"Great fun, but not the highlight of the series."

WARIOWARE: SMOOTH MOVES
(NINTENDO WII)

INTRODUCTION

The one and only Wario bursts onto Nintendo Wii with his unique brand of insanity. Our portly, money hungry anti-hero has earned himself a crazy new reputation since his first stay in Diamond City on Game Boy Advance.

Anyone worried that Wario and friends may have found their sanity for this outing can put those fears to rest. WarioWare Smooth Moves is quite possibly the weirdest addition to the series so far. A quick read of the delightful instruction booklet confirms this, as you are advised to stand about fifteen to thirty apples (one to three meters) away from your television whilst playing!

STORY- 5/10

Wario is sat stuffing his face as usual, when a strange creature appears beside him and steals his food! Chasing the cheeky freeloader, Wario winds up in a forgotten temple and stumbles across the ‘Form Baton' (a Wii Remote to you and me) and discovers its crazy powers.

GAMEPLAY- 7/10

As with all other WarioWare games, play is split up into bunches of microgames, each presented by a different member of Diamond City. Every set of games starts with a miniature story involving the character(s) in question, struggling to overcome a problem. This is where you come in. Somehow, by completing a set number of microgames and defeating a ‘Boss', your character will overcome adversity and conclude his/her story. Microgames involve adopting a certain pose when prompted; holding the Wii Controller like a handlebar for instance, the rest is up to you. You are thrown into some bizarre situation and are given three to five seconds to work out what to do. Told to hold the controller like a handlebar? See some guy trying to pump up a balloon on screen? Raise and lower your forearms to work the hand-pump. This is but one example, there are over two hundred microgames to uncover, each utilizing the many different functions of the Wii Remote. You are given four lives per attempt, lose them all and you'll have to give them another go. The number of ways in which the Wii Remote has been implemented will really amaze you; after all, this is a very early Wii title. You can't help but feel excited about what may be possible on Wii in the future. With simple and initially satisfying gameplay, you feel quite smug having gotten your head around some of the more obscure tasks on thrown at you.

I say initially satisfying, because although the game is indeed a delight to play, you get the feeling that something is missing at times. Once the joy of successfully completing a microgame has passed, returning to it reveals that the thrill of discovery has gone. This won't happen straight away as each microgame has two further difficulty variations, which become available once you have concluded the story. When you re-visit a previously completed group of microgames, you will notice that the game doesn't end after the boss battle. Instead you carry on completing games, unlocking ones you haven't seen, and encountering trickier versions of older ones you've already seen. You will also unlock one of a large number of ‘Pose Cards' upon completion of each boss battle. This is where the replay value comes in, by trying to better your high score and aiming to unlock all the Pose Cards. As with all WarioWare games, several Easter eggs are unlockable along the way, including a lightgun style minigame, a fitness test and some extra games which utilize the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Easter eggs aren't as numerous as previous titles and they don't seem quite as compelling, which is odd considering the wealth of options offered by the Wii Remote.

As I said, something seems to be missing. Although the formula remains true to the WarioWare series, some of the controls don't sustain the accuracy of previous titles, meaning that you sometimes feel cheated of a victory through no fault of your own. While most of the microgames are brilliantly implemented, there are some that don't seem to react to certain off screen controller movements as sharply as you'd want. I doubt that this is a hardware problem; I get the feeling that if Smooth Moves appeared a year from now, these issues wouldn't exist. After all, we are dealing with a completely new control system here, such teething troubles are inevitable and hopefully just a part of the development learning-curve.

Another gripe is the feeling that the whole multiplayer aspect has become a missed opportunity. As much fun as multiplayer darts is, microgame shenanigans are reduced to a ‘pass the controller' system which feels a bit slow and uninspiring. It's still great fun to take turns on single player whilst watching your friends make fools of themselves, but compared to the multiplayer in Mega Party Game$ on GameCube, Smooth Moves feels somewhat lacking.

GRAPHICS- 9/10

As usual, the graphics in a WarioWare game cover just about every style imaginable and Smooth Moves is no exception. 2D, 3D, messy scribbles, pixels, pastels, photography and cartoon styling all make an appearance. This description does the game no justice, in a similar fashion to Rhythm Tengoku (another game by the same developer); you have to see Smooth Moves in action to appreciate the visual excellence. The developers constantly mess about with graphical styles to complement the wacky situations, giving the game its very Japanese feel. The main hub of the game however, is wrapped up in an absolutely gorgeous 2D cartoon styling. For the first time, each character has an intro animation, helping you sum up their personality traits and give you their names. The cartoon styling gives the game that bit more polish and you can't help but admire the way everything looks and moves.

SOUND- 8/10

The sound is also great but not as notable as what's on screen. The tradition of making the music and sound effects as wacky as the visuals continues. In the same way that a cartoon uses odd sound effects for comedy purposes, Smooth Moves employs catchy tunes and comic timing to make things genuinely funny in places. The sound will delight and annoy people in equal measures, depending on taste.

LIFESPAN- 7/10

The lifespan will build or destroy your opinion of this game. Those playing to blast through all the character stories and nothing more will have done so in a maximum of two hours. Those wishing to unlock all the microgames after repeated play will be kept busy for a day. Anyone wishing to unlock all the Pose Cards and set some decent high scores will be playing for a fair while. High score beating has always been the reason to return to WarioWare games and Smooth Moves will probably find itself being revisited from time-to-time. This game is a must amongst company and a great showcase for Wii to help convert skeptical friends and relatives. Unfortunately it won't do anything to dismiss the opinions of those believing the Wii to be a ‘party console' and nothing more.

SUMMARY

WarioWare Smooth Moves is an experience that really shouldn't be missed, despite its shortcomings. It may lack in places compared to previous games in the series, but the overall standard is still very high and well worth your time.

OVERALL SCORE- 7/10 (not an average)

PRO'S

+ Another crazy control scheme to explore.
+ Funny, charming and beautifully presented.
+ Really helps you appreciate the genius of the Wii remote.

CON'S

- Easily finished.
- Occasionally imprecise and frustrating.
- Doesn't quite reach the dizzy heights of previous WarioWare titles.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/29/07