Worms Blast

Worms Blast is a spin-off from the turn-based strategy on which Worms built its reputation, moving toward a fast-paced arcade puzzle instead. Rather than alternating turns and carefully judging a projectile's trajectory, the player controls a worm that fires colored balls across the screen, trying to match three or more of them, similar to the Bust-a-Move genre, just wrapped in Worms humor and weaponry. The goal of each round is to clear your own side of the screen before the balls fill it up, or to bury your opponent so that they lose instead. The balls also fall in colored rows, so success depends on how well the player can predict where each color will bounce off the arena's walls.

The game's pace is noticeably faster than the main series' - battles happen in real time, the screen gradually fills up with balls, and the player has to react quickly instead of thinking over every move like in classic Worms. The series' signature weapons and their effects are retained, able to thoroughly scramble the opponent's field of balls or add extra rows to it instead, so even as a puzzle game Worms Blast keeps the series' characteristic chaotic humor and the chance to turn around a seemingly lost round with a single well-aimed power-up. The game also offers multiplayer split-screen battles, which makes it more of a quick party game than a title meant primarily for long solo sessions, and individual rounds last on the order of minutes, not the tens of minutes a full match of classic Worms takes.

It was developed once again by Team17, who used this title to test how far the Worms brand could be stretched beyond its core turn-based strategy genre. For players looking for classic turn-based strategy, it was a clearly different experience, since Worms Blast isn't built on patient planning of individual moves but on quick reactions and the ability to judge where each colored ball is about to fall.

Why play: For players who enjoy fast arcade puzzles and want a break from classic Worms turn-based strategy with shorter, more action-packed rounds.