Everyone Sucks, He's Fat and Rich - Wario World

Author's Rating:

Pros: bosses are fun

Cons: fun or not, way too short even with collecting 100% on levels

The Bottom Line: 
Wario World, Mario World, Luigi World - What about Waluigi?

Author's Review
Whether Nintendo was in dire need of more game ideas, or they finally thought that Wario deserved his own game like Luigi, Wario World turned out to be a delightfully short walk in the park. I’m not sure when Wario was first introduced, but the first time I ever saw Wario was in Mario Kart 64, and always thought that with his cruel antics, it’d make a great idea for a game similar to Mario. Luigi finally got his break in November 2001, when Mario was lost in a spooky mansion, and Luigi got to go in Ghostbuster style with his heavy duty vacuum to rid the mansion of the ghosts keeping Mario hostage. Though it wasn’t quite the game people were looking for, it was one of those short n’ sweet experiences. Treasure is the developer of the uber fun space shooter Ikaruga, and so with their past record of games, I was really looking forward to Wario World being a major sleeper hit, as most people aren’t too excited about Wario’s new game. It would have been nice to get a Super Mario Sunshine or Super Mario 64 type thing going on with Wario, though what was given was an experience strikingly similar to that of Luigi’s Mansion - short n’ sweet (well, in Wario’s case, it would be short n’ sour).

Plot/Story
As Wario sits on his mighty throne, probably day dreaming of more gold, an evil Black Diamond awakes within the depths of his riches, and all of Wario’s treasure disappears. Wario, of course, wants his treasure back, and so he has to fight different types of baddies and defeat different bosses in order to get all of his treasure back. Not too mind numbing, though if it were any more simple you’d think a team of 2 year olds thought up of the story.

Gameplay
Those who were wanting a game starring Wario that was reminiscent of SMS or SM64 are going to be a little disappointed, though fans of Wario are going to be happy that he finally got a game that almost resembles SMS or SM64 in complete 3-D. While the game is 3-D, the way the game played is sort of in a 2-D fashion. Instead of having a camera that you can rotate 360*, the levels are in a 2-D/2.5D-ish fashion, and the camera is fixed in a side view, where you can adjust it with the C-Stick to be off-center to the right or left, or centered right on Wario. The limited space that the camera has kind of hampers some parts of the game where you want to know where you’re jumping or something, or what kind of enemies you’re about to head into. I suppose though, that this type of camera work was used in WW to keep the spirit of the Warioland games in tact. Having not played any of the Warioland games myself, I can’t exactly comment on the similarity between the two exactly, though from watching others play the games and through screen shots, WW and Warioland seem to share very similar gameplay.

Albeit being a little on the short side, along with the limited view of the fixed camera, and as short as the game is - the gameplay in WW is short, but sweet. In a similar fashion to SM64 or Super Mario Sunshine, there is a central hub which branches out into the four areas, plus the way to the final boss. Each of the areas have two fairly short levels with a boss each, and then a final boss for each area. Why Nintendo gives Wario and Luigi the shaft when it comes to game length, I don’t know, but the day Wario and Luigi get their own Mario caliber game is probably the day they get desperate for new ideas. These levels, along with the final boss, can easily be played through in 5-6 hours, though the length can be extended to 7-8 hours or so by searching every nook and cranny of each level to collect treasure pieces - which unlock a few mini-games found in Wario Ware: Mega Microgame$. There isn’t much of an incentive to collect the treasure pieces, as the game can be beaten whether you collect them or not. For the collectors at heart though, finding all the treasure pieces won’t be as boring as it was to me. Each level has its own boss, and although the levels are pretty short, you don’t just reach the end of the level and expect the boss to jump right out at you, thus beginning the battle. Instead, you have to collect a certain amount of red jewels in order to unlock the trap door leading to the boss after reaching the end of the level. The trap doors marked with white X’s lead to the puzzles where you get each red jewel. The puzzles are usually pretty easily, usually just jump around, avoid hurtable objects, and make your way to the platform holding the jewel. There are some though, that really test your patience, and require some perfect jumping in order to get anywhere.

If you’ve got enough of the red jewels by the time you reach the end of the level, you can fight the boss. If not, there’s a balloon ball thing that will take you back to the beginning of the level so you can make your way back through and find any trap doors that you might have missed. While trap doors with the white X provide a medium challenge, the steel looking trap doors are much harder, and are reminiscent of the worlds in SMS where Mario could get back to old-school platforming, minus the water tank. These obstacle courses are, for the most part, kind of easy, though there are a couple that might give you a little bit of trouble.

