Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Death Worm!

Imagine a sandworm from Arrakis transported to our present Earth. What might it do to our cities? Our animals? Our people?

Well, wonder no longer: Death Worm is here!

The Death Worm isn't a true sandworm, as will be obvious when you click the above link and watch the video demo. But it's a vicious fucker, and all it wants to do is destroy everything in its path. In this game-- an app for iPhone and Android-compatible smart phones-- you control the angry worm, eating people, camels, tigers, lizards, elephants, and all sorts of other beasties. You also get to destroy vehicles: cars, tanks, helicopters, airplanes, and even aliens in flying saucers. Carnage is your currency.

Game play is simple and straightforward. Death Worm is a two-dimensional scrolling arcade game; you control the worm's movements (speed and direction) with a haptic thumb toggle that appears on the left side of the screen. The worm can even do stunts: accelerate the worm toward the bottom, then send it shooting upward to burst out of the ground and catch aircraft or birds. With some finesse, you can get the worm to undulate on the ground's surface, chewing up everything in its path. There are, on some screens, boulders that the worm can knock into motion, thereby killing even more innocent Earthlife. Along with all this, you get "upgrades" like tougher skin, a longer body (no Freudian implications here), and the ability to shoot fireballs out of your mouth.

And that's what makes this game so fun: it's damn empowering to be an angry worm capable of swallowing people whole, of blowing up tanks and leaping into the heavens to snatch and destroy unwary aircraft. I've got the free version of this hilarious app, and am sorely, sorely tempted to spend $2.99 for the full version. The angel on my right shoulder is screaming "Don't do it! It's a time sink!"... and the devil on my left shoulder is just sitting there, grinning toothily, waiting for me to make the inevitable purchase.


ADDENDUM: See here for the Death Worm's Mongolian cousin.


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