GregHowley.com

This is the first Warioware game I've ever tried. I never tried Twisted! on the GBA or Touched! on the DS, but there are so few highly-rated Wii games out there that I had to give this one a shot.

The Warioware series all share one commonality: they're a series of minigames. Even shorter, in fact: rapid-fire microgames that last 3-5 seconds. The gameplay is wrapped in a number of simple stories that remind me vaguely of Elite Beat Agents, although some make even less sense, such as the disco brothers who are inexplicably followed by animals, who they then lead in some kind of line dance. Very odd.

Warioware refers to the Wiimote as "The Form Baton" throughout the game, and gradually introduces a number of different ways in which to hold it. It starts you with "The Remote Control", which is straightforward enough, and is actually the most common form. Soon it introduces The Umbrella, which will have you swatting flies or drinking a glass of water, The Handlebar, which has you balancing on a highwire or pumping up a bike tire, or The Sketch Artist, which has you trace a design, fly a paper airplane, or inserting an old lady's dentures. Many of these would be easy if they weren't timed, and as you progress many of them become tougher. For example: more flies to swat, or the lady moves as you try to insert her dentures.

There are many many more forms, including The Chauffeur, The Samurai, The Tug-of-War, The Waiter, The Elephant, The Thumb Wrestler, The Discard, The Big Cheese, The Janitor, The Dumbbell, The Mohawk, The Finger Food, The Boxer, and The Mortar and Pestle. Lastly is The Diner, which actually has you attach the Nunchuk, which Warioware calls "The Balance Stone".

Between all these forms, there are hundreds of minigames. Some are really innovative, such as "Answer the phone!", in which you start in "The Discard" and pick up the Wiimote when the phone rings. It's like slap-jack in that it's all about reaction time, but the neat part is that when you hold it to your ear, you hear someone in the Wiimote speaker. There are also "Boss Stages" which last sometimes as long as 30 seconds. These might have you driving a car along a twisty road, engaging in a boxing match, or my favorite - dancing in synch with a bunch of computer characters. One boss stage even does swordfighting fairly well. There are also stages based on Super Mario, Animal Crossing, Metroid, Pikmin, Nintendogs, Super Mario Sunshine, Punch-Out, Duck Hunt, Brain Age, Star Wing, Ocarina of Time, and one in which you insert a cartridge into a NES.

As you go along, you unlock new sidegames, and eventually a multiplayer mode. The side games are as follows...

• Tower Tennis: You're doing what amounts to bouncing a ball vertically on a ping pong paddle. Easy enough, but the screen scrolls vertically, and you encounter obstacles. You have to break through bricks, Arkanoid-style, and the tilt of the Wiimote makes a big difference. Pretty fun.
• Block Star: My favorite of the minigames. Imagine playing Tetris on a moving platform. You have to move the platform back and forth to catch the blocks, and don't let them slide off. Some are actually triangular, so it gets tough. Once again, tilt plays a big part.
• Can Shooter: A basic shooting gallery.
• Tortoise & Hare: Connect the nunchuk and raise and lower flags as instructed. Starts easy, with White Up! and Red Down!, but gets tougher. Not White Not Down!
• Balloon Trip: Flap the controllers like wings to fly around the screen. Steer by flapping one more than the other. Collect balloons and avoid obstacles.

I was happy when I unlocked the multiplayer - I'd been wanting to play with Linda, but when I found out that all the multiplayer aspects of the game are done with a single Wiimote, passed back and forth between players, I was a bit disappointed. Good for people with only one Wiimote, and good for allowing ten players on some games, but there's no simultaneous play. The multiplayer games include Darts, which is a well-implemented standard game of darts, Bungee Buddies, where two players connected by a bungee cord work together navigate an obstacle course, and the supremely odd Star Nose, in which players steer a flying nose through space. One player steers with the Wiimote, the other steers with the Nunchuk. Linda kicks my ass in Star Nose.

All in all, it's a good game, if not quite as good as I expected.