Unfortunate bodily mishaps and diseases seem to be cropping up in all sorts of games at the moment. Boogerman based a whole game around farts, snots and bogeys, Super Skidmarks provided us with unlimited cheap gags, and now Worms. What next, we wonder? A game called Piles where you have to defeat the evil Wart Man in a struggle to end all straining and constipation?

One of the many PC puzzlers currently taxing the nation's brains, Worms was the brainchild of Team 17, who are also behind this conversion which is their first foray into the world of the Saturn. The aim is simple: kill as many worms as possible using underhand and devious tactics. There are thousands of pre-generated backgrounds to use, each with their own accompanying hazards. Should any unfortunate invertebrate fall into the sea, then I'm afraid it's goodnight Vienna.

The game can be played in a variety of different formats from a single, best-of-three rounds fight, or as a league battle with a number of teams all competing for the honour of being Champion Worm. Or if you fancy a bit of a group battle then you can have three or four teams participating at once.

Another PC-originated puzzle game featuring cute characters and wanton destruction.

Destroy four 'enemy' worms before they do the same to you, in a best-of-three rounds battle.

The game is split up by a number of rendered sequences that show the lighter side of slaughter and destruction. For instance, the intro shows a worm tooling up, Rambo-style, with head bands and knives ready for a mega battle. He then topples over because he's holding too much! Class. Other comedic intro mishaps include worms teleporting onto a minefield and being melted by a flame thrower. Each time, the worms sport puzzled and shocked facial expressions, adding to the mirth.

One of the more novel features is the ability to custom-name any of the worms you play with or against. There are a number of saved teams already in the game, and each vary in their strength. The Fab Four are reformed Beatle worms, so if the chance to blow the crap out of Ringo and Paul is your idea of fun, then this is for you. You can also be the Ferrari Testerossa, or a spoon if you so desire.

One of the funniest parts of the game is the speech from the worms themselves. After you have killed or injured a worm, they follow it up with a volley of verbal to let you know their immediate feelings. All of them are in suitably squeaky, high-pitched voices that make them sound even funnier.

And if you manage to blow up yourself or one of your team mates, the abuse gets a touch on the sarcastic side, just to make you feel even more stupid. When your worm finally kicks the bucket, they decide to kill themselves by detonating a miniature bomb, preceded by a little "bye, bye" to gain your sympathy.

Being a lover of puzzle type games, this title really appeals to me. The idea is a novel one, and brings a fresh aspect to the genre. The intro and other cut screens are quite amusing to watch, and even though the overall graphics are small they are detailed enough in a Lemmings type way.

The game's humour becomes more evident the longer you play, especially with the speech and the facial expressions. The main pulling power of this, however, is the playability. The amount of teams available to bundle together for a league means you'll have to put a lot of playing in to master this, and with the computer opponents being a lethal shot, the chances of long-term gaming are good. Great stuff.

This is just the type of quality puzzler the Saturn needs to round out its initial selection of games. While perhaps not in the same league as the mighty Lemmings, this is streets ahead of recent efforts like Zoop, and is likely to appeal to anyone who finds the Baku Baku school of cutesy Japanese puzzlers a bit nauseating.

On the downside, the graphics are a little bit fiddly and the gameplay, while very addictive, is something of an acquired taste. Also, I don't whether it's just me being a bit rubbish, but I found the one-player mode so severe it made everything a bit offputting. Play this against someone else, however, and it's superb.

Graphics 88%
P. Excellent intro sections and small, but well defined, graphics.
N. Backgrounds are a bit too similar in places.

Animation 90%
P. The worms themselves are as realistic as could have been hoped, and their size isn't a problem.

Music 79%
N. There is only one in-game tune, which gets a tad boring after a while.

Effects 91%
The speech is excellent and really adds to the game's sense of humour. The death cries are good too.

Playability 90%
P. The league format encourages a lot of long-term use.
N. Some may resist from playing one player mode because the computer is merciless.

Lastability 87%
P. The league format encourages a lot of long-term use.
N. Some may resist from playing one player mode because the computer is merciless.

Overall 87%
An excellent puzzler that oozes playability but, discounting the rendered sequences, doesn't quite maximise the Saturn's potential.