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They may be spineless but they are certainly popular! Having won the hearts of virtually every PC and console gamer, it was only a matter of time before Team 17 set their sights on cramming the game onto a wafer-thin mint-like cartridge for the Game Boy Color.

The premise of the game is simple: you select a team of invertebrates - whom you may name accordingly - who are charged with defeating either other worm-based teams who are controlled either by the game's AI or human opponents. To achieve this, you are given a variety of weapons from shotguns to exploding sheep - all of which add to the silliness and mirth of the game.

Given the simplicity of the game, you might be forgiven for assuming that Worms Armageddon would make a highly successful journey to our portable friend. Early indications point to this being the case. Graphically, Worms Armageddon certainly looks the part, in fact you could be forgiven for being slightly impressed by it all - especially as coupled with the look of the game there seems to be a raft of options which seems to suggest that you will be playing a complete version of the game that we have come to know so well.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. You see, the thing about the entire Worms series of games is that its looks disguise the complexity of the game itself, rather that there is more to the game than merely visuals. In short, the game is the sum of its many parts and by removing, say the sound, the voices, many of the weapons, and even (would you believe it?) explosions yu are left with a somewhat shallow version of a great game. Moreover, the control system - which has been ported over with varying degrees of success onto other consoles - feels anything but intuitive.

If you have played any other version of Worms then you would be advised to steer well clear of this version as disappointment will abound, everything that has made the game popular seems to have been stripped away from the portable version to ensure that Worms Armageddon looks the part but plays like a dog. Admittedly, the two-player game that can be enjoyed without the link-up cable is a good feature, but surely the enjoyment of Worms is the ability to watch your opponents' faces as you blast their last worm into oblivion with a seemingly gravity defying well-placed shot. All of the fun of the multi-player game is lost in translation on the Game Boy Color and as a consequence the very reason for playing the game is lost also.

On any other format Worms (in any of its guises) comes highly recommended, however, Worms Armageddon smells like a bit of a cash-in - there are better multiplayer games available for our portable. In fact, there are much, much better games for you to spend your money on.

"Wormsmania" kind of took over the world when the game was first released on the crumbly old Amiga computer, but I never really fell in love with it, like everyone else.

I can see that it could be fun with a few mates gathered around - for about five minutes, but everything gets far too repetitive and boring for my liking.

Add to these frustrations the fact that this version is on the smallest screen in the world and doesn't have many weapons and you're not really on to a winner!

Graphics 80%
It looks the part...

Sound 40%
Unmemorable. Painful.

Playability 40%
Flawed control system.

Lastability 40%
Don't make me laugh.

Overall 48%
A great series, badly realised on the Game Boy Color.