Worm Food is the latest game in the Nitrome library. It is full of the usual arcade fuelled goodness that we've come to expect from the team: snazzy music, pixelart and yes, it even includes using the [arrow] keys [up/down] for speed [left/right] for direction, to control a gigantic subterranean beast with an insatiable appetite whose only power is its ability to leap powerfully from the earth in order to devour several villages and even armies worth of unsuspecting tribesmen.
Wait, what? Yes folks, it does, but before we get too far into this: This game is a lot like indie darling Death Worm. Now that we've all made that observation, let's move on. The basic premise is as follows: You're a hungry worm, last of its species. You need to eat to survive, however the neighboring snacks... I mean, villagers, need to not be eaten in order to survive. Somewhere between these opposing points of view is where you come into things. As you devour the masses one at a time, they become more adept at warding you off. Such defenses they develop over the course of the games 20 levels are arrowmen, mines, concrete spikes, impassable walls (both buried and on terra firma) and some sort of flying eagle device which looks really cool when you eat one.
As with most of Nitrome's games, there are unlockable levels which can be accessed by chomping enough tribespeople in each of the prior levels during the time limits provided. Unfortunately, the standard formula doesn't seem to sit well with this game. Having the worm arbitrarily die after a time period seems like a cheat, especially when paired with some of the bizarre choices in terms of level design (level eight, I'm looking at you). Coupling this with the on-again off-again appearance of the enemies and the game just doesn't come off as having a natural flow to it from start to finish. Which is a shame, because there is a lot to like in this offering as well.
All in all, it's a Nitrome game. That kind of speaks for itself. The pixel art is seamless and vibrant and the music lends itself to the fun side of the gameplay. Whether you were a fan of the original Death Worm or are happening upon controlling a monstrous oligochaeta for the first time, rest assured that what you're about to play is pure Nitrome in its classic form.
Thanks to Bob, Nick, Meester, Repairmanman, Funlerz, Cathy, Waggles, Joey, Nautilus199, Spikey and Tobie for sending this one in!
As much as I love games by Nitrome and enjoy their easiness yet painful difficulty, I already find that level 2 is difficult to beat within the time frame. The worm is not easy to control at high speeds, yet the villagers cannot be obtained otherwise. The worm becomes partially unpredictable as soon as one goes into open air. The water makes it even worse as you cannot jump out as well as if in ground. I hope they come out with another game soon to cover up this one.
I constantly find myself trapped between a spike and a stone wall, spazzing out and draining health massively until I die. This makes the game practically unplayable as this glitch seems to happen to me quite often.
My biggest peeve about this game is that the max speed caps at a low jump height, and there are spots where you have to be at the top speed to make a jump, and even then I find myself unable to make a jump, missing it by centimeters. Grrr...
Completed the game, another awesome game by Nitrome :). I still don't see why people think Nitrome games are hard! Most of them are easy ^_^! (except for Bomba and Hot air :O)
Yet another great game by Nitrome :D
I just beat it and it was wonderful!
I don't know why everyone is having problems with the game play (maybe because they're just not good at it lol)'cause I think it's perfect!
I really love these types of games, they're just so fun ^^
I've liked a lot of Nitrome games in the past, and this is no exception. I would like to state, however, that the collision issues between spikes and rocks need to get fixed before I would be willing to score this more than a 3/5. Also, Not a complainer, it's generally considered bad taste to tell people they don't like a game because they're "lol bad". Sometimes that may be true and they're simply frustrated, but still bad form to turn a gripe with a game into a failing of the user. Of course if you're just trolling, then I've simply served to give you attention. In which case I hope you get the banhammer.
I can never get the hang of that kind of control, but it's just my problem ^^
I was really dissapointed with this game, not least because when I first started playing I thought it was fantastic!
But come on nitrome, there's difficult and then there's QUICK-EAT-ALL-THE-VILLAGERS-TOO-LATE-YOU'RE-DEAD difficult. Ah well. Still looked cute (if evil :P).
The time limit thing kind of bums me out but I think the trick to this game is to NOT always press the accelerate button.
Nitrome has made here, too, a puzzle game, however cleverly hidden behind the flying worm smulching down hot-air-birds and the people in their baskets. There's a lot of method to the madness, and once you've see enough of the map on your first attempt to get a pattern to plan to, the levels go by breezily. That is to say, if you're playing this like a regular old action game, ur doin it rong.
