Willy the Worm

The Good
Not much to say. Good controls and reasonable degree of gameplay for a little time. It's good if you're a small kid with an XT, granted.

The Bad
Crap graphics, numbing gameplay (it simply doesn't change) and horrible sound effects render this another one of those "play it if you don't have anything else" games for older machines.

The Bottom Line
A bizarre game which isn't very good.

The Good
The main thing I like about this game is the speed of the action. Although that makes it very difficult at first, it's one of those games you can really get into "the zone" with. The way you could change direction mid-jump was an excellent feature. Another great thing about it was the humour - it could easy have been a quite sensible game with a little man running and jumping about, but a worm - that's really unique!

The Bad
The randomness of the cannonballs made it more a game of luck than of skill. The graphics weren't spectacular (although Alan Farmer's technique of redefining the CGA character set was technically quite interesting) and the flashing effect when you died probably induced many an epileptic fit.

The Bottom Line
It's a 2D running, jumping and climbing platform game. Simple to learn but difficult to master, and the speed of the action made it really addictive. Classic.

The Good
Even at it's time, this little game was little more than a time waster -- but it was at least a mildly entertaining time waster.

The Bad
Try playing this on a system that was fast by 1985 standards. You can't control the spastically moving worm.

The Bottom Line
So it was simple and it hurt to look at, even by 1985 standards, but Willy the Worm was a fun little game.