Wario Land Shake It Review

Omg, a Nintendo side-scrolling platform game!  I didn’t realize they made these things anymore with all the Wii Fit and Brain Age stuff littering the video game airwaves.  And no, I’m not dissing Wii Fit or Brain Age.  It’s just that it seems that Nintendo is really focusing on a certain type of game and its traditional side-scrolling platformer is just not part of that focus.

Anyway, in typical Nintendo fashion, a world is in trouble and Wario is called upon to save them.  In this case, the queen of this world and her subjects have been kidnapped and imprisoned by pirates.  Our hero, Wario, is not the heroic type, but when he learns of all the treasure to be had, he rises to the task.  The plot is probably a little more complex than that (although not by much), but I just wanted to start playing, so I didn’t really focus on the opening scene’s dialog.

The controls are pretty straightforward.  You hold the Wii Remote sideways and use the D-pad to move left and right, while jumping and sliding with the A & B buttons.  The very first level is basically a tutorial level.  There are wooden billboards with pictures that show you the different moves.  There is no timer, so you can try it out as many times as you like.  This is useful for me since I need to perform combos several times in order to etch them into my memory.  Maybe I’m lame, but honestly, it boggles my mind how my son can see a combo on the screen once and remember it for all future instances in which it may be needed.  When I played a lot of platform games (before I discovered JRPG’s), there weren’t so many button combinations as there are in games today.  Anyway, the game is called Wario Land Shake for a reason.  When you find coin bags, Wario picks them up and shakes them so that the money comes spilling out.  You accomplish this by (can you guess?) shaking the controller up and down.  You can also shake the controller to get items out of some of the enemies or create a tremor in the ground, which can temporarily change your surroundings.  Another cool feature is that you can pick up enemies and throw them in whatever direction you choose using an arrow.  This is great for hitting buttons in hard to reach places or hitting flying enemies.  When you get to the end of the level, there’s a metal prison with someone trapped inside.  You pick it up and shake it until you release the prisoner.  Once you pick it up, a timer starts.  You have a certain amount of time to get back to the entrance.  There are usually things that help expedite your journey back to the beginning and I have no idea what happens if you don’t beat the clock.  The more time you have left on the clock, the more points you get.

After completing the tutorial level, an option opens up that allows you to shop.  Area maps are purchasable here and they are necessary to open up the next areas.  Sometimes you can buy another heart to add to your life bar.  If you don’t have enough money to buy a map, you have to play levels again until you get enough money.  Chances are you want to play each level more than once anyway since there are completion objectives such as finding ALL the treasure, getting so many coins, or getting back to the entrance with a certain amount of time still left on the clock.

The first thing I noticed that I really liked about this game was the learning curve.  Often times, I play a game and can get through the tutorial with no problems at all.  And then suddenly the game difficulty jumps up to some ridiculous level at which point I simply had the controller over to my son and never touch it again.  In Wario Land Shake, the levels got progressively more difficult, but at a pace that I could handle.  There were certainly areas that I had a difficult time with, but with perseverance, I was able to pass them without throwing my controller through the window.

The second thing that really stood out for me in this game is that if an enemy touches me (unless it has spikes or fire on it or something), it doesn’t hurt me.  They get in the way and they’re annoying sometimes, but at least I can focus on actually getting through the level instead of worrying about whether or not something is going to touch me.  Add that to the fact that there’s no time limit until you’re leaving and I’m a happy woman.  One of my biggest pet peeves about playing platform games is that they can totally stress me out.  I like to take my time and do things at my own pace.  (Remember, my absolute favorite game genre is the JRPG.)  I have a feeling that this is probably an aspect of the game that platform fanatics are going to dislike.  They’ll say things like, “It’s too easy!” or “OMG, my MOM could play this…”

Wario Land Shake isn’t without its flaws, of course.  The thing that drives me the most crazy is the fact that if you’re shaking coins out of a bag, they go all over the damned place and if you don’t get them all in time, they disappear.  So I try and take the bag to a wall so that they can’t go everywhere.  Unfortunately, that isn’t always an option and if you’re up above somewhere and you shake the thing, your coins go on platforms above you, below you, and just any kind of wherever.  I’m trying to think what else about the game irritates me, but I’m coming up blank.  I could complain about the objectives because they are hard for me, but I think that’s a reflection of my play ability and NOT the game design.

I guess the other important question is whether the game is import friendly.  Definitely.  I would say that you don’t need to read a lick of Japanese to play this game.  This is a somewhat moot point, however, since it’s scheduled to be released in the United States on September 29, 2008.  It’s being called Wario Land: Shake It!  I really don’t understand why they feel the need to change the name of the game when the Japanese name is perfectly good.  It’s like when they changed “Shine GET!” to “Get Shine!” in Super Mario Sunshine.  The Japanese way was way more fun.  Oh well, maybe as I continue to earn my degree in business, I’ll understand the strange differences between Japanese and American marketing.  For now, I’ll leave you with the American box cover art: