Worms

Worms games are turn-based artillery games presented in a 2D or 3D environment. Each player controls a team of several worms. During the course of the game, players take turns selecting one of their worms. They use whatever tools and weapons are available to attack and kill the opponents' worms, thereby winning the game.

Worms may move around the terrain in a variety of ways, normally by walking and jumping but also by using particular tools such as the "Bungee" and "Ninja Rope", to move to otherwise inaccessible areas. Each turn is time-limited to ensure that players do not hold up the game with excessive thinking or moving. The time limit can be modified in some of the games.

Andy Davidson is the creator of the original Worms video game by Team17. The game "Worms" is based on the 2D classic "Artillery", and originally did not feature worms, but the Lemmings from the popular game of the same name.

==== Background ====

While initial installments were generally praised, later games in the series have been criticized for the lack of meaningful additions. In 2001, Metacritic quoted Worms World Party reviews with comments such as "it's virtually nothing more than an expansion pack for Worms Armageddon" and, as ActionTrip's Dejan Grbavcic put it: "And I thought that only Eidos was impertinent enough to keep selling the same game with a slightly different name...". In 2007, IGN included the Worms series in its list of game franchises that have jumped the shark.

The Worms series is commercially successful. Its combined sales by January 2002 had reached 6 million copies. By May 2014, 60 million copies of the games in the Worms franchise had been sold since launching in 1995. By December 2015, the 20th anniversary of Team17, the franchise had sold over 70 million game units. By March 2020, the 25th anniversary of Worms series, the franchise had sold over 75 million game units.