Wario Land: Shake It!

"Wario proves once again he'll do anything for money"

Wario's been a busy plumber lately. No longer in the shadow of Mario, he's stretched his grimy fingers onto the thing he loves most; Money. While lately he's been appearing in the WarioWare titles to make a quick buck, he returns to his roots for his newest cash cow. He's platforming again baby! But how does it stand by today's greedy standards?

STORY
Lets start off by saying a game doesn't really need a strong story to suceed. It's one of those games where the story doesn't really matter. Saying that then, Nintendo's done a wonderful job with this game's story. It's premise is some princess is kidnapped by a fearsome tyrant, and he has some ancient artifact (in this case it's not some powerful rod or sword or what-not... It's an infinite bag of money!). The premise is very basic, but our star Wario and equally greedy pirate Captain Syrup keep it very interesting because both don't give a damn bout' no princess, they just want some money! The anime cutscenes are very nice and you'll actually want to watch these scenes.
Story- 8/10

VISUALS
"Wario Land: Shake It!" is a very pretty game. The game takes a anime look to it, with gorgeous environments and well-animated characters. The whole game is both as stunning as it is pleasing to look at. It all runs together so fluidly there's not really much to complain about, if anything at all.
Visuals- 9/10

AUDIO
All the audio here is very high caliber for a platformer. The music not only fits the environments but is nice to listen too and catchy. There are a few songs that are clearly better or worse than others, but none of it is bad. In fact, most of it is great! The sound effects fit with the mood of the game and it's enjoyable to hear Wario grunt, enemies squeak in terror, or even blocks crumble. The audio department is strong and it helps add more to the game while not being distracting. What a game soundtrack should be.
Audio- 9/10

GAMEPLAY
Now comes the most important part, the gameplay. The game is a 2.5d platformer where you only have three goals really, get all the treasure you can, reach the goal, and beat the boss. Each stage starts off with Wario jumping, smashing, and shaking his way through levels that have pretty good level layout. Wario can do a few special things though. Wario can charge at enemies and ram them, ground pound, punch the ground and send shock waves, make enemies and money bags dizzy and shake them like crazy, throw stuff, and he can let himself get on fire or hit with a giant snowball to get special abilities.

One catch in this game just like the previous four Wario Land titles is that when something happens to Wario that gives him some kinda' status effect, it doesn't hurt him but gives him special powers. Not powers to fight enemies, but the power to solve puzzles. These are fun and challanging and add to the games depth. Wario can also ride vehicles like unicycles, submarines, and more. These are controled by the Wiimote and though it's a bit weird to control at first, once you get the hang of it it's a blast.

Wario also have various gimicks to work with, like canons, vines, pillars, balls, and much more. These all work very well and work with the flow of the gameplay. This game also emphasizes on treasure hunting though. Through a stage there's much treasure to collect, whenever it be coins, valuable artifacts, or music CD's. It's fun to be looking for this junk in the levels, though after a while it can get tedious and dull searching constantly if you're after all that treasure. Luckily you don't have to get it, but then you have to ask yourself what would Wario do?

At the end of each stage when you save a little bird fellow, the stage goes into self destruct sequence and you have to run back to the goal before time runs out. You don't die when the timer ticks zero though, you'll start loosing all your treasure very quickly. These sequences are mad rushes that are very fun to play. The bosses in this game are also to note some of the most fun and creative in any game. They are very fun to fight and are very unique. There is good replayability here with three artifacts in every level abd 3 side missions, but once you do all this there's not really too much to do and you may be tired of the game. Still, it's a blast and definitely worth your time (and money) if the game interests you.
Gameplay- 8/10

All in all "Wario Land: Shake It!" is a great game that can get a bit tedious sometimes. Still, it's a great game worth your time especially if you enjoyed the past Wario Land titles. This game stands tall among them, and a must buy if you just really love Wario. Besides, Wario could use the money.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/08

Game Release: Wario Land: Shake It! (US, 09/22/08)