Wario Land: Shake It! Review

(Insert Polaroid joke here.)
by Adam

As far as side characters go, you've got to tip your hat to Wario. The man has come from humble beginnings as a game boy antagonist, and now has successful platforming and party game franchises under his belt. The Wario games are well known for their quirky characters, which often rival Mario's lineup in absurdity.

With his accomplishments recognized, I'm proud to say that Wario's 2-D sidescroller legacy continues in top form as Wario-Land: Shake It for Wii.

Shake It starts out in an anime cut scene that explains how the Evil Shake King has kidnapped the Shake Dimension's Queen Merelda and stolen the kingdom's infinite coin bag.

These events throws the Shake Dimension all out of whack and its inhabitants know they need help fast.

Luckily for them (I suppose), a pirate named Captain Maple has stolen an artifact that will allow her to access the Shake Dimension. Maple plans on claiming the infinite coin bag for herself, but doesn't feel like doing the work. She tells Wario of the kidnapped queen and the infinite coin bag, knowing he would want to help.

In true Wario fashion, our yellow and purple clad anti-hero agrees to help, but could care less about saving a princess. To Wario, it's all about that infinite coin bag.

Once the exposition has passed, it's time to play. Wario must traverse five continents, finding an artifact in each that will reveal the Shake King's stronghold. Each continent has four levels standard, with a few hidden ones that can be unlocked. Each stage contains various treasures to be found, and defeating a continent's boss will reward you with an artifact needed to access the Shake King.

To conquer each continent and find all the treasure, it's up to you the player and your trust Wii remote. The game plays ala classic NES style with the Wii remote turned sideways. Pressing the one button makes Wario dash (through walls and other object), and the two button makes him jump.

Being a Wii game, Shake It has several motion based moves available as well. Shaking the remote up and down will cause Wario to smash his fist into the ground, which has numerous effects on level environments.

Picking up an enemy and pressing the one button will initiate a throwing sequence. Simply press and hold the one button with an enemy in hand and tilt the Wii remote. An arrow will be displayed that matches the angle you are tilting your controller to, and you will fling the enemy in your desired direction upon releasing the one button.

And what would a game called Shake It be without shaking? Grab any stunned enemy and shake the controller like mad to receive coins or items. Shaking a coin bag will release an onslaught of shiny currency. Coins are an essential part of the game as you will need them to buy health items and maps to new levels.

Another move at your disposal is the classic (from the 3D era) Mario butt stomp. Pressing down on the d-pad and one in the air will initiate a butt stomp that can harm enemies and destroy weak floors. Holding down the buttons through a long fall will initiate an atmospheric burning effect on Wario's butt that will help get through the toughest of destructible floor sections.

You will need to use all of these moves in order to figure out Shake It's puzzles. You will have to throw enemies into switches, pound the ground to knock over loose set pieces, dash through certain walls, and butt stomp through certain floors. All of these concepts sound simple, but the developer's saw to it that critical thinking skills were required to one hundred percent Shake It's levels.

The ultimate objective of each stage is to rescue the Merfle (bird/elf creature) locked away by the Shake King. These Merfles use their power to give you access to each continent's boss. Freeing a Merfle from its cage at the end of each level will alert the Shake King. To escape his wrath, you have to race the clock and try to get back to the beginning of each stage.

The "escape scene" mechanism offers a great contrast to regular gameplay which can focus on exploring and puzzle solving. While racing the clock, it's all about speed. You will need to use any means necessary to dash, jump, and dive back to the beginning of the stage. While it may sound tedious, it actually allows you to go (gameplay-wise) from a traditional 2-D Mario experience to a more Sonic-esque speed-centric approach.

In all, you might think that five continents with six or so levels each would make a short game. If you play straight through the title, it will take a few solid sittings. However, the game has a challenging built in achievement system to keep you playing through levels. These level challenges can range from speed runs to not taking damage, and will push your skills to the limit.

I mentioned that the intro is told through an anime style cutscene, but let's talk about the in-game graphics. Shake It has a very unique art style that comes off as a mixture of cell shading and flash animation. The characters and environments are very colorful and look more cartoon like in their animation than a lot of Wario (and Mario) titles.

The enemy characters fit very well into the Wario universe. Everything from the lowliest of grunts, to the absurdest of bosses are colorful and interesting. Speaking of bosses, each one requires a different approach to take down, and ultimately serve as fun challenges. A quick word of warning about the bosses, be wary if you're of the "scared of clowns" variety.

In a nutshell, the game looks great and the look matches the game's whimsical cast. The only visual drawback is that the game doesn't support a 16x9 aspect ratio. The game is played in standard 4x3, with borders filling out the left over screen room on the left and right sides. The lack of 16x9 doesn't kill the experience, but it is annoying that such a fixable problem was not addressed.

Shake It also features a decent soundtrack. The music has a generic matching to the themes of each level (exploring an Egyptian-ish tomb yields Egyptian-ish music) but the tracks always manage to capitalize on the goofy nature of Wario.

On a sound related tangent, the game is ultimately devoid of any voice acting other than Charles Martinet's handful of "Waaaario's" and other one word sentences. Ultimately though, the game doesn't need a whole lot of useless banter, so the lack of voice acting could be said to strengthen the experience.

The Game:

Shake It is loads of fun. The bright colors will also reel in the not so hardcore gamers, like my wife, who really enjoyed it. The controls might seem like a recipe for Wii waggle blandness, but trust me they work. Fun levels plus fun characters plus fun controls equals a very fun game. (8 / 10)

The Time:

Wario's latest entry is ideal for the short on time gamer. Levels can be beat quickly, but completing level achievements will take time and dedication. All in all, if you've got time to play, you can feel comfortable investing it in Shake It! (8/10)

The Verdict

In closing, Shake It! is a great game for the busy nerd. As mentioned above, every level is beatable in an average sitting, but completing every level objective will keep you busy for a long time. The 4x3 will irk some folks (myself included) but that is quickly dismissed as you take control of Wario. With that, it's safe to say that the sheer fun of Wario Land: Shake It, will have you coming back for quite a while.