Wario Land 4
Reviewed by KasketDarkfyre
Gameboy Advance. You have to wonder that with
Nintendo going all out on their games and systems,
just what could possibly come next. With this title,
I was rather pleased to see that a decently well
known character such as Wario {who was absent from
Super Smash Brothers Melee} was given a chance to
shine and this little gem of a handheld system.
Continuing on with the bad boy persona, you're back
in the saddle again with Mario's nemesis in a quest
for fame, glory and plenty of money! If you're into
the side scrolling platform jumpers, then you'll find
this to be a rather standard game with some cool
features thrown in for good measure.
The story that you find here in Warioland 4 is
something that is pretty much your basic adventure
game with a myth of a Queen who is said to have
untold riches. Now, Wario {who is a man of action}
gets wind of this little adventure and decides that
he will go off to find this tomb. The adventure
begins when he finds himself in the middle of a
rather large maze and his only goal is to solve the
mystery of this rich Queen and maybe pocket some cash
for himself in the process. With the addition of help
from Mr. Game and Watch, you'll be running, smashing
and morphing into a little bit of everything to end
your quest!
The game play is simply your side scrolling adventure
that has you jumping, bopping and crushing whatever
gets in your way through several stages of puzzle
solving action. Through the game, you'll take on
several different bosses and enemies with different
powers. These small powers will take effect when
something happens and can either impede progress or
help you with it and in some places they are a
valuable part of the puzzle solving. Money is also
important, as are your health items, so you'll have
to make it through the game on a limited supply of
both, with the money helping you to play mini-games
for items against the various bosses!
None of this is easy after the first couple of
stages, and timing is key in most respects in order
to get through the different puzzles and stages. Now,
this is where the control plays an integral part of
the game play, simply because you have to learn how
to finesse the directional pad with some of the
different attacks that Wario has and not only that,
but direct just where he is running. With most of the
functions being jump and dash along with some tricky
jumps onto moving platforms, you will probably only
use the shoulder buttons for a longer running dash
and even those are easy enough to pull off with some practice.
Visually, the Gameboy Advance does some pretty good
things with the way that Warioland is presented.
Keeping with different themes for each of the main
stages and the various sub-stages located within,
you'll find that there is enough variation here for
anyone to get into the game. The mini-games that are
found here are also pretty impressive, with fully
rotating portions and even a side scrolling game that
speeds up more and more leaving little in the blur
zone. With a handheld system, it's hard to keep the
game on a consistent level, but this one does so with
color, fine detail and plenty of variation!
The audio that you find here is about as good as a
handheld system can get with the limitations. Voices
and music are done in a mannerly fashion, although it
may become a little too blurred up if you have the
volume up on full blast. To help with this little
problem, you can plug in some headphones and do some
playing with crystal clear sound effects that really
put you into the game. However, some of the music
just doesn't seem to fit in some of the differently
themed stages, and there are times that the game
seems to jump from one extreme to the next with
little or no pause, giving it a forced sound.
Warioland 4 is a good alternative to the Super Mario
games because it features a different character with
a different attitude. With most of the Super Mario
games being rehashed versions of older games with a
couple of bonuses thrown in for good measure,
Warioland isn't the most revolutionary game, but it
does offer up a plot and keeps on the series.
Visually and game play withstanding, you have all of
the makings of a good adventure game that gives you
good control and decent audio to boot. Consider this
one of the more worthwhile purchases that you can get
with your Gameboy Advance!
Overall: 8 out of 10