Thanks for the feedback! The worm does actually have a pre-attack telegraph (there's a road SFX and its eye bulges one second before it charges) but we noticed too late that sometimes the worm is off-screen and you can't see its eye changes. The jump mechanic was meant to be a dodge-roll stand-in to avoid the worm's dashes, but its not as useful if you can't predict when the worm is about to attack in the first place.
I did consider procedural animation, but since I had no experience in it, we decided to go for the safer option. I also had a different vision for the worm initially (I imagined it more like a coiled serpent) so it was a bit of a planning mishap on my part.