Hedgewars – The Worms redesigned
I remember the old times, when we would gather the whole family, and with impunity besiege the computer without a break.
It was a time of the Worms series reign, a reign that we all enjoyed. Though the initial release hit the skies in 1994, I have never forgotten the past, and it was one of the most wanted Linux games when it happened to convert to it.
Now years have passed, technology has evolved and new possibilities have appeared, but I still look back to those golden years, when computing was most fun, and gaming was most addictive.
If you have similar feelings, I’ve got some good news for you! You don’t need to employ Wine or another (non-)emulator to bring back time anymore.
There is an open source alternative, that can easily replace the King with dignity. The project I am talking about is called Hedgewars, and though it’s been here for some time (first released in 2004), it seems to have gone unnoticed by many and it’s definitely worth checking out.
Before we begin, you deserve a few words explanation on what the Worms game actually is.
Worms is a turn based artillery game developed by Team17 and released in 1994. It resembles other games of the genre such as Scorched Earth. It’s much more developed though as it combines plenty of game types. It can be considered an artillery game, a logical one, arcade or strategic… and even as a platform game! It all depends on the situation on field. It’s really addictive mixture, so beware not to abuse. The original game is still under development, however I find the so called ‘third generation of Worms’ is pretty different game with different goals and different treatment, that actually killed whole playability in my opinion. Beginning with Worms 3D, Worms era ended – not that it’s so bad, it’s yet another overdo. You can find no PC versions available anymore (I mean the classic ones), and I feel like it went one step too far and left the fans behind. Enough of these personal thoughts, let’s get back to the game philosophy.
As a player, you control a team of worms, and have to ‘dispose’ your ammo to your enemies – other worms team controlled either by another human player or a computer. There’s some impressive equipment to help you with that, so don’t worry, you can do it! The more lead-resistant team wins the match which is divided into three separate rounds. Sounds interesting? Well, too bad that there’s no Linux alternative…I mean…there wasn’t because now we can play Hedgewars!
