Worms Rumble is releasing today on PS4, PS5, and PC, and is one of December 2020’s free PlayStation Plus games. Far from the turn-based tactical Worms of old, Rumble is a real time multiplayer action shooter with backflips, wall jumping, and rolling by scrunching yourself up into a tiny worm ball.
You can read our preview of our time with the beta here, but basically it’s a lot of predictably hectic and explosive fun. You should have no trouble finding a game – not only is Worms Rumble free to those with a PlayStation Plus subscription, this console version will have PC cross-platform play enabled too!
Don’t worry if you didn’t manage to get some time in with the Worms Rumble beta. We’re on hand to give out some useful tips and tricks to help lock down some early wins.
Worms Rumble Tips & Tricks
Keep Moving
The most important thing to keep in mind when playing Worms Rumble is, much like most multiplayer games, that you should almost never stand still. You are an easy target when you’re on the floor not just because you’re not moving, but because you’ll get caught in the splash damage of poorly aimed explosives that would otherwise have missed. You have a few options to avoid incoming fire, so always remember to keep jumping, backflipping, and most importantly…
Keep Rolling
Rolling is fast and makes you a smaller target in Worms Rumble. Naturally it helps you get around the map quicker and dodge attacks, but you can also use it to escape from a fight that isn’t going your way or, better yet, quickly enter a fight to clean up some enemies that have already taken damage. Just keep an eye on the stamina meter to make sure you don’t run out whilst you’re charging towards your target as this can often end in an embarrassing death. Of course, a big part of having to keep moving most of the time is that you need to…
Know When to Stop
The majority of your time in Worms Rumble is going to be spent running, rolling, and jumping, but there will be times where standing still can actually work a treat. The most satisfying kills are when you spot someone coming around a corner, plant your worm feet(?) and take them out with a few well aimed shots. You’re more accurate when you’re standing still, but you’re more vulnerable, so consider the risk versus the reward – if they’re carrying a giant rocket launcher then it’s time to scarper!
Start Swinging
When you’ve got sentry guns, sheep, and bazookas going off all around you it’s easy to forget the humble length of wood that is your baseball bat. You might not be able to hit worms into the stratosphere to home run music or skim them across water, but you definitely can use it to finish them off instead of reloading. Even better, if you time it right you can deflect grenades, but you’ll still have to provide the home run music yourself. You don’t want to rely on your bat entirely though, though, so you’re going to want to…
Get Guns
Guns are pretty important when it comes to shooting other players in Worms Rumble, so you’re going to want to pick some up. You spawn with one, sure, but the best guns are usually found within each level and if you pick it up it gives you two advantages: first, it means you now have a bigger, often more powerful gun; and second, it means someone else doesn’t have a big gun, because you’ve got it.
Try to remember where weapons spawn on a level and check for them on your way to your next fight. You should keep an eye on your ammunition as well. If you’re between fights and you stumble upon a perfectly good, unused gun, it might be worth switching so you’re back at full ammo. Whilst you’re there, maybe you should…
Get Everything Else Too
Other pickups include grenades and movement abilities like the grappling hook or jetpack. In Worms Rumble grenades can be invaluable for various reasons, like bouncing them around corners or into a little nook an enemy is hiding in, or simply for devastating a room full of worms with a banana bomb or holy hand grenade.
Jetpacks and grappling hooks are incredibly useful not just for getting around much more quickly, but because you’re a much harder target when you’re hovering above someone carpet bombing them with rockets, or swinging around like Tarzan with a rocket launcher. On top of that, they’re really great fun, but like anything else, to use them to their fullest potential you’ve really just got to…
Be Devious
You should know how your weapon works – if it’s a shotgun, don’t start combat by shooting someone with it from a distance, try to get closer before you open fire and give yourself away. Worms Rumble gives you plenty of opportunities to ambush and otherwise surprise enemies, the biggest of which are the areas on each map that are covered until you enter them. You could jump out yourself with a shotgun, lay a sentry or two to surprise some unsuspecting invertebrate, or use them to sneak around and flank an enemy.
Are there a few worms fighting? Maybe let them damage each other a bit and throw a few grenades in rather than barging in, guns blazing, and drawing fire. Even better, pretend you’re Batman by dropping some explosives and then ninja roping right out of a door, leaving only explosions and tiny worm screams behind. You get points for style – not from the game, from me, I give you points for style.
And there you go, there’s seven tips and tricks – with these and a little practice, you should be well on your way to winning in Worms Rumble.
MrYd
I gave it a quick go earlier, and was quite surprised.
It lacks the strategy of a proper worms game. And you don’t have those moments where a worm is almost dead, but wins the match. Or dies and explodes and takes out some other worms.
But it’s still quite fun. And enough chaos that you can’t really get upset when you lose. You’re still going to get plenty of kills.
Servers were a bit flakey earlier though.