Wario Land: The Shake Dimension (or Wario Land: Shake It! as it's known in the U.S.) takes much of its cues from hsi previous adventuring iterations. Wario still has his trademark shoulder-charge and butt-stomp, but added Wii motion control functionality genuinely adds to the experience and opens up new skills for the portly treasure hoarder to master. Adding to the distinctly retro feel, the Wii remote is held sideways, and there are only two face-buttons required to execute most moves. Shaking and tilting makes up the other control component – manipulating aiming arrows, swinging from vines and propelling Wario forwards in vehicles.
For me Wario has always been more of a favourite than Mario, scandalous I know! However, his greedy lust for treasure, stitch-inducing humour combined with his zany mustache and general bad-boy attitude set him apart from good ol' Mario. Wario has mostly been relegated to mini-games in his past appearances in the videogame world, and while these crazy mini-games are fun, mostly because of their downright silly and sometimes even completely absurd nature, it's nice to see him taking the spotlight in The Shake Dimension.
"Ignoring the Wii ware title Lost Winds, and the plethora of golden oldies available on the virtual console, this is the best 2D platform game available on the Wii. And if it's successful enough (and sales certainly haven't been disastrous so far) it may hopefully pave the way for similar franchises to receive brand new 2D adventures (Yoshi and Donkey Kong, we're looking at you)."
SG: "Wario is one of Nintendo's B-list characters. Initially conceived as another nemesis for Mario, he has evolved into a lazy character that's always on the search for treasure. Hell, it took three Smash Bros. games before he made an appearance. His platforming solo career has been largely based in the handheld sphere, with the exception being Wario World for Gamecube, a terrible brawler by Treasure that really doesn't deserve being mentioned. His second console platformer has also been handed off to another team, with developer Good-Feel at the helm. Does a return to Wario's 2D roots make for a better game?"
"It’s a B grade game"
If it's a B grade game, then why didn't it get a B grade?
I was hoping for a better score than this as I still enjoy 2D platformers and Warioland 1 & 2 on the gameboy were sweeeeeet!
Nevermind. Maybe I'll rent it and play over a weekend on my bro's Wii.