Worms: The Director's Cut
Encyclopedia
Worms: The Director's Cut is a sequel to Worms, an artillery game developed by Team17
and published by Ocean Software
. It was programmed by Andy Davidson and released in 1997 for the Amiga
platform only.
The player has control of a team of worms and takes turns at attacking either computer or human opponents controlling other teams. The game builds upon Worms (1995) and adds various graphical and gameplay developments. The Director's Cut received positive reviews from critics and fans alike, but only sold 5,000 copies worldwide.
side on view of the battlefield where players fight worm
s against each other. The game can be played against the computer, or with multiple players taking control of teams of four worms. The worms can use various weapons, some of which are limited in quantity. Each worm has a life meter
and the team with the last surviving worm(s) is the winner.
The landscape of the battlefield affects the style of battle that takes place. Similar to Worms, The Director's Cut generates landscapes in a range of styles such as "snow" or "beach". The game also adds a level designer which allows the player to design their own battlefields. There are various settings and options that allow the player to customise how a battle is fought. These include altering the power and availability of weapons, increasing or decreasing time limits and adjusting landscape settings.
There are 14 new weapons added in The Director's Cut, including the Holy Hand Grenade
, common in the Worms series afterwards. There were also developments to the level maps. "Cavern" levels were supported, which allowed for matches to be played within a cave. The Director's Cut also featured a "graffiti" style level editor so the player could design their own levels with few restrictions. There were also graphical developments with the number of colours on-screen increased to 300. The game features nine level parallax scrolling
.
and CU Amiga publications awarding the game 90% and 91%. The game was seen as an improvement over the features of Worms, with many gameplay elements praised. The developments in the presentation also received positive criticism, in particular the added graphical layers was highlighted as an example of a "cosmetic correction". Despite the positive reviews, The Director's Cut only sold 5,000 copies worldwide.
Team17
Team17 Software Ltd. is a video game company best known for developing the Worms series of games , but it has made many other games, notably Superfrog and the Alien Breed series. Most of its early releases were on the Amiga home computer system and featured trademark smooth scrolling, and detailed...
and published by Ocean Software
Ocean Software
The British company Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s...
. It was programmed by Andy Davidson and released in 1997 for the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
platform only.
The player has control of a team of worms and takes turns at attacking either computer or human opponents controlling other teams. The game builds upon Worms (1995) and adds various graphical and gameplay developments. The Director's Cut received positive reviews from critics and fans alike, but only sold 5,000 copies worldwide.
Gameplay
The Director's Cut features turn base combat in same style as its predecessor, Worms. The game has a 2D2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
side on view of the battlefield where players fight worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
s against each other. The game can be played against the computer, or with multiple players taking control of teams of four worms. The worms can use various weapons, some of which are limited in quantity. Each worm has a life meter
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
and the team with the last surviving worm(s) is the winner.
The landscape of the battlefield affects the style of battle that takes place. Similar to Worms, The Director's Cut generates landscapes in a range of styles such as "snow" or "beach". The game also adds a level designer which allows the player to design their own battlefields. There are various settings and options that allow the player to customise how a battle is fought. These include altering the power and availability of weapons, increasing or decreasing time limits and adjusting landscape settings.
Development
The Director's Cut was programmed by Andy Davidson and enhanced the engine, graphics and gameplay of the original Worms. The game was developed solely for AGA Amiga systems and so was designed to take advantage of the more advanced graphics that these systems could produce. Davidson wanted to improve the original Worms to the best possible quality: "what I'm trying to do here is create the best Amiga game ever. It will also be the best version of the original Worms available on any platform."There are 14 new weapons added in The Director's Cut, including the Holy Hand Grenade
Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch is a fictional weapon from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It bears a striking resemblance to the Sovereign's Orb of the United Kingdom, and seems to draw some inspiration from the Holy Spear of Antioch...
, common in the Worms series afterwards. There were also developments to the level maps. "Cavern" levels were supported, which allowed for matches to be played within a cave. The Director's Cut also featured a "graffiti" style level editor so the player could design their own levels with few restrictions. There were also graphical developments with the number of colours on-screen increased to 300. The game features nine level parallax scrolling
Parallax scrolling
Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, popularized in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol. In this pseudo-3D technique, background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion...
.
Reception
Worms: The Director's Cut was received well by critics, with Amiga FormatAmiga Format
Amiga Format was a British computer magazine for Amiga computers, published by Future Publishing. The magazine lasted 136 issues from 1989 to 2000. The magazine was formed when, in the wake of selling ACE to EMAP, Future split the dual-format title ST/Amiga Format into two separate publications...
and CU Amiga publications awarding the game 90% and 91%. The game was seen as an improvement over the features of Worms, with many gameplay elements praised. The developments in the presentation also received positive criticism, in particular the added graphical layers was highlighted as an example of a "cosmetic correction". Despite the positive reviews, The Director's Cut only sold 5,000 copies worldwide.