A renaissance of 2D platforming seems to be in place this autumn, with titles like Mega Man 9, Kirby SuperStar Ultra, and Wario Land: Shake It! coming along. While Mega Man 9 takes us back to the 80's in its presentation, Wario Land: Shake It! has gained a lot of attention for its very modern style. The big question is whether or not the animal underneath the shiny coat is worth the attention.
From the get-go, you can tell that a lot of time and care has been put into Wario Land's presentation. A charming anime intro greets players and sets the stage for a gorgeously animated, hand-drawn art style. Everything from running, jumping, dashing, and getting pounded into a wall all looks extremely fluid. Enemies move with equal care to detail, and the backgrounds are detailed and attractive. One important aspect of this is that every single level manages to feel different. In most cases, it's because it really is an entirely different set piece, but on occasion, one will be re-used but altered and tweaked so that the mood still feels rather different. This is much to the game's benefit, as an important part of keeping platforming exciting is to make each location feel unique.
Wario Land's soundtrack varies in technical quality but as a whole is surprisingly nice, with lots of jazzy, almost Sonic-inspired tunes flowing outward. There's a fair amount of variety in the composition styles, and it's a very solid soundtrack all around, even if the instrument quality is sometimes bluntly artificial. The sound effects have some nice punch to them, with lots of comical voice clips from Wario's bizarre self. It's sad that the anime intro and ending offer no voicework, though, and instead have only subtitles. Wario' grunts can sometimes get a bit grating in certain sections, too. Overall, however, some subtle detail in sound design and a great musical score.
However, with the delightful presentation out of the way, we come to the gameplay -- the part where Wario Land will get some shaking from critics. For starters, the engine and controls are spot-on. Moving Wario around is extremely fluid and intuitive, as expected from a Nintendo platformer. The physical mechanics of how he interacts with his world are commendable, as everything flows together nicely and makes sense. The Wiimote actions are used sparingly but to good effect. Shaking objects is satisfying but not tiring; pounding the ground with a quick shake feels good; tilting to aim throws is easy and adds to a feeling of precision; vehicles that require tilting have a tactile sensibility about them. Aiming canons can be a tad irksome when going from one to another (since you have to remind yourself to reset your tilt whenever you get launched or you'll start off pointing in an incorrect direction), and for the most part, it's stuff that could easily have been done without tilt functionality. That said, it does give the game a more involved sense of control and for the most part, it's better that these gestures are used for the sake of the hands-on approach to the controls it gives.
So the game feels good, which brings us to the places players will be maneuvering themselves around. Wario Land sports a very linear design in comparison to its predecessors. Levels tend to feature equal parts platforming/action and puzzle solving. Some of the more complex scenarios demand both in tandem. Overall, however, the level design is effective and engaging overall, but definitely feels lacking in originality after the older Wario Land games. Wario Land 3 featured levels which affected one another, for example -- none of that here. More noticeable to fans will be Wario's lack of form changing. He may take up a few vehicles here and there, and take on a sparse handful of forms, but it's nothing like the Game Boy games. This is much to the game's misfortune, and that is something that really made Wario stand apart from the rest of the crowd. The levels here are well-designed and planned out, but just feel uninspired overall -- it's all basically stuff you've seen before. Granted, it flows well, has quick pacing, and everything comes together pleasantly, but it's disappointing in the lack of genuine innovation going on -- even enemy design feels bland and repetitive. Power down the presentation and it could easily feel like a SNES game in its design. This isn't bad, mind you -- it's simply not amazing and out of character for the franchise. One benefit the game has is that pretty much every game design mechanic it throws your way is always around long enough to exercise some mastery in it, but never outstays its welcome.
Another issue can be difficulty. Veteran platformer players might die once or twice (probably on the last boss or two if it ever happens) but death really isn't much of an issue as a whole. It would've been a lot better to focus on wanting to get hurt to see what changes would occur like in the older titles. The bosses are also far too easy. Only the last boss gave me a run for my money (briefly). Of course, it's quite easy to simply beat the game as it is. This could be a good thing for those who just want to play through for a few hours, but those more dedicated have a lot of tasks to accomplish, from finding all of the treasure to achieving all of the missions, some of which are rather tricky. This does a pretty good job at adding some play value, as many of these do require some skill to accomplish. However, many consumers may feel that $50 is a steep price for the play value one will get out of this. The value you receive will largely be based on whether you want to just beat the levels or whether you want to find everything and uncover the secret stages. There's actually a lot to be done here when you start trying to accomplish every goal set before you. The problem is that there are much more refreshing and original platformers out there with as much value to them.
