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Review

WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii) Review

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99 Party Games sitting on a wall

In the last couple of months the Wii has seen its fair share of party games, a new genre created to cater for countless mini game feast releases. Most notoriously of these has been Rayman Ravin Rabbids, a game that basked in the glory of a launch title and will probably be seen in discount bins only a few months from now. So now that the latest mini game compilation has landed on our southern shores in the guise of Warioware: Smooth Moves, are gamers sighing in relief or groaning in disappointment. I for one am with the former, glad to not see another disappointment like Rayman despite Wariowares short comings when it comes to its length and visual presentation.

Warioware: Smooth Moves is the fifth instalment in a long running series that takes full advantage of its platforms capabilities. In the case of the Wii this equates to the motion enabled controller that has been widely dubbed as the Wiimote. On the Nintendo DS, Warioware had you scratching and on the Gameboy Advance, had you tilting. For the Wii it will have you jumping, pointing, rolling, flapping, bouncing and even pulling out Master Swords. All these and many more take place across 200 micro games that make you look quite the fool in front of friends and family. These micro games are broken up amongst a ensemble of Warioware mascots and comprise most of the gameplay.

Wait 30 minutes after you eat

The premises is simple, Wario has stumbled upon a Wiimote, which these strange little creatures from an ancient civilization have proclaimed as being the Form Baton. Wario is his typical thieving ways takes the Form Baton only to be chased through a temple by a giant boulder. And thus begins your first introduction to Smooth Moves and the excitement that will follow. Once being taken through a brief introduction of how to use the Wiimote you have to complete 10 or so easy point at screen micro games. These include shooting cans off a fence, taking the cap off a bottle and burn ants with a magnifying glass. Very simple and very user friendly.

Work your way through the 10 or so characters and the difficulty will begin to mount up. Within no time you will be cleaning a cows bottom, pumping a balloon by handling the Wiimote handlebar style, squashing cute little innocent Pikmin and one of my favourite, pulling out a gun cowboy style and shooting at the screen. You start in the sword form, with the Wiimote resting against your hip. As soon as the micro game starts and it prompts you to, you unsheathe the weapon and press the A button the shoot the pants off the guy on screen. There is also a very interesting and enjoyable Orchestra micro game in the mix, perhaps teasing at the upcoming Wii Music. Once all is said and done and youve completed the initial 100 micro games, watching the colourful and kooky characters resolving there issues one way or another the game seems somewhat over and therefore, lacking. This is where most people have overlooked the enormous amount of replayability, including the multiplayer that while with its own flaws, is unlocked after the Story is finished, albeit as a second thought instead of being the centre piece of this party game.

But wait, theres more!

Once the main part of the game is done you are welcomed back to play through each characters lot of micro games again. However this time there is no end to them, as long as you have a life or two remaining and a hundred or so more micro games suddenly become available to you. Not only that but the difficulty is given a further boost of insanity with some of the modes having you in sweating fits at the end. On the off chance of sounded clich, BUT WAIT, theres more! As you go through the Story you unlock a series of mini games that will have you stacking blocks and bouncing a tennis ball up a tower as well as flapping your arms like a madman. Its almost impossible to explain just how much more there is to this game, which is unfortunately being overlooked by to many gamers. While I understand not everyone likes the notion of beating there highest score at least give this game a chance to reward yourself with a second playthrough. Thats where the game shines.

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Two things that I must make a note on before delving into the multiplayer and finally the games overall presentation are three of the story characters that had me smiling or giddy with nostalgia. Two said characters named Jimmy T and Jimmy P are both disco dancing nice guys that go out of there way to help a cat and dog in need. All of a sudden they have a legion of both pets following them back to there disco for a night of dancing. It was just so hilarious to watch the cats dancing for the first time that I would have been happy to end the game there. Well, not entirely but I thought it was adorable. The other character is known as 9 Volt and this is where the nostalgia falls into place. 9 Volt is where the classic micro games are, from jumping for coins as Mario to flying through ugly polygon buildings as Fox Mcloud, you name it, its all here. You even get to pull the Master Sword out of its pedestal in the Temple of Time, something every Nintendo fanboy wishes he or she could do in real life. Soon my pretty, soon.

Developer says: How can we possibly annoy the gamer?

After such a wonderful single player mode it disappoints me to say that the multiplayer is severely lacking. This comes across as incredibly strange considering just how multiplayer orientated these mini game compilations always become. For starters the multiplayer is only available once youve finished the Story Mode and in a very scarce manner. You have to play a multiplayer mode to unlock another, which seems a pointless way to play what should have been the central focus of the game. And here comes the big kicker, the one singular fact that almost brings the multiplayer down to its knees. Here we have an opportunity to at least make a fun party games for up to four people but instead only one wiimote can be used at any given time so to play together you have to throw the wiimote around like a hot potato. This basically throws the warnings Nintendo have displayed everywhere about wearing the wrist strap out the window. By the time your turn is up and youve dismantled the wiimote from your iron grip your friends turn is already over before they can even think about slipping the wrist strap on. If you want to give multiplayer a slug, leave the wrist strap off; in fact just remove it altogether.

Negativity aside, multiplayer can be a lot of fun if done correctly. A few of the more notable modes are Survivor, Darts and Star Nose but there are plenty more available, some even designed for up to 12 players. Survivor pits you against your friends as you outplay and outlast one another through the 200 odd micro games unlocked through single player. Darts is exactly what it sounds like; you throw cyber darts at the screen by holding the Wiimote as if it were a dart. Just dont throw it at the screen especially it you took my advice of not wearing the wrist strap. The aim here is to reach 200 exactly the quickest. Star Nose is for two players but dont think that means two wiimotes are used. Instead one player uses the Wiimote and the other uses the nunchuck as you manoeuvre through obstacles as flying noses to reach the painting first. This is a prime example of the humour youll find in this game, which is bounds and leaps ahead of Rayman. The multiplayer however may not be leaps and bounds better and unfortunately it results in the mode feeling tacked on.

Not so sexy without a shirt

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Warioware has never been a visually driven game and it doesnt require state of the art graphics or a unique art style. For the most part everything is in 2-D with the occasional 3-D effects thrown into the mix. The cut scenes are very well done, represented in a comic book style and thanks to some dancing kittens, very funny. Writing this Im trying to think of a reason of why the graphics are bad but in the end the game is nothing more than a micro game fest, similar to those plentiful flash games on the Internet. Its almost impossible to find a flaw with a game that never tried to be something beyond what it simply is. The same could almost be said for the sound, however the announcer is perhaps a little bit annoying. I really need a game that is actually built on its visuals and audio because this is almost too easy. Ultimately though, when it comes to Smooth Moves, it will not disappoint, as long as you dont expect Twilight Princess.

Play without the Wrist Strap, trust me

If you are going into this game as a Warioware newbie such as I did, you will be pleasantly surprised. For those that have stayed with this series since its first incarnation you may be disappointed at the fewer options than Touched on the Nintendo DS had available, but that should not stop you from experiencing this worthy addition to your collection. Warioware: Smooth Moves is available for a budget price of $79.95 and will be the smartest purchase since Twilight Princess, I guarantee it.

Graphics 7.0

Gameplay 9.0

Sound 8.0

Tilt 8.0

Value 9.0

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About The Author
Sean Jones

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