Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition is the faithfully remastered release of Team 17‘s 1999 turn-based worm warfare classic, now updated and optimized for modern consoles. The Anniversary Edition retains all of the original gameplay modes, content, and personality of the original release, but with improved high-definition graphics, quality-of-life features such as online multiplayer support and user interface enhancements, as well as achievements/trophies and a load of additional included content!
If you’ve never played a Worms game, I’m frankly shocked, as the series has been around for nearly 30 years, and has evolved and been adapted for nearly ever gaming device in existence. Worms Armageddon serves as a brilliant representation of the series’ enduring style, as it features the addicting, old-school, turn-based tactical combat of the old Tank Wars game on the NES, but with its own uniquely humorous and engaging identity that sets it apart from other titles in the genre.
Whether you’re new to the franchise or a lifelong fan that’s interested in learning the history of the game’s conception, development, growth, evolution, and many iterations, the Anniversary Edition provides a detailed walk down memory lane that explains everything from the initial designs to the current state of the series, and even where that crazy concrete donkey originated from. I followed the branching historical narrative for at least half an hour because I’m the type of nerd that eats that stuff up!
This particular entry in the franchise starts players off with a selection of tutorial challenges that detail the game’s many initially complex controls and combinations that become invaluable in battle once the game truly begins. Learning to deftly maneuver a flying super sheep, accurately aim and engage the enemy with firearms, and to properly utilize gadgets such as the ninja rope become paramount in the player’s future success. The player can also customize their own squads of worms by selecting names, nationality, voices and more before diving into the experience.
Once the tutorial challenges are completed, the player is also given a set of missions with specific set objectives and restrictions that add depth and variety to the already over-the-top mayhem on offer. If following rules isn’t your thing, skip the missions and jump into one of the many other modes that allow for more specialized gameplay. There are a ton of cheats and custom settings that allow players to perfectly tailor every step of their Worms-icidal adventure to include as many guns, rockets, tools, and exploding livestock as they could ever want, while also allowing for changes to the match time, worm health, enemy count, and so many other details to fine tune frenetic fracas for further fun!
My personal favorite mode had me face increasingly difficulty teams of AI combatants using all manner of conventional weapons, from baseball bats and battle axes to a shotgun, pistol, Uzi, Bazooka, and even directed airstrikes and mortar fire. On the more wacky and whimsical side of things, I was able to channel Monty Python with the inclusion of the all-powerful Holy Hand-Grenade, as well as a jet pack, a teleporter, a couple of attacks ripped from Street Fighter, cows, birds, sheep and skunks that went BOOM, banana bombs, a good solid finger poke, and the most glorious and time-honored of all, the concrete donkey, among many others.
I admittedly spent very little time in the mission-based stages that featured timed escapes, capturing worms, defusing bombs, and more objectives of the sort, nor was I interested in further developing my skills through trying to earn the higher medals in the tutorial challenges to unlock more stages, as I found the sweet spot in the simple concept of creating a team of weirdo worms and doing battle with AI and online players alike. There is a local multiplayer mode too that allows for co-op and competitive play, which I will shamefully admit that I had a fair bit of fun destroying my partners worms as well.
If all of those options are somehow not enough, the Anniversary Edition also includes an 8-Bit copy of Worms Armageddon (GBC), two 16-Bit titles in the form of Worms (MD) and Worms (SNES), and a copy of the 32-Bit Worms World Party (GBA). I mean, who doesn’t love optimized Game Boy and SNES games on modern console?! Regardless of my rhetorical question that we all know the answer to, these games were a surprising and welcomed addition to the collection, and very well appreciated. The resolution of the sprites and the stage textures were higher definition, while preserving the original animations and art style of the classic titles as well.
As far as accessibility’s concerned, the user interface includes customizable color schemes and HUD scaling, screen resolution and aspect ratio tweaks, button remapping and sensitivity settings, automatic cloud backups for saved progress, and manual saving and loading options in single-player missions, among others. Aside from the accessibility options on offer, the new online matchmaking services with region filtering, the lobby creation tools, and even an added spectator mode, made for a relatively quick and convenient way to launch into total Worms-aggedon when I didn’t have anybody around to play against on the couch, though finding a match in 2025 wasn’t the simplest task, but not impossible by any means.
All-in-all, I had a lot of nostalgic fun playing Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition, and I have a pretty strong feeling that if you grew up playing the titles, this will bring back a ton of the same emotions and memories that it did for me. Many in the fan base claim to this day that Armageddon is still the best Worms game in the series, though personally I was a bigger fan of the 3D animations and even more customizable content that came with Worms Battlegrounds. With that said, Armageddon certainly evoked emotions, and uncovered many deeply rooted memories of late-night gaming at sleep overs down the street from my childhood home… Good times.
With all of the visual updates, extra content, quality-of-life improvements, and the ever-important addition of achievements, I’m giving this remastered revisit to my childhood a strong 7 out of 10. If you’re a fan of the series, I implore you to pick this up and enjoy it! If you’re new to the Worms-iverse, then I would argue that it’s not a bad place to start. Either way, it’s a funny, whimsical, tactical combat experience that gives players the freedom to develop their own wacky strategies and defeat their foes. Check out Worms Armageddon Anniversary Edition on Xbox One & Series X|S, PlayStation 4 & 5, and Nintendo Switch now!
