WarioWare: Smooth Moves Wii review
The WarioWare team took an idea so wacky, it could only be made with the latest technology: the Wii Remote controller! In WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Wario stumbles into an old building called the Temple of Form. Inside, he finds a mystical treasure called the Form Baton.
There are many ways to hold and move the baton (called “forms”), and legend has it that if the holder follows the forms, he can overcome any challenge. With this discovery, the form craze spreads and soon everybody is doing their best to master the moves and so will you! Update: As a result the game has sold 1.82 million copies worldwide in the first year since release.
System: Wii
Genre: Party
Release dates: January 12th 2007 (EURO), January 15th 2007 (USA), January 25th 2007 (AUS)
Players: single player, 2-12 alternating multiplayer
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Origin: Japan
Wario and his pals learn fun, wacky moves after discovering a strange book and a mystical device called the Form Baton. Familiar characters from the WarioWare universe will return to this installment and some new ones will appear. Each stage is represented by a specific member of the WarioWare cast, and the various individual microgames are divided between them. A stage begins with an introductory story sequence featuring the character and concludes with a boss stage (a longer, more complex microgame), followed by the second part of the story. Once a character’s story has been completed once, the stage becomes an endurance stage that lasts as long as the player does not run out of lives. Once all story mode stages have been cleared, an all-encompassing endurance stage is unlocked that presents the entire catalog of microgames.
Players must clear fast-paced sets of microgames, changing the way they hold the Wii Remote each time. Each microgame is associated with a specific form and performing an action starting from that form, and the player must frequently switch between forms in order to keep up with the pace of the gameplay. The form that is required for each minigame is shown to the player to allow the player some time to position the Wii Remote correctly, though as with the microgames themselves, this amount of time decreases as the difficulty of the game increases. As you progress, you’ll unlock more microgames and souvenirs, the latter you’ll find added separately to the world map.
With tons of microgames, this game is just as wild as you’d expect from the name WarioWare, but the gameplay has been evolved with the Wii Remote motion controls. Under Wario’s tutelage, and with the help of the Wii Remote, players will swing, spin and squat their way to victory. For example: with “The Umbrella” you hold the Wii Remote vertically like you’d hold an umbrella handle in order to swat a fly, and with “The Elephant” you hold the bottom end of the Wii Remote against your nose, emulating an elephant’s trunk, in order to collect apples.
And those are just 2 examples out a collection of over 200 microgames to play, all players need is a Wii Remote and their best moves to be the champ. To unlock the multiplayer mode, you must first play through the single player game! The up to 12 player alternating multiplayer mode uses only one remote which is shared by up to 12 players. Multiplayer is unlocked after completing all of the single-player stages. The game can support 12 profiles that can be chosen when the player enters the single player screen. Each profile can be associated with a Mii avatar, which is used to indicate which player is next up during multiplayer, and is also used as a character within several of the microgames, similar to Wii Sports and Wii Play. A single Wii Remote is used and transferred to a new player after the completion of each game. No matter how many players there are, the game delivers a new hectic situation with each wacky microgame that always goes well with a crowd. Mainly because people end up making a fool out of themselves in good fun.
Watch the WarioWare: Smooth Moves’ launch trailer.
So what are the main features of WarioWare: Smooth Moves?
* Revolutionary Fun: With hundreds of microgames,this game is just as wild as you’d expect from the name WarioWare, but the game play has been revolutionized. Under Wario’s tutelage and with the help of the Wii Remote, players will swing, spin and squat their way to victory.
* Tons and Tons of Microgames: With more than 200 lightning-quick microgames and controls that range from scribbling to flailing, WarioWare: Smooth Moves takes interactive gaming to a whole new level. All players need is confidence, a Wii Remote and their best moves.
* Off-Screen Party: With games that are as much fun to play as they are to watch people play, WarioWare: Smooth Moves brings the party to its feet. It’s hilarious for players and audiences alike.
See more of the WarioWare: Smooth Moves microgames mayhem.
Now let’s see how much fun WarioWare: Smooth Moves is on a scale from 1 to 10?
FUN FACTOR – 9.0
The WarioWare series is known for being both fun and wacky. With about 200 lightning-quick microgames and controls that range from scribbling to flailing, WarioWare: Smooth Moves takes interactive gaming to a whole new level. All players need is a Wii Remote and their best moves to be the champ. With games that are as much fun to play as they are to WATCH people play. It’s so much fun, everyone you know will want to give it a try, but can they let go of their inhibitions? WarioWare: Smooth Moves truly is the ultimate laugh-out-loud party game!
Graphics – 8.0
This is a tough one, the graphics are all over the place. This is because the visual style is different for almost any microgame. It ranges from ugly scrabbles and minimalistically drawn characters that make you laugh, to beautiful 2D art and many cool looking 3D effects, as well as small emulated sections of classic NES to GameCube-era games. The vastly different styles give the game a fantastic yet zany look that’s quite crisp when put together in this unique context of a microgame collection.
Audio – 7.5
The sound effects minimalistic but varied enough to matter, especially when used in conjunction with the Wii Remote’s rumble and speaker effects. The voice acting is plain wacky and had me laughing often. The music is appropriately hectic.
Ingenuity – 8.0
The game has 205 new microgames that all use the Wii Remote’s capabilities in various different ways, which is great to keep the gameplay diverse and fun. Once you get used to the speed of the microgames (lightning-fast minigames) you’ll find all the controls are well explained and work to well as long as your motions are snappy. Tips: If you find your baton blinking on-screen, you’re probably not aiming the Wii Remote well enough at the Wii sensor bar. And what if you need a break? Press the “+” and “-” buttons to pause.
Replay Value – 8.0
Expect to play through the single player mode in two or so hours and it’ll take you double that time to unlock all the microgames in the game. Clearly the basic concept for the game’s was for people to gather up in one room and watch a player doing funny moves and entertain everybody. For this concept the multiplayer mode works perfectly and it’s a real party-starter. As a result you’ll be playing it again and again.
