Wario Land: Shake It!

"Lovable Wario's Losing His Edge OR Witty, Hilarious & Gross Treaure Hunter turned Morbidly Obese Sonic the Hedgehog parody"

9 / 10 = Music (This is the game's sadly most redeeming factor)

10 / 10 = Controls (It honestly doesn't get simplier of a control scheme than this now-a-days)

4 / 10 = Stage Design (I'm not impressed... at all. Most stages are short. Coins are no where near as abundant as they were in past Wario games which made them exciting - as coins dramatically affected your ending in past installments. Now they're far and few, many just relying on a tiring shake the wii remote silly dynamic for the sake of saying we made use of the wii remote's hardware. Hidden stages are predictable as hell to unlock [earthshake punch the ground by out of the way treasure chest or diamond locations in the latter stages of each area] Especially with so much relying on the "Max Fastosity Dasherators" it turns our beloved, witty, comical, gross treasure hunter into nothing more than a morbidly obese Sonic the Hedgehog, just substitute rings with coins of various shapes and sizes.)

2 / 10 = Difficulty (It really doesn't get much easier than this. Wario starts off with enough health that you have to go out of your way if you want to die. Hardly any enemies except for the final area and latter hidden stages are capable of even INFLICTING harm to Wario. Your biggest threat being run of the mill hazards such as spikes or lava. You have infinite lives and once you reach the checkpoint, there's no penalty or loss for dying save what you collected afterwards. Taking damage in this one also has no penalty short of ruining your chance of winning the take no damage missions. There's hardly anything worth fighting except for bosses.

Unlike past Wario games where lives were limited, dying costed you all your coins from that stage even if you hit a checkpoint and getting Game Over, which is impossible in Shake It) would cost you a LARGE chunk of your total wealth and sometimes make you have to retrieve some of your treasures again. Anything that made Wario challenging does not exist in this one. Hell, even in Wario Land 3, where Wario was immortal and had infinite life, you still had to worry about damage as damage made you lose money (although coins were far more abundant too.)

3 / 10 = Replay Value (Yeah, Shake It has its share of hidden extras and goodies but nothing in comparison to most and especially doesn't hold a candle to the treasure troves of extras found in past installments where there were multiple goals and stage routes - Wario Land 2 being the best example of this; boasting plenty of endings to boot. All of this and more you WON'T find in Shake It! Once you complete an annoying gauntlet of "Avoid this..." or "Don't take any damage" or "Finish the stage before the timer reaches..." missions in order to unlock the game's stellar soundtrack and a handful of hidden stages (12 to be exact), you'll be feeling empty and asking yourself, "That's it? I've got 100% already?" After which, there's nothing more for you do except for a glorified Boss Review with missions attached that didn't exist in the original run-through. Compare this game's 2 endings (assuming its two, I did everything on my first run.) to past installments 5 - 7 endings in a single title based on when / where you completed and how much treasure and / or gold you found. Obviously, this was geared for the casual gamer.)

Averaged Overall Rating - 5.6 out of 10 = My Grade for this Game... F+

Summary - Ideal for beginners and those new to Wario. The music alone keeps you coming back for more in spite of the lacking stage design, puzzle elements and overall monotonous gameplay mechanics that tire after the first two worlds. Hardcore gamers, avid Wario Land veterans, and completionists alike will find this game too short and far too easy (might as well encase Wario in a bubble and call it a day type easy since practically no one can hurt him and his starting health maximum is more than enough to win the game with no trouble at all) to have any merit for playing it after the first week or less.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/08

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