It’s Worms 21st birthday, what better way to celebrate than with a new game?
Worms WMD is the latest in the series from Team 17, who have called this version a spiritual successor to Worms Armageddon, which was my personal favourite of the series. It’s the 21st anniversary of the series, so here’s hoping this is the best version yet. But does it deliver?
It delivers a huge experience for fans and newcomers, it has a lovely pre-order bonus if you were quick enough on Xbox One and it came with Rare characters to be used as weapons such as Joanna Dark. The single player is split into training sessions with targets to meet as well as missions with side-objectives to complete. These can vary from never leaving a vehicle to taking out 3 worms in one move and everything in-between.
Crafting has also been added to the game, so instead of merely walking around collecting weapon crates, you now have to craft if you want things like air strikes and so on. It’s a nice change of pace and they have introduced vehicles like tanks and helicopters into the midst. These can deal some serious damage, so be wary.
Customising your team of worms has always been the series’ strongest aspect in my opinion, that has not changed with Worms WMD. There are tons of costumes, tombstones and fanfare tunes to add to your team. A lot of these will unlock as you play through the game, giving you an incentive to try and unlock everything.
You have to use the Left and Right triggers to zoom in and out, which is a little confusing and takes a while to get used to, especially when you are doing a single player challenge that is against the clock, but that’s my only real gripe with the actual game. It handles like any past console entry and while it isn’t going to win over those who have become frustrated with the controls of past games, it does stay true to it’s roots. The single player and multiplayer add to what is a superb combination. Both are worth playing and both are still highly addictive.
The Verdict
Worms WMD takes what has worked with the series and added new elements such as crafting and vehicles, which simply makes the experience all the better. Even after 21 years, Team 17 still pumps out an amazing Worms game.