If you are like me, you’ve been waiting for another traditional platformer starring everyone’s favorite Nintendo antihero for quite a few years now. After numerous excellent Wario games helped defined the platforming experience on a variety of Nintendo’s portable systems, it was certainly odd to not see a timely sequel to Wario Land 4. Instead, fans received numerous Wario Ware titles, an underwhelming attempt at a 3D platformer in Wario World, and the clunky travesty that was Wario: Master of Disguise.
Sure, Wario Ware was groundbreaking when it was initially released, but several iterations later most Wario fans are still waiting for the more substantial and traditional gameplay experience that was present in Wario’s previous games. Luckily, this is exactly what Shake It! offers, a new Wario game that you won’t just dust off at parties, but one that actually provides significant value as a single-player affair.
Mario’s antithesis attempts to merge motion controls with old school platforming goodness in his first 2D platforming appearance on the Wii. Unfortunately, this marriage only meets with moderate success. Playing Shake It! with the Wii-mote turned on its side, mirroring an NES pad, feels incredibly natural, but the shaking mechanic ends up being a tad awkward. Frequently raising and lowering the controller rapidly to shake coins and items out of enemies or to perform ground pounds does little to add to this game’s overall enjoyment. Instead, the frequent shaking does nothing more than make your arms sore and add a tedious and time-consuming step between Wario and his various objectives. Pounding the ground can result in solving puzzles that were solvable in previous titles using just a simple shoulder dash or butt-stomping. The same goes for collecting coins. Wario has always attained coins from vanquished foes and broken blocks but now will only be able to do so from incessantly shaking enemies and sacks of money.
Thankfully, not all of the included uses of motion controls fare as poorly. Tilting your controller also plays a large role in this title. Everything from aiming a Wario-launching cannon to hurling enemies at specific targets incorporates this control scheme rather well. The only time these controls feel a little out of place is during the game’s underwater subwarine levels; yes, you heard me right. Piloting your jagged mustache-adorned yellow and purple subwarine is often painful, having players tilting their controllers to direct their vessel and the D-pad to propel it forward and backward. Since these levels aren’t particularly long or challenging, the required controls don’t manage to spoil what are otherwise good distractions from the classic platforming levels.
Besides the few subwarine levels, Shake It!’s levels are exactly what Wario Land fans have been waiting for. Players will make their way through this game’s twenty plus well-designed levels, possibly finding hidden treasures and completing missions along the way. Every level contains three locked chests waiting to be found that include random treasures, such as the full body goggles and week old curry. The odd sense of humor involved in these treasures, and with the game in general, is absolutely reminiscent of previous games in the franchise. Levels also contain between three and five missions that will give players more objectives to complete in addition to just finishing each level. These missions can range from defeating a hidden golden enemy to not falling into water during a level. While there are some rather abstract missions in the game, many wind up just requiring the player to collect a certain number of coins, not take any damage from foes, and finishing the level within a certain amount of time.
Finishing a level within a time limit plays out differently than one might expect, that is unless you have played previous Wario Land titles. Players will traverse levels, making their way to a metal prison that holds an innocent denizen of the Shake Dimension captive. Once found, players will need to shake it until its captives are set free. Unfortunately, as soon as it breaks, an alarm sounds, giving players a limited amount of time to make it back to the beginning of the level. If you fail to make it in time, you will be unable to keep the treasure and coins you’ve managed to collect during that level. Fortunately, there is really no reason to fear this, as it is often incredibly easy to beat these generous countdowns. The only real challenge lies in trying to beat the time set by the missions. Successfully completing missions and finding treasure is not necessary to advance in the game but it definitely adds to the game’s replayability.
Boss battles have always been a major part of every Wario Land game to date and Shake It! is no exception. One of the best is a floating face that needs to be fed enemies and eventually bombs to be defeated. Another has Wario piloting a rocket propelled unicycle, complete with an extending arm fashioned to a boxing glove. Players will need to tilt the Wii-mote left and right to speed up and slow down, all while punching incoming debris back at the car of your enemy. This redirected trash knocks out the vehicle’s engines, allowing Wario’s boxing glove to pummel the car and eventually its occupant into oblivion. These battles are as challenging as ever and will often test players’ reflexes and patience.
Aside from the unfortunate incorporation of shaking everything you come across, the only other flaws in Shake It! came from its visuals and sound. The sound effects were great but the music didn’t quite strike the funky chord that many fans of the series have come to expect. Wario himself and the various characters you’ll come across during the game look like well animated cartoons. However, the backgrounds and platforms in the game criminally lack detail. Often backgrounds appear like water-colored paintings, consisting of little more than empty space with very few objects present. Most of the game’s levels are also fairly bland-looking, leaving one wondering exactly why the Wii’s hardware wasn’t put to better use with this title.
Even with its minor faults, Wario Land: Shake It! still manages to be a great platforming experience. Shaking your controller gets old very quickly, but the tried and true platforming goodness that is Wario Land, thankfully, remains intact. With all the hidden levels and treasures to be found and each level’s missions to complete, Shake It! will also provide players with many hours of enjoyment, even after completing the game. Hopefully, this will be the first of many Wii Wario Land sequels to come.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.5 Graphics
While everything is fairly well animated, there is a serious lack of details throughout. 4.2 Control
Holding the Wii-mote like an NES pad just feels right, and the game’s basic controls feel spot on. Unfortunately, the shaking required to play the game gets old very quickly and isn’t always incredibly responsive. 3.8 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Wario’s devious laughter is always entertaining, but the game’s music doesn’t quite live up to the funky nature of its predecessors. 4.3
Play Value
Like previous Wario Lands, Shake It! provides a topnotch and entertaining platforming experience. Finding all the game’s hidden levels and treasures, as well as completing all the included missions manage to add quite a bit of replayability to the title.
3.9 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
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