To help yourself grab at stationary meals, use your dirt breadcrumb trail from previous attempts to assist your aim; to save time, ricochet off walls rather than making a full u-turn; to gain speed, chomp around in circles. When making a horizontal leap, hold the opposite arrow key: sometimes you'll "glide". Lastly, it's not necessary to impale the Up key constantly: halting with you worm's mouth just above ground will allow the little fellas to simply walk into your mouth.
I didn't have any troubles with the controls or leaping out of the water. I'm assuming this might be attributed to computer performance issues.
I've always kind of been iffy with Nitrome games: brilliant graphics, rather easy game. I rather like this one. With the plus that if you finish a game mid-munch, the eating animation will continuously loop. (OmnomnomBLEAHOmnomnomBLEAHH...)
The collisions between walls were very off though. I died perhaps 4 times in a single level, stuck between a rock and a painful place, as Waggles was.
I'd really love to play this game, but in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox (on my Mac) when I click "Play" it doesn't do anything. I can click Scores, Help, and Credits, and they do what they're supposed to do, but clicking "Play" does nothing. Sad face :( First time I've ever had a problem with a Nitrome game.
Worst rated nitrome game ever? what? I think it's one of their better games =O I love how the story is told -> instead of just an intro and an ending, the story continues every 2 or 3 levels. As soon as you get the hang of it and get used to the timer (which actually adds something to later levels in my opinion; it forces you to take risk...), the game is really great =D Art & music are awesome and you can feel so cool sometimes 8)
I agree with Julian here. The game deserves more than 3.2/5. Some levels are scrappy, not to mention that STUPID ANNOYING SPIKE WALL GLITCH, but overall the game is highly enjoyable. I liked the ending.
Hey, more fun than Ribbit, that's for sure.
BTW, what took everyone so long to get this on site?
[Frankly, nobody on the review team was all that excited about it. We dragged our feet because we didn't like the time limit and its uncomfortable similarity to Death Worm. In the end, though, we felt a blurb would be appropriate, so here it is, albeit reluctantly and with trepidation. The rating corroborates how we felt about the game. -Jay]
Well at first i was really excited because i love nitrome games...but this one is the exception :( They don't give you enough time, your worm isnt able to gain as much speed needed for those high jumps, and your worm goes kind of spastic in the air sometimes. Overall, im definitely dissapointed :(((((((
too hard for me, not my food. Sad that I always want to be some monster who om nom nom humans :/ .
I've usually found the redemptive feature for Nitrome's difficulty curve to be their tight controls. So when the controls are wonky or difficult, like in this or Ribbit, I've no patience for it. The worm looks cool, and I like the idea (although obviously that's not theirs, either), but ehhh.
I really feel like Nitrome's been slipping over the last few years (or maybe they're being outpaced by other titles). The production values are still great, and they're usually (emphasis on usually) pretty original in terms of gameplay... but it's been a while since I've felt one has entered that top echelon of "must play casual games."
Wait... what?! This is almost the EXACT same thing as the flash game Effin Worms!
I agree with Erin. A Nitrome version of Effing Worms. Only it has a story and walls.
I too am extremely disappointed with this game. Same reasons as above: hard to navigate the worm, hard to get to proper speeds and that DAMN GLITCH. I CANNOT get past level 9 because of that glitch. I'll get to almost a full bar then I'll get stuck in a wall and die. It's ridiculous. How could they have overlooked this issue? It's not like it's a rare occurrence. Nitrome's games are the best games that I know of online, but this one does not make the cut. Sorry, but I'll wait for the next one.
Well, I, for one, think JIG rated this one appropriately. I would pay real money to know who you pro-nitrome Trolls are who come into all these comment threads and say you don't see why everyone thinks Nitrome games are "impossible". You're not fooling anyone. Heck, Parasite was the last Nitrome game that took more than 2 minutes to get to "well, I'm never finishing this without super-powers or a rage-inspired nervous breakdown, so I guess I'm done". Come to think of it, Parasite, Final Ninja (not Zero) and Dirk Valentine are just about the ONLY Nitrome game to break that 2-minutes-to-disgusted-with-it mark.
