Back when Team17 was still a budding flower waiting to eventually blossom into what it is today, we had a ton of fun playing with Worms Armageddon. That game pretty much played a major role in after school meetups and duking it out with friends to see who the real champion on the battlefield was. Nevertheless, the victor was yours truly but to be quite honest, everyone’s a winner when playing a worms game. It’s such a rewarding game in every possible way, from its simple yet humorous commentary to the satirical use of names of the enemies on screen (we laughed pretty hard with Fei Ling). Of course, the Worms franchise has matured since the Armageddon days and you can see its maturity in Worms W.M.D for the Nintendo Switch. Anyone who fancies a nice little tactical challenge with plenty more to offer in terms of crafting new weapons and the sort, then picking up Worms W.M.D should be an absolute must. This is the pride and joy of Team17 so does it live up to the expectations? Keep reading to find out.

The Worms franchise has always been known for its over the top fun and challenging campaign missions, and there’s nothing missing in this new package. Everything that you fell in love with from the beginning is now here but with visual upgrades, new weapons and a plethora of fresh maps to test your skills on. There’s no story mode or long drawn out cutscene that you’ll have to watch, it’s pretty much jump right into the action and start blowing things up. Every decision you make is critical as the enemy shows no forgiveness, especially in the tougher missions that require more out of you. Worms W.M.D comes packed full of juicy bonus objectives as well, along with a lengthy campaign that’s sure to keep you coming back.

We should also mention the game comes with the option to play locally with friends as well as hopping online to play against other formidable opponents. For the price you’re paying for this title, you’re getting a whole boatload of content that you’ll easily soak 20+ hours into. With all that being said, let’s hop into the gameplay side of things a little more in depth, and give you reasons why this is a must have holiday pickup. Who would’ve thought that one of the most celebrated franchises that made its breakthrough on PC, can now be played just about anywhere on this wonderful handheld console hybrid known as the Nintendo Switch. Rejoice and praise the Nintendo gods for this wonderful chance to experience a truly wicked game!

As stated in the earlier portion of the review, Worms W.M.D is all about tactical warfare as you and your worm squad take on other strong opponents, to see who comes out on top as the champion. You can choose from the campaign mode, the lengthy yet rewarding training mode, challenge mode, extras and of course bonus missions. Each of those comes with a large selection of objectives that you’ll need to complete in order to unlock the next batch, so there’s never a shortage of things to do. The training mode is great because if you’re new to the series, it basically gives you a rundown of all the current weapons, newly added weapons, how to craft during battle and more. It’s such a robust feature that you’ll have no problem jumping straight into a real game afterwards and feel confident doing so. That’s the one thing about Team17 that makes them such an awesome company is that they never shy away from ensuring that their fanbase have a concrete understanding of what the overall objective is of the game.

We saw this in Yooka-Laylee where much of the opening segment was simply you just learning the ropes, while still actually playing the game. Worms W.M.D follows that same approach where the training mode feels as if you’re actually playing and so your anxiety tends to vanish almost immediately when thrown into a multiplayer slugfest. The campaign mode comes with 30 missions, all of which come with their own unique objectives that you can come back to at anytime to knab all the checkmarks. The challenge mode is of course where a lot of the fun happens because you’re required to take down a specific enemy, but to do so, you’ll have to grind through campaign and look for the wanted posters. They’re not too hard to find, it’s just grabbing them without dying is where things become a bit taxing. But that’s the real charm of Worms W.M.D is that, the game does a great job of luring you in but doesn’t hand hold you all the way through so that things can be learned through trial and error. The extra and bonus tabs again offer more value but that’s where your skills will be tested tremendously, and one wrong move can see your whole team wiped out in no time.

We really loved the new crafting system that was implemented because now, instead of relying on the beloved bazooka or the wonderful sheep of death, you can now craft machines such as mechs and upgraded air strikes to unleash even more devastating damage. You’re able to craft not only during your own turn but also during your enemies turn so that way, when the time comes to blow everyone up your newly crafted weapon is ready for action. Worms W.M.D is a visually stunning game as well, especially on the Switch. It runs so smooth without any issues at all. The controls are very responsive and didn’t hinder overall performance at all which is splendid. The online multiplayer side of things also ran fine and it didn’t seem to care where your opponent lived either which provided a nice lag-free experience. Of course, this may differ for everyone depending on your overall connection but for the most part, the only noticeable thing was a slight skip in frames but that didn’t deter the gameplay in a significant way.

Overall, Worms W.M.D truly blew us away and went above and beyond with adding in a ton of content to keep you playing for hours on end. The fun never seems to stop especially with the option to play online, meaning that the replay value is pretty much limitless unless of course you find yourself growing tired of the game. If you’re a true devoted Worms fan, playing this game over and over will never bore you since there’s always some new strategy to implement in order to outsmart the enemy. Whether it's purposefully digging a hole in front of you to create shelter from the enemy or scaling down the mountain with your ninja rope to land that delicious Shoryuken punch on the final target, Worms W.M.D has every element of excitement covered plus more. You don’t need to be a fan to really have a laugh with the game as the quirky names themselves are enough entertainment as is. Playing this on the go is truly a rewarding experience too, so we recommend playing this on the way to work or something. With more new exciting content such as customization items and maps coming down the pipeline as promised by Team17, the game will just continue to get better and better.

In the end, Worms W.M.D is a very impressive update to the illustrious lineup of other Worms titles that came before it, adding in a great deal of gameplay features to keep your eyes wide open until the break of dawn. There’s a ton of action, strategic planning and just a lot of creativity that can be fulfilled while playing and for these reasons alone Worms W.M.D is a must have for the holiday season. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to stay up to date about all the latest game reviews, and of course follow us on Twitch to watch us go crazy live!

As always, for all things sweet, with news straight from Japan, be sure to keep it locked here on Honey’s Anime.