A garden of delights. Strawberries to be exact.
Ware for art, thou Wario?
If you find any appeal in microgames, you will not be disappointed with Nintendo's latest offering. Moving past the Gamecube controls and DS stylus certainly took a leap of inspiration, and the over 150 members of the WarioWare development team have embraced the Wii with gusto. The variety of Wii-motions showcased in Smooth Moves will likely become a template for other developers. The diversity of styles among the microgames can be jarring, but never tiresome. The technical issue with any Wii game is response, so it may be difficult to succeed if the system has a hiccup. You can also "cheat" most of the form movements, and I easily played every game sitting down, with the wrist strap attached. The only source of frustration for me is that five seconds may not be long enough to catch on to the correct motion. Certain games are not forgiving! (It is worth noting that I feel the microgames here do a better job of Wii sword battles than Red Steel. :-p ) And yes the nunchuk does get used for particular single and multiplayer sets; you won't need to madly plug and unplug, and it allows for four players with only two pair of controllers.
The humorous style presented in the script and soundtrack makes for absolute top-notch entertainment for player and bystander alike. The droll voice-overs describing the forms for holding the "baton" can be laugh-out-loud inducing. The majority of art is cartoony and charming. Even more impressive than the humour is the retro games showcase. One character, inspired by the classic Game and Watch portable, has levels based entirely off other Nintendo properties. Culminating in a (yes I'm going to spoil it) Starfox SNES boss run. For. The. Win.
While the core storyline is over shortly, the value is in replay and multiplayer. There are dozens of games you won't see the first time around. And if you are this easy to bore with this much variety, then I'm amazed this review kept your attention this long.
WarioWare feels like those old 200-in-1 bootleg NES cartridges. But inspired.