That said, the term you are all looking for to describe this game is "Cheap". It's not that it's actually HARD, per se, it's just not fair and not fun because of the arbitrarily (read: insane, ridiculous, punitive, sadistic) time limit given the control set.
Boy is it painful to see Nitrome squander these excellent game ideas, stories and art on such ultimately poor offerings.
I have to disagree with Erin. Effing Worms was lots of fun, and never made me want to throw my computer out the window. Completely different from Worm Food in both respects.
I think I would really enjoy this, if it weren't for the dang time limit. Tricky controls and needing to try things over and over again are fine--it's an obsessive kind of fun, but still fun. But put that together with a time limit and it's pure frustration. Almost great, but that one flaw makes it a real disappointment for me. Nice graphics, though.
Well, it took me three days, but I finshed it!
I have no clue what to do on level 11. It seems like you can only access two floating islands by jumping out of the water; when I try to jump from those islands to other islands, I fall short by a long shot. Help?
I am having difficulty beating level 11. any tips/advice?
For level 11:
When you're on those two floating islands that you can reach, try to loop around rather than going in circles (what I mean is, turn a full circle clockwise once, then counterclockwise, or vice versa, to gain momentum). Going in circles works too, but sometimes it can be more annoying/slower.
Sometimes if you have enough speed when you leap out of the water and dig into the first island, you can just head to the surface and gain enough speed to reach the island slightly above it.
Also remember, every time you collide with something (a stone statue, house, whatever) you lose speed, so try to not hit anything when leaping (or destroy them beforehand).
When in the air, press in the opposite direction that you are heading (i.e. if you're soaring to the right, hold left) - you might get lucky enough and glide a bit.
Bouncing off the screen (not rocks!) helps you make quick turns and not lose speed or time.
For a more specific hint:
Try to kill the fisherman to your left as you start the level (it's a quick way to get a head start) and head left to kill the two people in boats there. Bounce off the left screen and head right - you will return to this floating island - and head right.
Kill the two fishermen there before leaping out of the water and onto the rightmost island. Kill the people there - sometimes it pays to wait until two people are lined up in the same spot - and then head back to the leftmost island. Do not touch the ground or leap out of the water while going there.
As you approach the leftmost island, head to the bottom of the lake briefly before rising up to leap out of the water (try to aim for the lowest point of the island). From here, ravage away!
I disagree with anyone who says this game was too difficult. I love almost all of the games that Nitrome has made with the exception of a small few like ribbit. But even a few of the ones that I didn't like. I went back to later and changed my mind about them
This game in itself was fun. And provided just the right amount of difficulty. I hate when people complain about the time limit. I only had difficulty with the time really on level 11, but without a time limit the game would be too easy.
As always amazing pixel art as well as music and sound effects.
Also i agree that it is similar to Effing Worms, but in my own opinion they took an okay game and made it better.
If you think a game is too hard, keep trying, if you don't want to keep trying then just look for a different game to play.
Overall I give it a 4.5/5 Great game
I was actually able to beat this game, and that's saying something for a nitrome game. I don't see why people think this is so hard. I will say i wasn't a huge fan of the ending,
Basically it says the gods gave the villagers the gift of hope and they killed you. offscreen. after i ate every single person in the last level. WHERE DID THEY GET HOPE? Anyway, after that, it says that they hoped you would never rise again, then there's a shot of pixelly modern city. Maybe a sequel hook? I just didn't like losing offscreen.
Even so, the journey was very fun, and now i've beaten 3 nitrome games (Tanked up and Dirk Valentine the two others.)!
This game was fun, but I liked it a lot less than Ribbit.
This really was like Effing Worms, only with nicer art, an awesome tune and unforgiving controls (you get used to them, though..) Previous Nitrome games have been much more rewarding to play (Fatcat and FN0 were classics!)
I think the main problems with this one are the glitches and the madness of the time limit on level 2 and the height of the islands on level 11. The only reason I kept playing was to see the ending..which in itself was nothing great.
Ah well.
Okay it took me about week to get past level 11 and sometimes I thought the game was a bit hard. But after I finished all the levels I find myself playing it often and have made it through the whole game without having to repeat any of the levels. All in all its a good game.
Hey, are you guys ever going to review Squawk, Temple Glider or Sky Serpents?
[Squawk and Temple Glider appeared in our most recent link dump. Sky Serpents is currently being evaluated for review as it was only just released. -Jay]
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