Hi.

The worms games have gone nuts with the number/types of games made in the series. I'm trying to figure out which of the Worms games to buy: which one is the best, which one is most played online, etc..

I'm not interested in the weird new ones, I like it as the classic it was. As I recall, wasn't it Worms Armageddon (1999) that was the pinnacle of the series, or was it World Party? I thought WWP was just WA with better compatibility and online play?

Does anyone else feel there should be a Sticky listing each of the games and a small summary of their pros/cons?

In order of very personal preference right now (which varies slightly from time to time I must admit):

I'd say the latest (Worms W.M.D.) is a good new installment that captures the spirit of the original - but if you're looking for multiplayer, you may want to go to Steam instead for now (OTOH, having more GOG players would improve the situation here and maybe add pressure to Team17 to pay some attention to us too for the editor and online improvements). Also, unlike W:A/WWP it doesn't have a LAN option. Currently the Steam version also doesn't support cross-platform online games, but I reckon Team17 will address that - at least for Steam - in an update. System requirements are heavier than Worms Armageddon.

Worms Armageddon is another very good choice: it's been updated until about 3 years ago I think, so compatibility with modern systems is still good. Online play is (reportedly) also still nicely active, and there are plenty of mods/maps/schemes available from the community. Alas, there's no DRM-free version available here on GOG, and it's Windows only. :(

Worms Reloaded (I believe it's called Worms 2 on some consoles) also has a nice classic look and feel to it. The graphics are updated cartoony versions, somewhat similar to the Worms 2/WA/WWP games. It has some single player DLC available as well and you might be able to find some people online on Steam (but no cross-platform multiplayer - so Windows is your best bet for multiplayer). There is a DRM-free version available on Humble but that doesn't support the DLC or online multiplayer at all. Also, the DLC is not supported on Linux (and possibly also not on Mac). This one also has no LAN options, much like WMD.

WWP has a modern remake (the remastered edition) but that has issues. The game itself is W:A with some improvements (see http://worms2d.info/WA_vs_WWP - WormPot, Forts mode etc). Unfortunately the remastered edition suffers performance problems for a lot of people. As a result the remake never really got off the ground and the online lobbies are pretty much empty most of the time. Like W:A this one is Windows only. I don't think you can get the original WWP version anymore btw.

Then there's the classic Worms 2 for PC, available for Windows here on GOG. It has some compatibility issues with Windows 10 (look at https://www.gog.com/forum/worms_series/any_way_to_run_worms_2_on_windows_10 for help) and in the GOG version the LAN option got killed. There's no WormNET (i.e. no online play), but some consider the customization options for weapons better than W:A/WWP. Personally I think it's a real basic version of W:A - probably a bit too basic.

If you want to go really old-school, get Worms Reinforcements - the old DOS version. Completely different physics and very pixelated graphics, obviously, so if you want to get this it's probably mostly for nostalgia. Sometimes it's nice to play this against the CPU for a match or two.

Finally you have the Worms Revolution/Worms Clan Wars games, which heavily depend on Steam/Steamworks and have no LAN option. These tried to get along with the physics hype of a few years ago, adding (ugly, if I may say) water and different types of worms with its own qualities. I don't believe these games were ever really popular, in part because they felt a bit sluggish.

I'll skip the 3D versions and the whole slew of console flavors Team17 made :)

Thanks cheetah.

I did a little digging and I've decided WA is the one to get. I played the demo back in the day and it was so very addicting.. but why is it not found on GOG?

I will NOT use Steam.

Team17 never released it DRM-free (yet), unfortunately.

You may be able to get a disc of the game on eBay or so - it'll still have DRM, but it's not Steam...

CD-check and SafeDisc.

W:A still uses WormNET for its multiplayer, for which you don't even need to register anywhere.

When you install the game, simply [url=http://worms2d.info/Updates_(Worms_Armageddon)]update it to 3.7.2.1[/url]. The setup will ask you to install patch 3.0 (if it's an older disc) and a graphics upgrade - agree to both.

Thank you.

Seeing that it came out in 1999, it's nothing that should cause me any problems.

Does the patch do away with the CD-check?

Uh-oh, a "graphics upgrade"? How does that affect the originality of the game I fondly remember?

Thanks again.


Sincerely,
BStone

I don't think it does, sadly. Not at all. I never analyzed it, but it appears it's only made for tweaking and fixing, not replacing. The worms will still be as adorable as you remember them :)

One possibly important note: I believe I read something a long time ago about Windows 10 removing support for copyright protections like SafeDisc. So on Windows 10 you might have trouble with it. No doubt there are ("unofficial") ways around this, but ymmv.

Well, you can manually re-enable the SafeDisc driver and save yourself the trouble for so many titles at once.

Also, if you're on Vista/7/8(.1), you can simply remove and block Windows Update KB3086255.