Worms may not have the global appeal that it once did, but there is a reason it went from humble beginnings as Andy Davidson’s graphing calculator experiment to multimillion-unit selling franchise spanning numerous entries across dozens of systems since its 1995 debut. The artillery-based gameplay on a 2D playing field meant this was a very easy to understand concept, and by the time of Worms Armageddon in 1999, the formula was perfected, with this style still effectively the default used in the latest Worms entries today.
More than anything, Worms is a multiplayer affair. Given the Nintendo Switch and its successor’s broad reach and emphasis on local gaming with friends and family, these systems are a match made in heaven for Team17’s most iconic franchise. Not everyone is able to get people over for wriggly warfare, though, so Worms WMD went above and beyond by loading itself with solo missions that tested even the most battle-hardened Worms veterans.
Sadly, Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition – a port of the PC version of one of the most popular entries in the series that comes 25 years after its original release – is stripped back in that regard, with a fraction of single-player objectives to complete, but there is enough of a challenge in the ones that are there for soloists to spend plenty of time in.
Missions are simple to wrap the head around – shoot targets from a distance, traverse the terrain to reach a supply crate, take out the enemy with limited equipment – and are a great learning tool for understanding the nuances of Worms’ gameplay before taking it into local or online multiplayer. Those that struggle with completing these challenges and therefore worry that they won’t be able to unlock some of the special options, such as more powerful grenades and Aqua Sheep, need not fear either, for a simple option exists to turn these features on for everyone.
It is difficult to find online matches, so a lot of the enjoyment of Worms Armageddon rests on having at least one other person to play with locally. AI teams can be inserted to offset the lack of human players, and this helps to alleviate the frustration that may be felt if two players are constantly going at each other. Handicaps can additionally be set if one person is more skilled than others, too.
A huge part of Worms’ unpredictability owes itself to the sheer breadth of customisation options at users’ disposal. Preset schemes can be chosen that feature specific weapons and tools, with players tasked to make do with what is there, but there is no denying the appeal in whacking on every available item with infinite ammo and just going wild.
Due to maps being randomly generated, no two matches are ever the same. While there is a lot of randomness at play, requiring players to adapt to the changing landscapes, the tactical foresight required to survive and ultimately win under the conditions implemented cannot go underrated. This is still one of the most fun party games out there, provided the ones gathering around prefer a slower-paced strategy game as opposed to non-stop action and movement à la Mario Kart.
The personality injected into worms through simple name customisation and variety of accents in all their stereotypical hilarity balances out the sometimes-tense moments – and, of course, the aggravating ones in which a worm is lost in the most ridiculous or cheapest way possible.
It is extremely unfortunate that the touch screen capabilities of the Switch haven’t been utilised for map creation. While the option to design a landscape from scratch is a pleasing one, it is not so easily done by holding a button and moving a control stick around. The idea of using the touch screen to create maps is so obvious that it can only come across as the developers not being bothered. Whether the mouse-like feature of the Switch 2’s Joy-Con will be taken into consideration for a future update remains to be seen, but it’s more likely an entirely separate version would be released for that console instead.
Worms Armageddon is perfectly suited for the Switch’s portable screen, looking sharp and running smoothly, even with dozens of worms plonked across maps and with banana bombs going off left, right and centre. The camera does struggle with trying to follow the action accurately, though, and the lack of zoom functions is particularly bothersome at times.
Button inputs can cause confusion now and again, such as when using the homing missile. The B button normally fires a weapon while the left stick aims, but the homing rocket requires the right stick to move to its target and the A button to solidify the destination, before using B to launch. There is a lot of second guessing going on when using particular weapons, sometimes causing mistakes that this method may have been trying to prevent. On a related note, in-game button mapping could have gone a long way.
As part of this Anniversary Edition, there are a few little extras that will appeal to Worms enthusiasts. A retrospective history of the series, with a few videos and images, is most welcome – and there are some really interesting details in there – while four other titles have been crammed in to bolster the package somewhat. Unfortunately, they aren’t anything to shout about and probably won’t be played for more than a minute each. The Mega Drive and SNES releases of the original Worms are here, as well as the Game Boy Color edition of Worms Armageddon, and Worms World Party from the Game Boy Advance.
For preservation’s sake, it is hard to complain about any of these games’ inclusion, but it does seem a little odd to not bundle in superior versions, such as the PlayStation release of Worms or Dreamcast’s Worms World Party. Perhaps that would have diminished the value of the core game, though, turning this more into a general Worms compilation. On the other hand, a beefy Switch 2 Worms collection with mouse controls may not be such a bad idea…
