Worms WMD Review: Blow Up Your Friends!

Bill Gallon December 29, 2017 News, Quick Hit Reviews

Worms WMD for Nintendo Switch sees Team17’s worm simulator return to its roots as a team vs team strategic deathmatch. Many of the features that were added to previous iterations were removed, bringing gameplay back to a focus on 2d strategic movement and carefully aiming your weapons to fire across the map. A handful of new weapons and other features help the installment stand out from the rest of the series, making the game a sure buy for those who are fans of the series or looking for good couch competitive gameplay. This is our Worms WMD review for Nintendo Switch.

Worms‘ main gameplay consists of 2 to 6 teams on a randomly generated level, taking turns lobbing attacks at each other until only one worm is left standing. Rules are customizable before the match, along with being able to generate different maps or enter a seed until you find one you like. While there is a campaign mode, much of the game’s focus is on deathmatch, which is playable either locally and online, with online matches consisting of ranked or unranked matches. During the match, teams will be randomly dropped onto the map and begin taking turns. Worms are usually mixed together, which ends up in multiple smaller skirmishes breaking out in areas until a winner is clear to fire somewhere else, or has an ability to move to a different location. While the game is easy to pick up, learning to effectively use your full arsenal and learning how to position yourself helps add challenge to each round. This is further compounded by the inclusion of buildings, which are close-quarters generated areas which are covered unless you have destroyed part of it or are inside of it. This means that your enemies will need to pay a bit more attention to each turn, as you can hide if the enemy is not paying enough attention.

With this iteration of Worms, a handful of new ways to destroy your opponents have been added. On top of the previous staple weapons, such as the bazooka and holy hand grenade, weapons like the battery bomb and bazooka pie. Many of these weapons tie into the new weapons crafting system, created to complement the weapon crate drops and help add incentive to get all the crates you can. Other weapons can be broken down into parts, as well as parts obtained from crafting crates. These can be used to build weapons through the crafting tab of the weapons menu, letting you pick weapons you think can turn the tide of battle rather than leave it up to chance. Vehicles and turrets have also been added to the game as an incentive to fight over different locations. Vehicles can be used to move farther as well as deal extra damage. While being inside of a vehicle will protect the worm from damage, they can be kicked out by any other worm in range so that they can use it as well. Vehicles also have hit points, which are only discernable from the vehicle’s current appearance. After taking enough damage, the vehicle will explode.

The games environment and sounds lend themselves to making WMD just as silly as every other installment before it. The graphics are all hand drew, which look incredible if not slightly out of place for no reason other than not matching the style of Worms Armageddon. The voice lines are all poking fun at pop culture, making each action enjoyable even if it involves your own worm being blown up.

While it did not happen every game, multiple bugs reared their heads during gameplay which would affect the outcome of the game. Some of these existed in previous games as well, such as getting stuck on invisible terrain. This is compounded by trying to move in a vehicle, you can begin moving into a small area and get yourself stuck. There are some audio glitches at points with sounds not lining up or not playing, but these are relatively minor and easy to miss. The physics engine does goof up on occasion as well, with one instance being a replay of a kill where a worm was killed with a grenade, but the physics calculated during the replay left the worm alive. This broke the match and locked out all menus, requiring a restart of the game.

Worms WMD for the Switch takes the best Worms entry in recent memory and puts it on to a portable game system. For fans of the series or similar games, this means you should absolutely pick this title up. With online ranked mode, repeat play is possible without getting burned out playing against the AI while making sure you are evenly matched. Local play lets you take your game to a party, and the ability to take turns with the controller means you can play with just the hardware that came with the Switch. Combined with improvements to the classic formula, the gameplay of Worms WMD makes it a good entry point for those new to the series as well.