Game Reviews

Super Mega Worm

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| Super Mega Worm
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Super Mega Worm
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| Super Mega Worm

Considering the undoubted inspiration taken from the giant sand worms that menaced the sci-fi world of Dune, it's surprising Super Mega Worm is firmly set on (and under) terra firma.

The destruction of all things human is your goal as you undulate your giant annelid through the soil, breaking the surface to chomp down on the cows, people, ostriches, police cars, and young mothers with strollers who wander above.

Indeed, your super mega worm is a ruthless creature, leaving bloodstains on the ground and mothers' cries of "My Baby!" hanging in the air. The super mega worm doesn't care, of course.

He doesn't have ears.

Mouth of doom

Demonstrating chunky 8-bit graphics and simple arcade gameplay, the game gives you the goal of levelling up by destroying the requisite number of humans in each stage.

Your energy bar is constantly draining, so you always need to be snacking on humans or it's Game Over. When this eventually occurs, your only reward is a high score.

People are your most useful target, but the more frequently occurring cows are helpful in terms of providing sustenance. They're slower moving, too - if you don't grasp people in your jaws directly as you breach the ground, they run away screaming.

Wriggling control

This is important, as the defining aspect of Super Mega Worm is control. As the worm itself is made up of segments - more added as you level up - it tends to move in a wave-like manner, making it hard to be precise in your attacks.

For example, you burst through the earth and into the air only to fall back down, although you can get higher and higher by bouncing off cars and trucks.

This lack of precision doesn't really matter, as you control your worm using a slider, which you adjust left and right to control direction and tightness of rotation. Tilt controls are also provided, but they aren't practical.

Other options include touch buttons, for triggering power-ups such as boost or spitting laser bolts.

No skeleton

Despite solid foundations and immediate feel good factor, the big issue with Super Mega Worm is its lack of structure and progression.

It feels nice to control the worm and complete the early levels, but Endless mode has no direction. Even as you take on cops and gunships, eventually getting the chance to bounce off jet planes and breathe fire at satellites if you're good enough, it feels a gimmicky rather than something you want to experience over and over.

Additional modes, plus the now-expected social interactions in terms of achievements and leaderboards, would support long-term play. Even breaking up stages with save points so you don't have to play through the first ten minutes to get to the good stuff would help.

As it is, despite some old skool charms and interesting controls, Super Mega Worm doesn't quite live up to its world conquering destructive tendencies.

Super Mega Worm

Super Mega Worm is immediate and fun but runs out of steam, becoming repetitive
Score
Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.