So as the Nintendo Switch continues to flourish and is expected to grow even further during the Christmas period, we are seeing more and more ports appearing on the small but powerful system. With games like Doom, Mario Kart 8 and Breath of the Wild, it’s easy to overlook other ports that become buried by the triple As. It’s a shame as there are some real gems hidden in the Switch’s ever growing library, such as Team17’s return to form Worms W.M.D. Did you even know it was out on the Switch? Or were you too engrossed in blowing away the demon hordes on Mars?
Well, as my esteemed colleague Will Worrall explained in his review of the game (which I won’t recite or repeat), Worms W.M.D. was an astounding and fantastic return to the Worms old formula. It regained its two-dimension art style, added in vehicles and buildings and a wide array of new weaponry ranging from deadly to downright bizarre (yes, the sheep are here); Worms was back and better than ever. Not without its faults of course, the vehicles didn’t handle too well, and hiding in buildings made aiming difficult, but I digress. This is Worms, a turn-based strategy game at heart and an explosive action game in soul.
The Switch version has everything the other console versions have. All the single-player challenges and the 30 campaign missions are all here rising in difficulty the further you proceed, and there is Switch-exclusive content added to the abundance of customisation options already available in the game, which also includes the All-Stars DLC pack. Want to dress up your Worms as Yooka-Laylee or one of The Escapists? It’s all here.
Online is where it’s at though, Worms W.M.D. has a seamless online multiplayer mode that pits you against real players in a variety of different matches, such as a 1v1 duel in the hopes to raise your ranking or, if online doesn’t interest you, you can play locally with your friends on a single Switch console with multiple Joy-Con controllers or pass around a single one. You can also link multiple Switch consoles together to have a kind-of LAN party without the cables.
A seemingly unpopular trend with Switch owners is the inability to play online against your friends, which a few games still don’t support, and Worms W.M.D. is no different. Setting up private lobbies to invite your friends just isn’t possible at the moment, but with online gaming a popular reason to buy games at the moment, I’m sure it’ll be implemented at some point in the future.
Other than the differences I’ve talked about, Worms W.M.D. is still the very same game you can buy on other platforms. It looks fantastically sharp in handheld mode and tabletop mode and is pretty much identical to its counterparts in docked mode. I definitely recommend this game to any Switch owner, that is if they can pry themselves away from the Wilds.
Developer: Team17
Publisher: Team17
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Switch, PC
Release Date: 23rd August 2017