I still remember the first time I ever played Pac-Man. It was at the arcade, and the concept of a maze-heavy game wracked my brain for hours on end. While most of the games I had played up until that point featured a linear design, like the Super Mario series, the only real comparable title I had played at the time was Dig Dug, which still didn’t prepare me for all of those taxing yellow dots. Wormarium Arcade (Free) isn’t quite as good of an experience, but it still offers up some of those same thrills.
The gist is that you’re controlling a worm (Pac-Man) in various mazes, in an attempt to fill up an entire screen with your body (pellets), as you run from a pesky mole (ghosts). Moving about each maze is as simple as swiping in any direction, and you can even queue up a path by swiping prematurely if you choose to do so. It’s as easy as it gets in terms of the controls on a mobile device, and it works wonderfully. Think of it like “Snake," but with a bit more going on and level-based instead of an endless loop.
The catch is that instead of multiple ghosts with different personalities, you’re only facing off against one mole, who happens to sport a pretty clever AI. Your goal is to outwit said mole, and every move you make could be the difference between a win and a loss. It’s much less action oriented than you’d think, and falls more squarely in the puzzle arena due to the deliberate nature of each move. The biggest thing is moving when the mole is close to you, forcing it to choose a path that ideally leads it far away from your worm. While it’s not exactly the deepest game in the world, it works.
The IAP system is pretty fair, mostly consisting of power-ups and Coin packages, which aren’t really needed for progress if you pick up the basics. To be specific, the power-ups are mostly useless (change direction or stun moles for a mere second), which is actually a good thing, as they don’t feel overpowered and thus the player isn’t pressured into buying them. Plus, you can earn coins by watching ads anyway at a decent rate. On top of that, there’s a whole load of levels and secret challenges to burn through.
Wormarium Arcade could use a better look (and name, for that matter), but it’s a decent action-puzzle game to look to if you’re itching for a challenge.
