"Wario's next Party game doesn't disappoint!"

The Wario Ware series has been out for a while now, the first game coming out on the GBA a couple of years ago. Since then, Wario Ware has tried to become more fun and different in many ways. A new Wario Ware game came out on the GBA with a twisting pack on the actual GBA cartridge, forcing you to twist to complete mini-games. Another came on the DS using the touch screen (obviously) and now we have Smooth Moves, taking complete advantage of the Wii Remote.

There isn't really much of a story in Wario Ware Smooth Moves. The game has an introduction, where we see a very long time ago, when a remote, or Form Baton (as it will be called from now on in the review, it's the games name for it), was discovered. People used it for all sorts of things, and even built a temple for it. Then, far into the future (where the Temple is just on the road side), the fun begins. One day Wario is being a right lazy idiot, eating Cakes (in one bite might I add). Suddenly, his food is stolen, and the culprit hides in the Temple of Form, where Wario finds the Form Baton. Many people around Diamond City will then use the Form Baton to help them do different things, thus creating the micro games for you. Whilst nothing spectacular, it's something at least.

The game is pretty simple. You create a new file, then just head onto a big map of Diamond City. At first, Diamond City looks pretty empty and dull, with nothing to do. Although, over time, you will be able to unlock more and more places to visit. At first, you will just have Wario's face, which is the first stage. After beating him, more people come up onto the map. Once you beat these, more are unlocked until every one is beaten. The levels are fairly simple, as with any other Wario Ware game. You enter, and you will see a short cut-scene, then you're thrown into the action. Wario Ware is all about completing Micro-games, until you ultimately defeat a boss stage. Before the micro-game, the game will tell you what form you should use. This is basically how you should hold the remote to complete the mini-game, there are around 15 or so of them (only one uses the Nun-chuck, or Balance Stone, which is a special stage unlocked after finishing the game). They range from the Elephant (use remote as trunk), the Big Cheese (hands on hips), or just plain and simple Remote Control. After you're told, a very VERY SHORT sentence quickly pops up telling you want to do, and you have five or so (sometimes more depending on the micro-game) seconds to beat it. If you don't, you lose a life. You will have 4 lives for each level. Eventually the words FASTER will appear on screen, making the whole level a lot faster. Eventually you reach the boss stage, which are usually slightly harder micro-games than usual. Once you beat a level, you move on, simple really.

The main story line isn't one of the biggest strong points of Wario Ware, as it only takes around 2 hours to actually beat. It's more or less the extra games. Going through the game, you can unlock main mini games, there are around 6. One of them is a can shooting one (but it's actually quite fun), and then there is another where you have to bounce a Table Tennis Ball up a tower, destroying the bricks as you go along (incredibly cool in my opinion). You can also unlock the Elephant Towers. These are basically challenges, to see if you are skilled enough. There are around 4, a mixed up one, super fast one, sudden death (one life) tower, and a No Form tower (ie, the game doesn't tell you what form to use). These add a lot into the game, especially to prove you're a smooth moves master. There are some other things to unlock too, like the Sound Test, or even random, completely useless Pose Cards. If you buy Wario Ware Smooth Moves, you're definitely going to want to complete it 100%, as then you will get the most out of the money spent toward it. The game can be pretty competitive too, especially when sharing it with family members. Me and my sister are always trying to beat each others scores on the different mini-games, trying to better than the other all the time. Because the game records high scores (up to 3), you can tell if some one has beaten your score, urging you on to try and win back the top spot.

And this is where the multiplayer comes in. Wario Ware is more or less a party game, and with up to 12 people being to play, it's definitely aiming for party mode! There are many modes to play in, but you have to gradually unlock them as you go along (multiplayer is locked at first). There are different modes like Bomb, where some one plays a micro-game, if they beat it, they choose who has the bomb next and what pose the next micro-game is. Or there is the like of Star Nose, where one player controls their ship with the Remote, and the other with the Nun-chuck. There is even Darts to play, with players having 301 points, first to 0 wins! The multiplayer can be quite fun with friends, and adds something to the short single player game. If there wasn't as good multiplayer as this, this game would of scored a lot lower!

The graphics are hard to rate. The graphics and styles change in each micro-game. Some have retro (and I mean, really retro, pixel graphics), some have just normal 2D cartoon graphics, where as some have 3D graphics (sometimes though they're old 3D style graphics). The style is nice and the variety is certainly good, and in such a party game, it doesn't necessarily have to have masterpiece graphics. The music is fairly decent too, with some good music for the mini games in there, to just general character music. The sound test is pretty cool to, allowing you to compose the music if you wish too.

PROS:

Fun Micro-Game use the remote and Nun-chuck (when used) well
A lot of extra stuff to do after main story line
Fun multiplayer

CONS:

Not too much replay value after single player is mastered
Graphics can be a mixed bag
Sometimes unresponsive controls that can make you lose easily

THE RATINGS:
Graphics: 7.5/10
Audio: 8.0/10
Story: 5.0/10
Game Play: 8.3/10
Life Span: 6.0/10
Difficulty: 7.5/10
Multiplayer: 8.7/10
Overall: 8.5/10

My Two Pence:

As the scores show, the multiplayer kinda saves Wario Ware from not getting an 8. The game is incredibly fun to play, despite the simplistic controls and the like. The single player is a bit short, and the graphics aren't too good, but the rest of it is a decent package. Im not sure I would pay the full price though, but you should be able to get it second hand now, so you might want to aim for that. Overall, a fun Wii game, and one of the best for it so far (period).