I was kind of sick of playing minigames on the Wii, until WarioWare: Smooth Moves came along. I decided to write down some impressions. Hope you like my first gameslol mini-review!
WarioWare: Smooth Moves starts by giving these three bullet points:
- Always use the wrist strap (still not a bad idea)
- Play standing in an open area
- Let go of your inhibitions
Video games have thousands of hard-coded rules, but it’s not often that a game asks you just to be a good sport. WarioWare: Smooth Moves does so for good reason, as it is genuinely necessary to play along.
When the Wiimote was first unveiled, the world’s gaming populace immediately recognized its potential for WarioWare. Yes, the Wii is made for it, but I still had some reservations. Previous versions of WarioWare relied on one style of input for their games. Even the DS version is limited to just a few motions, like pointing, scratching and circling. The Wii makes much more control mechanisms possible, but the question is how this gels with having to figure out the microgames within a split second.
Pfft, what was I thinking?! I had nothing to worry about. WarioWare: Smooth Moves teaches you a set of standard moves, each with its own name and illustration. A soft-spoken and almost meditative instructor’s voice tells you how to perform it (these are probably the most hilarious game tutorial screens that I know of). Then before each microgame starts, you’re told exactly which move you’re going to have to use. It’s an excellent approach.
That said, many moves are only different from another because of the stance or grip that you have to use, not how the moves are registered by the Wiimote. In other words, a lot of crazy moves can also also be pulled off successfully by holding the controller in less crazy ways. A good example of this is the Elephant, where you must pretend the Wiimote is an extension of your nose. This is, technically, exactly the same as holding the controller as a TV remote. But if you play along as you should, the Elephant is also one of the most hilarious control methods ever.
The minigames themselves are as varied and as funny as Warioware games before, though probably a bit easier. They’re a lot of fun in singleplayer, though it doesn’t take very long to unlock everything (nothing new there). I have yet to play it with other people, but I’d be surprised if it wasn’t a total blast.
WarioWare: Smooth Moves is a much more solid minigames collection than the thoroughly underwhelming Rayman Raving Rabbids and the hit-and-miss minigames of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. It can be considered a must-have title for the system, at least until the real heavy-hitters arrive later this year.
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
4 out of 5 LOLs 
:D :D
See also: my review of WarioWare Touched! archived at Idle Thumbs.
As I was reading all of your reviews (no I dit not miss a single one), stumbling on my lack of knowledge about gaming, games, the game-industry (or briefly stated: your life :P) and the appropriate vocabulary to explain myself in the English language, I finally got to reading this review. Or rather, the link to wiihaveaprobem.com. Never in my short Nintendo-playing life have I felt so understood. My first Wii-sports experience, undoubtably connected with muscle-ache afterwards and allmost smashing my co-player’s skull in with my controller, leaves me with a sense of fear towards my playing wario on the Wii. That knee popping story really scared the hell out off me
Ann
January 24th, 2007
Whoah you are commenting on my games blog! Two worlds collide.
No Wii related injuries for me so far, though I did strain a muscle during the hoola hoop move. By the way, in WarioWare wearing the wrist strap is not only a standard safety precaution, it’s also actually necessary to complete one of the microgames…
Marek
January 24th, 2007