I've always wanted a game were I pick a nose.

I got Wario Ware Smooth moves yesterday when I saw it for the Wii and always wanted to try a Wario Ware game out so I bought the game. After playing it and beating the main modes (it’s pretty short) here is what I think of it.

Story.
Wario has found an ancient temple and a magic artifact called the form baton (looks a lot like the wii remote), and now he wants to show it off to all of Diamond City. How through a munch of Micro games, what are micro games, well micro games are so short they can’t even be called mini games. There are several characters to choose from and each one of them has there own set of micro games and there own story, and all of them have one thing in common. There short and really, really silly.

Graphics.
The graphics are hard to measure because each micro game looks different from the other. Some are fully rendered 3d, others are completely 2d, others use abstract art, and others use NES game sprites. The scenes though are done through simple still animation.

Sound.
Each character stages main area that starts before going to the mini game has it’s own unique sound that speeds up as the speed of the mini games go up. And it’s not bad music either. The voices in Wario Ware are a little bit less annoying then the Mario characters games usually are.

Gameplay.
You start off by choosing a character and going through several different micro game. Each character has a theme to go with, Wario is escaping the temple, Mona is cheer leading, and 9 bit and 18 bit are shopping at a vintage game store.

Then the micro games begin. A micro game as mention is short and usually requires one action from the form baton. It can be opening the door, picking up an object, cutting through a can, or being involved in an old west shoot out. The games require several different poses and positions called forms to complete them. Don’t worries the game tells you which form is required and gives you a full detail explanation of each form when a new one comes up. The definitions are done in a rather silly little poem and are funny to listen to.

The first time through each stage you only have to do one set and a boss battle to win, after you win another character will be unlocked to play through, and a mini game event may be open. Of course the games objective is to go through each characters story and beat them all. The mini game events are kind of like simple games you find on the Atari and early days of the NES as form of game play. You have a Hogan’s Alley type shooter, a 3d balloon fighter, and a game that requires you to keep a ping pong ball up.

After you beat a characters stage your free to go back in again but this time it’s a continues game and the games keep getting harder and faster, the boss stages you will encounter give you a 1-up if completed successfully.

My favorite stage of course would be 9 and 18 bit stages which is a must play thorugh for any classic Nintendo junkie. You have mini game featuring the likes of Super Mario Bros, Punchout, Brain Age, Animal Crossing, and Wario Land. And the boss stage has you flying through a stage in Star Fox and battling a boss that looks like an ROB accessory holding a Zapper. Talk about nostalgia.

Now not everything is perfect in Wario Ware. First problem comes with the Wii remote itself. Everybody looses contact with the remote and has the cursor fly off screen and takes a second to reposition. Mildly frustrating in ordinary Wii games, in Wario Ware it’s minus one life because by the time the cursor is back on you lost the game. Some games seem not to work at all, for example there is this one game were you have to catch a falling girl. But by the time the wii remote reacts she’s usually way out of arms reach and falling towards her death. While these things only happen in a handful of mini games and don’t kill the enjoyment of Wario Ware Smooth Moves they definitely keep it from being the perfect game to try out with your friends next to Wii sports.

And of course the game is short it will only take a few hours to beat each of the stages. But luckily there is a little bit more to it. There is extra content after you see the credits including an extra stage that requires a balance stone that looks a lot like the nunchuck be hooked up to the wii remote. But it’s not as bad as it sounds first off there is also humor in a lot of games and sometimes they get funnier as you go along, one example is a OOT themed game were you have to get Link to pull out the sword in the temple of time. The first time he becomes adult Link, the 2nd time he will become and old man, and the 3rd time he will be changed into a chicken. And also the games are addictive as heck so you will be wanting to go through the stages again and seeing how many you can complete and what your skill level is. There is also a multiplayer but I haven’t been able to play it yet.

Final Recommendation.
Wario Ware Smooth Moves as some addictive fun micro games and a lot of sense of humor. While a few bugs don’t kill the experience it keeps the game from being a perfect Wii experience.