A Quick Review of Worms W.M.D.

I used to be a fan of the Worms series, starting with Worms Armageddon and Worms World Party, playing them as a kid. However, over the years, I kinda stopped playing them, mostly because we had other games on the PS2, and the Worms games we had were for the PS1. We did later try some of the 3d versions on PS2, Worms 3D and Worms: Forts Under Siege, but they just weren’t as fun as the 2D games. Later on, when I played on PC, I did have Worms 2 and Worms Armageddon on disk, and I later did pick up many of the Worms games on Steam, but playing alone just wasn’t as fun as playing with family members.

Now we jump to August 2023, where I got to try Worms W.M.D. on the Playstation 5. As part of a date. Well, frankly, it turns out I am very, very rusty when it comes to Worms games. Also, the default controls have changed, apparently. I blew myself up like five times, forgetting that X is now to jump and Square is to fire your weapon. I recall when I played Worms Armageddon, back in the old days, X was fire and Square was for jump. Or maybe Circle was to jump. And Triangle definitely was the button you use to drop things from a Swing Shot. So yeah, I blew myself up with the Bazooka a lot. The Bazooka is still, after all these years, the default first weapon, but the game remembers what weapon your worm used last time, so I found myself wasting time picking what weapon I wanted.

Worms W.M.D. is a bit different though. Worms W.M.D. has vehicles. A random assortment of vehicles. I saw a tank, a helicopter, a mech and a hole-drilling thing. These vehicles do seem to keep you slightly safe, and they all have an extra bit of mobility as they are faster than worms on their own. The vehicles do blow up when they take too much damage though, and that also damages any worm inside the vehicle when it explodes. I didn’t particularly like the mech or the helicopter, but the tank was pretty cool. Aiming it was hard though.

One thing that surprised me was that there were, well, buildings. The buildings could be destroyed but they did act as a bit of cover. You couldn’t hide inside them though, you can still see their health from the outside. I found these interesting, but a bit of a pain to navigate, especially if you’ve had a firefight around them.

The physics also feel different to what I remember. I don’t recall the Banana Bomb being nearly as bouncy. I also don’t recall the Sheep being as bouncy. Damn thing jumps around everywhere. Ok sure it’s a banana, but it was still insanely bouncy. The jetpack seems to bounce around a lot as well. What really confused me though was how some of the weapons felt different. The Air Strike felt a lot larger, but the Holy Hand Grenade’s explosion felt a lot smaller. Dynamite seemed to be the same but the Sheep’s explosion felt smaller too. Throwing grenades was a bit of a challenge, and the wind REALLY overly affects bazookas, way more than I remember.

While I played, I realized just how rusty I was. Maybe it’s always been like that, that the physics are different or something like that, but I doubt it. There’s definitely a difference between old Worms games and modern Worms games. Still better than the 3D games though.

Thing is, Worms W.M.D. is good, but I do think the vehicles are a bit of a gimmick. It was still a lot of fun though, especially when my date jetpacked himself into the water during sudden death. It’s not a classic, but it is way better than previous entries into the series.