Wario Land: Shake It!
Wario Land: Shake It! is the latest Wario game to find itself on to the Nintendo Wii. This time around you won't be playing a multitude of mini-games you'll actually be playing a side scrolling platformer with a cartoony looking Wario. You will be the reluctant hero, played by Wario, who is driven to save the world because of a magic sack that when shaken will never run out of coins.
The graphics on this game as stated before are cartoony, which isn't a bad thing. You're not going to see any crazy feats of graphics in this game, but that's fine because it isn't necessary. The little guys that you'll be rescuing in each level sometimes look a bit clunky, but it really doesn't take away from the game because once you see them you're usually hauling ass back across the level.
The music really feels out of place. I know that Mario/Wario games has to have that up-beat almost poppy feel, but the music I heard doesn't fit with the game. Sure it might fit with a stage, but I just couldn't connect it with a Wario game. The sound effects were decent, the didn't draw me into the game any further, but they weren't annoying to the point where I had to turn off the volume.
The controls are solid, but do slightly depress me. I was really hoping for something that utilized the wii-mote more. You do get to rapidly shake the wii-mote, as well as quickly 'pop' the wii-mote up and then down to perform moves, but the majority of the gameplay will come off you holding the Wii-mote sideways. It is a bit weird to be playing the game where the main buttons are the smallest (1 and 2), but overall it didn't hurt the gameplay, especially after you get use to it. There are a couple of oddball levels where the controls don't feel 100% right, but they're just a few of them.
So the gameplay as stated before has you entering this world housed in a large globe. Your job is to beat the different levels to defeat 5 bosses to find the true enemy in the game. You'll have the chance to find hidden levels along the way as well. There's some achievements that you can obtain through the game, most revolve around getting back to the start of the level under a certain time. You'll be climbing, swinging, jumping, crawling, getting set on fire (on purpose), sprinting, body slamming and more.
This is a fun game, but if you're willing to sit down and play some longer sessions you'll find that you're going to fly through the levels. The only thing that lengthens this game is the need for the coins to buy the map to the next area.I really like this game, I haven't enjoyed a game like this in a while, and I think its worth the pick up. Though I'm not seeing much replay value if you aren't trying to get every treasure and every achievement. This game gets an 8.6 out of 10.