Complementing Wario’s body stature, he is equipped with many different attacks, such as the one, two, three punch, the charging attack, and the famous butt stomp. If you thought Mario did some damage with the butt stomp in SM64, you haven’t seen nothing yet. Wario can pick enemies up that are knocked out (the ones with stars flying around their heads) and throw them at other enemies or wherever else you want, and my personal favorite, being able to pick up enemies that are knocked out and spinning them around. The spinning attack is a great way to take out big groups of enemies, and is also used to operate switches that have to be spun in order to unlock a door. Wario also has a piledriver move that I rarely used during the game, but it is nice to be able to do whenever you want a little variety in your attack methods. There isn’t much of a variation between the types of enemies in Wario World, as all of the enemies have the same basic model in every different area, though they look different from each other depending on which area they’re in. Confusing? Ok, basically, all the enemies are the same models, just different looks depending on which area you’re in. Getting through the levels take maybe about 10 minutes to get through each, and the last few took me a bit longer, about 20 or so, plus the boss.

Aside from collecting red jewels in the levels, each enemy you defeat will drop coins, and there’s also treasure boxes that carry coins. Wario World has a heavy dependency upon collecting coins, and Wario even has a vacuum suck using the L trigger where he suck in any nearby coins. The sucking comes in real handy with big groups of coins. Coins are plentiful, and they also represent a healthy revival to Wario after his 5 hearts are gone, at the cost of 100 coins. Except for a few screw-up steps on my own part during a boss battle, I would have had gone through the game without dying once. Wario World is short, no doubt, but what I really was displeased about was that when you were in a boss battle and you died, the battle wouldn’t reset. So any damage that the boss may have sustained before you died, would continue through after continuing. This wouldn’t have been so bad, if it was virtually possible to lose all of your life, the coins are just so plentiful. Other than invincible Wario, the boss battles were the most fun and intriguing part of Wario World, which warrants a 4 out of 5 star rating because of amount of fun I had beating each boss. Simple as they may be to beat, the fight itself was insanely fun.

A little challenge that I thought of myself my second time through the game, was to collect as few coins as possible. That way, the risk of dying meant a lot more than a “eh, I’ve got over 10,000 coins” (which equates to over 1,000 extra lives), and instead warrants a full fledged barrage of curse words as you dance on the edge of dying. I suggest to those who are afraid of the limited game time, to beat the game as they wish first, but afterwards, try taking on the small little challenge that I gave myself, which increased the fun factor of the game by about 500 points.

Graphics
The gameplay is in a 2D-ish manor, though everything else is in complete 3D. While the polygon count of Wario World may not be as much as those in Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball, they surely win my vote for most interesting and comical character designs. Each of the levels have their own set of colors that blend well with the eye, and Wario himself actually looks like one of those plush toys you get out of the cereal boxes with a shine to him, but that’s ok. Though the boss battles also provide a nice amount of cool effects. While not as touched-up as SMS was, or even Luigi’s Mansion for that matter, Wario World uses its own type of looks to deliver a suitable polish.

Sound
The sound is about as mediocre as it gets, with those kiddy type songs with weird voices which portray the “evil” in Wario playing all the time. Especially the “Nah nah nah nah nah” jingle that plays when the game is paused, any more of that and I was about to punch something. Wario isn’t to much on the chatty side, though he’ll randomly spurt out “I’m a number 1” or my favorite, “Have A Rotten’ Day!”, which includes his dark and rough sounding voice like his throat is full of phlegm - really funny.

Overall
As short as it may be, as easy as it may be, as boring as some of the graphics may be, as monotonous as the gameplay might be - I enjoyed Wario World a lot more than I thought I would. If it weren’t for the boss battles, I’d have probably thrown WW back into the pile of “To Be Played” and never saw it again. Thank goodness for the bosses though, and on that note, Wario World could be worth about $30-35, though if you just want to play it to see what it’s like, rent it and then appreciate that you did when you most likely end up beating it a short time later. Length is not an issue in Wario World - short n’ sweet.

happy gaming






This review is part of The 3rd Annual Nintendo Write-Off that I am the host of, so please, once you finish the review (which you obviously have if you're down here), go to my profile (Rock_On) to see a full list of participants.