I think allowing for duplicates and versions of the same game on different platforms I own more Worms games than any other franchise. If I was to allow for Mario's various forays into Sports, RPGs and Parties that might not be the case, but in its purest form of worms taking turns to knock the tar out of each other without counting I've got a lot of Worms. I like the games a lot but I never really bought into the redesign of the Worms themselves after the first game (which I own 3 copies of on different platforms alone) so was really pleased when I started to see more of Worms WMD (PS4) before its release, ignoring all the new features added to the gameplay it looks great, sort of hand drawn environments and the late 90s/early 2000s look of the worms has gone, replaced by dead eyed simpler looking invertebrates. The very British humour of the voices has continued down the same path, some of the speech banks are irritating but then with the rappers and action hero samples it won me back. In essence the game hasn't changed much from its early release, attempts at 3D environments never really worked, and while I really liked the whole Forts diversion the games took I can't see that returning any time soon. This is more of the same, turn based attacks with grenades, uzis, bazookas, sheep and donkeys. Luckily customisation has been focused on the weapons available in a match thus limiting armageddon (literally). A neat thing added, crafting, means that between turns there is now the capacity to build additional weapons manufactured from pickups around the environment, once I'd got my head around this addition it adds more interest to the downtime between turns. Its not too much of a game changer as for a long time there has been additional weapons scattered about the map so its just altering the collection of weapons (and there are also weapon pickups still too). Also added are tanks, helicopters, sniper points and mech suits, my initial thoughts on these was that they would be either too overpowered or pointless, I couldn't see how they'd fit into the game. The good news its that I think they add another level too it, there are quirks to using each, the tank has an ark to its gunfire, the helicopters machine gun is swayed heavily by the flight of the helicopter etc. The finesse to each of these new additions make them fit nicely into the game, Worms has always been a lot of trial and error and at its best its those moments where a simple grenade toss backfires or I've lucked out with a bazooka shot across the map, the new machines, even the sniper rifle (which gives a line of shot) each offer a new unique way of messing up or making the perfect shot. For a game which is iterated upon so often its weird to be talking about even more new additions when so little has been added previously but its also added the ability to enter and exit areas of the maps, such as Aztec ruins or buildings. I've always enjoyed blowtorching deep into the terrain, making my Worms hard to hit,to paraphrase Predator its fun to dig my Worm in like an Alabama tic. Adding buildings helps expand this tactic and I'm loving the end of most matches i've played being the total destruction of maps trying to whittle away the remnants of the opposing final worms health.
It's got a bunch of tutorials and campaign type things to go through, loosing the story of the last console release. The campaign itself I found a good way to get accustomed to the new features and weapons. It also adds objectives on a few levels which vary from kill all the enemy worms, I'd have liked a bit more variety but its still a good entry to getting used to all thats been added. My only slight grumble about the whole package is the frame-rate has hitched a bit at points and I don't normally care about such things but with a game I've played for about 20 years and seemingly so little going on compared to other games on my PS4 it annoyed me more than it should on the few occasions it happened.
All in all its the best Worms game I've played in probably forever, it's added loads of new stuff (i've not really even got into the new weapons) and lost the outdated look of the previous games which I felt always held it back a bit. If I was so inclined I could strip a match back to almost how it would have been in 1995 but with so much lovingly added to it I've had a lot of fun getting to know all the bits added in this version. Maybe I'll stop purchasing games from the series now, or at least slow down a bit!
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