Wario Ware: Smooth Moves Review

Wario Ware: Smooth Moves

by David McComb |
Published on

Although the first wave of Wii games tend to stick with traditional genres such as sports and shooters, Wario Ware offers a flood of uniquely surreal challenges. Ever shaken angry flies off a gorilla’s banana? Or plucked nasal hair from a sleeping lady’s nose, only to see fruit slide out of her nostril? And if you’ve ever blown armies of midgets over the edge of a cliff with a hand fan, your life’s clearly exciting enough without buying videogames.

Following the same template as its Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and GameCube brethren, Wario Ware assaults players with a relentless stream of kooky challenges, each lasting a little under 10 seconds but packed with more ideas, imagination and laughs than a dozen other console hits blended together.

In an ideal world, Smooth Moves would come bundled with the Wii as it’s a superb introduction to using the motion sensitive controls; many of the games use the controller in completely different ways, each of which is explained in graphic detail. And after a few hours using methods such as the ‘umbrella’ (controller turned vertically), ‘sketch artist’ (held like a pencil) and ‘chauffer’ (clutched like a steering wheel), you’ll have all the skills necessary to tackle the other launch titles that demand super-human skills on the newfangled controller.

The unfathomable Japanese gags and pointless cut scenes that can’t be skipped mar an otherwise superb game, but Smooth Moves should be a mandatory purchase for anyone lucky enough to secure a Wii this festive season.

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