Wario Land The Shake Dimension Review

Just yesterday, for probably the first time in about three months I actually bought a new Wii game, and this was it (And Brawl shortly as well). Now, from what I can see so far, it's actually a very, very clever and fun game, and I'll try my best to explain how and why.

First things first though, this is NOTHING like Mario in general. There aren't many platform jumps where one mistake costs you badly, and there are NO bottomless pits in the entire game. You just can't fall off any level and just die of falling into oblivion. There are also no power ups as such, but there ARE transformations, such as Flaming Wario, Snowman Wario and Mini Wario which are area specific and come from the environment, not blocks. They cannot be taken from level to level either, and the latter (Mini Wario) is NOT like Mini Mario, you don't die any quicker when hit by enemies compared to Normal Wario.

So what is this game about? Well like all games in the Wario series, it's mainly about the finding and collecting of money. Whether it's beating up enemies, finding hidden rooms or solving puzzles, your goal in general is to try and get as much cash as you can probably find, because each new area map is NOT free. You don't just open up a new world like the domes in Super Mario Galaxy or the countries in Super Mario World, but you have to BUY the area map with the money you get. And believe me, there is not enough money for the average player to get the later maps after just going through each level once. Also, trust me here, EVERYTHING has a price. The opening credits and ending (I guess) for media costs money. Life potions which are basically full 1 ups cost money and their equivalents of Heart Containers... yep, cost more of your well earned cash. There's no getting things for free in this game like Mario, so you WILL have to start looking high and low for treasure and gold.

But this use of collecting money is not a bad thing, since the levels are excellently designed. There are no linear levels here, and every level has like 10 secret rooms for the treasure (for collection sake) and the money (aka, Diamonds and what not). They are HUGE levels as well, so even a small level has at LEAST 10 rooms to explore, compared to the 2 you might find in a 2D Mario game. They also have some rather interesting themes later in the game, and while admittedly the standards of platforming make a reappearance (volcano, jungle, underwater, haunted house), some more interesting levels appear to. Take Glitter Town and Neon City. They're basically like Las Vegas themed levels with the enemies names up in lights and slot machines you have to play with the ground punch to progress. Like getting bombs or enemies or status effects from them. That then ignores the two possible layered water fountains you can jump across in various rooms, and platforms that are only visible when the spot lights shine on them making a sort of appearing and disappearing maze in the sky. Then there are the train levels, although the names escape me (the secret is Derailed Express I think). Those are again very different from the standard platform world, and have things like bouncy floors, water spouts to pound down, flame throwers to activate and deactivate, various switches and engines to destroy with bouncy balls. And the outside with the powerful wind from the train's movement blowing you to the left...

Even the more normal levels have clever gimmicks. Unicycles to ride across rails. Rocket ships to fly around in and dodge things in the sky, various ropes, moving logs on water and stilts to ride across lava. The secret levels even have things like bomb throwing magician enemies to get past obstacles, ropes that go up or down into mines in the sky and man eating treasure chests. With a funny animation to boot.

Then of course are the bosses, which probably make most games (and the few good ROM hacks with clever bosses like Brutal Mario) look incredibly boring and simple. Each boss has like four stages in the battle. Take the second boss (called Hot Roderick). You're actually in some kind of battle come race along a road in a unicycle with a boxing glove. Vs a race car with a jet engine. And you have to punch things like spanners at the engine and then beat the crap out of it when it stalls. And then dodge said race car as it shoots into the background and comes from behind at like 90 miles per hour. And the same when the car is on stilts. And then, even after all that, chase down the now running driver and punch them into the horizon. I think this pretty much explains how crazy it is:

And world 3...

^If you're afraid of clowns, you're probably need therapy after the third boss.

Also, an interesting note; the bosses in this game are probably more difficult than the levels for once. Bosses 3 and 4 will completely destroy you the first time round (boss 4 maybe destroy you a good 10-20 times before you win) and the Final Shake King boss is actually a pretty darn awesome looking, difficult final boss battle. With multiple rooms and stages of attacks. On a weird note though, world 5's boss battle is actually pretty easy, albeit WACKY!

With that out the way, you might be wondering about the graphics. Well be glad they are amazing. Not like Super Mario Galaxy amazing, but probably some of the best 2D type graphics ever. This is EXACTLY what a good 2D platform game SHOULD look like, with detail in pretty much every corner (I mean that too, as I've seen some odd things like the mummies in the windows and demon statues in the haunted mansion that are actually pretty clear to the normal player unlike most background details. And again, levels like Neon City show a huge level of background detail in some sections. It's also extremely colourful, for good or bad.

Sound wise though... it's good. But not great, because few of themes are actually as catchy as in Wario Land 4, although at least one (Mt Lava or something)'s theme actually sounds rather like the music from Wario Land 4 (Fiery Cavern to be exact). But hey, it won't hurt your ears, and you could probably stay in the level for hours without being driven insane).

Length wise... good, but could be better, since with the relative easyness of the levels completion wise, it's rather short and the main story seems like it'd over quick (I reached the final boss, although I haven't beat him yet in about 10 hours). And that's with being lost in a few levels. There are however a lot of things to unlock (you get the stage music for completing all the missions in that stage, which is a nice reward), and there are about 3 secret levels in each world, nearly as much as there are normal levels. Some of these though are WAY harder than the main storyline, and some secret levels have OTHER secret levels that can be unlocked via maps in THOSE secret levels. Bit like a Mario World level having a key hole and key to unlock a secret level from the secret level, which is really, really neat in my opinion.

Difficulty? Getting 100% on the stages is tough as nails to do, because some missions often include not killing enemies, not getting damaged once or in a water level... not falling in the water. And it's a waterfall level... However, the main story itself is rather easy and quick, and just getting to the end of the levels is not that difficult in any way shape or form.

Oh, and did I honestly forget to mention there are submarine levels? Yeah, because of the motion controls, those are kind of dodgy (and have no checkpoints). They're generally fun though, they've got a lot of paths and the enemies are varied (those metal spiked poles from Mario World actually appear!). Plus, you get a boss in each level, or at least a kind of mini boss, which is like a defence wall with various targets to be shot which summons enemies. First one is easy, second has you hit all three targets to blow up each section and third has spikes around it. Heck, level three has a MINI BOSS version of this MINI BOSS less than halfway in.

All in all though, it's a great game with a lot of fun gameplay and secrets, and which has been rather underrated by IGN and such like (I know 85% to 89% is good, but it should well have got 90%, as it's basically an excellent 2D platform game). I would probably give this a 92% rating, with a few points removed for some dull enemies, not quite enough catchy music and the submarine sections being a bit too unweildy to control).

The Good Points:

1. Fantastic level design
2. Bosses are awesome as ever, and probably better than the last few games.
3. Graphics are fantastic
4. Sound is pretty good.
5. Fun game to play in general.
6. Lots of secrets and hidden levels
7. Plenty of unique tricks and gimmicks in the levels.
8. All around being a fantastic game.
9. Some excellent unusual level concepts.

The Bad Points:

1. Enemies are a bit drab, or at least some are.
2. Needs more length for the slightly short main game. Maybe another area would be nice?