Worms Rumble digs away from the franchise's traditional roots of wacky turn-based combat opting for a new age 32-player battle royale. At first, Worms Rumble sounds like a ludicrous fever dream, but on some strange level, it works. Worms Rumble is not the Worms that players have come to know and love over the past 25 years, but still maintains the same level of wacky explosive fun while adding an extra layer of intense fast-paced combat.
Of the 20+ Worms titles developed by Team 17, few have strayed away from the series' tried and true formulaic gameplay. Those that have been brave enough to try something new (i.e. Worms Blast) haven't been the most well-received, either. However, Worms Rumble offers a unique 2D shooter that ditches turn-based combat altogether. The gameplay is great, the levels are well designed, and there are plenty of nods to the original titles that make Worms Rumble feel like a not-so-distant cousin to the Worms franchise.
Worms Rumble offers three different game modes: Deathmatch, Last Squad Standing, and Last Worm Standing. Deathmatch is a standard game mode where players fight one another for a certain period of time, and the player with the highest number of kills at the end is the winner. Worms Rumble's crowing game modes are the Last Squad/Worm Standing modes. These pit 32 players against one another with either a group of 3 or a solo player fighting to be the last alive. While Deathmatch is fun and is a great way to learn the ropes, Last Worm Standing is by far the best mode Worms Rumble has to offer.
Unlike many modern-day battle royale titles, Worms Rumble plays 2D instead of 3D. Players must traverse levels by traveling left, right, up, or down in search of weapons, utilities, and healing items. Two-dimensional levels may sound restrictive, but they are designed in such a way that allows players to strategically make their way around the map. Air ducts, elevators, and semi-destructible environments provide opportunities for players to get the jump on their opponents or make a quick getaway. There are also items such as the grappling hook or jet pack that make mobility even more dynamic.
As for weaponry, Worms Rumble brings back some of the most iconic weapons from the original series including the Sheep Grenade, Banana Bomb, Holy Hand Grenade, and Bazooka. While these weapons were incredibly overpowered in the turn-based games, they have been pretty well balanced in Worms Rumble. They can still pack a decent punch if an unassuming player walks into their blast radius, but they won't take anyone out in one blow. Using high-powered explosives in tight corridors makes for intense battles where threading rockets through small gaps could make the difference between blowing up an opponent or ending a run prematurely.
While rounds of classic Worms titles could take an extended period of time to finish due to the time it takes for players to plan out their next move, rounds of Worms Rumble rarely last longer than 10 to 15 minutes. This makes Worms Rumble a great title for gamers who like to play shorter sessions. Other battle royales can last upwards of 30 minutes per round with loads of dead time between encounters, but Worms Rumble always keeps players on their setae. While more players on larger maps could extend the duration of rounds, Worms Rumble doesn't need to change its already incredible formula.
Worms Rumble isn't Worms, but it's still a lot of fun and pretty addictive. Winning a round offers players the same dopamine hit as other battle royales but in quicker succession. Worms Rumble offers non-stop action by sacrificing some of the strategy of classic Worms titles while continuing the series' tradition of outlandish weaponry, but it does feel like the type of game that lacks staying power - more of a nice option few people will end up committing to rather than a new main game. For players looking for a true Worms title, Worms Rumble isn't going to make the search any easier, but gamers looking for a break from monotonous BR clones may find what they're looking for in Worms Rumble.
Worms Rumble is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. Screen Rant was provided a digital Steam code for the purpose of this review.