Death Worm

Worms are solitary creatures. They contribute to the decomposition of nutrients into the soil, and without them the ground would lose some of its richness, resulting in lower crop yields and an increase in hunger worldwide.

They are greatly underappreciated, which makes them very grumpy.

Perhaps that's the reason Death Worm is going on a rampage. It’s clearly miffed about something, but one thing it shouldn’t be angry about is the quality of the game it stars in.

Worm food

The objective of Death Worm is to eat as many people, animals, and vehicles as possible without being killed by the oppressive Human regime. You control an entity closely resembling the giant deadly worm in Dune, slithering underground and popping up every so often for a quick snack on whatever you can see passing by.

You start off small and fairly slow, but as you meet each goal (things like ‘eat ten people’ or ‘eat 20 people without taking damage’) you get to choose an upgrade. Choices include speed, skin toughness, size, and so on. Eventually, you’ll become a speeding Leviathan that can launch itself into the air and take down military helicopters.

Basically, it’s Nokia’s Snake meets the movie Tremors.

The third segment

Thanks to the Xperia Play’s controls the creature handles quite well, using either the left touchpad to steer and accelerate or the D-pad to steer and the X button to accelerate. Collect enough of the power-ups and you can also use a nitro boost and a fireball attack using Square and Circle.

Since your thumbs don’t take up space you also get a better view of the entire screen, giving Death Worm a little more 'wiggle' room.

It’s great fun circling round for a pass and taking a swipe at that unsuspecting police officer, or avoiding tank rounds later in the game when things get tougher. Yet it can get repetitive after protracted play, and there isn’t much variety to the upgrades you can apply.

Lack of ecological recognition aside, Death Worm is probably angry because nobody wants to hang out and play for very long. But, all in all, Death Worm handles well and offers up a decent gaming snack.