regardless of method of entry, you are only eligible to win one promo code per person. Don’t worry, your email address is not visible to anyone but us and will only be used to contact you regarding this contest.
The giveaway will run until 11:59 PM EST on Thursday September 16, 2010.
Codes are good for US iTunes accounts only.
