If you’ve been a fan of Worms, you will already be able to see some similarities. In fact, the first new 2D installment of Worms on the PC Worms: Reloaded, is due for release in a couple of days so perhaps I will check it out and give you the verdict. The Worms series has been around since 1995 and I’ll likely do a history of Worms for the next Cannon Canon. Worms is the epitome of the Artillery game, being responsible for its popularity. It’s your goal to reduce the enemy’s hit points to zero, or to destroy the terrain they are standing on (causing them to fall off the screen). Often there are variables which effect the trajectory, including Wind. Weapons are fired by aiming with a firing arc (much like a tank) and by holding down the trigger to increase the power of the projectile. You are against an enemy in a 2D environment with a large array of weaponry. Here is a quick primer on ‘Artillery games’. Secondly, after the Disney acquisition and the new phase of oligopolistic Facebook developers, it will be interesting to see if the trend moves in the direction of ‘Wild Ones-style’ games or takes a different path entirely.

Why? Well it’s got real gameplay, real-time multiplayer combat. As one of the more hardcore games on Facebook, Wild Ones is an interesting case study and a project I’ll likely follow for some time. It’s backed by Playdom who were recently acquired by Disney for a substantial price. Wild Ones has been around for a long time, in social gaming terms, debuting in December 2009. I thought I’d likely feature it in my Gamebook series but it crosses over here. This first edition of Cannon Canon will discuss a game I’ve been tasked with playing and analysing quite a bit over the past 3-4 months.

Cannon Canon will discuss what’s out there, what has been before and what I think the future of Artillery gaming will be. The Artillery game is a genre which lends itself quite well to a casual web game environment.

Cannon Canon is where I’ll be sticking my thoughts on the Artillery game genre in this new age of Social gaming.

The wild ones facebook game