Wario Land 4
Reviewed by Dogg
Wario is known as the best spin-off ever played on
Nintendo's biggest franchise, Mario. Nintendo then
made Wario Land 1 for the Game Boy. This game had
classic Mario action and provided the same way to die
as Mario. This includes you getting bigger or
smaller. An advantage for Wario however was that it
had awesome gameplay, sharp graphics and that Wario
himself had more moves then Mario. Then Nintendo
released the sequel which in many ways started
killing the franchise and then part 3 which was said
to be the end of the series and act like the main
trilogy just collapsed the series. Now Wario's
gameplay weakened, the level design was poor, and
Wario was now invincible making you to never die
which just got insane for me. Now Nintendo's brought
back the series to its roots but has it lost
something in return.
Wario Land 4 traditionally carries the particular
license, to be a fairly addictive ( but fun ) puzzle
game. However, in Wario Land 4 the puzzles are fairly
repetitive and they are not even a challenge. One
more thing that hurts this game is it's lackluster
presentation. Just like what the manual says this
game is " mostly the same as its predecessors."
However, the series has been known for it's gameplay
more. This game features easy and simple controls
that are as intuitive as any classic Mario game. The
A button makes you jump ( from one platform to the
other platform). And the B button makes you charge.
The R button makes a heavier tackle, etc.
To further speed up the gameplay and value for this
game are the 3 minigames. The Wario Home-Run Derby,
which is a bit lackluster, but can be fun. The Wario
Hop, in which you hop over enemies. Best game around.
And the Wario roulette which sort of makes you dress
up Wario's face.
Another of the good things about this game are the
graphics. Totally nice. This game's graphics can pass
as some of the best in handheld history, and I am
glad that many will agree with me since they are
really pretty and push the Game Boy Advance hardware.
Another "thumbs up" is the sound which is sharp,
but I guess the part of the sound could have been
better. Still it is nice.
Now this game falls because of it's weak level design
and weak game layout. You go into a pyramid to get
gold and then a cat follows you, but then you notice
that you will need relics to get the gold. In the
pyramid you will fight bosses but nothing will stop
Wario's greed so you must dispose of them. One of the
weakest features is that now you are now timed for
everything. After you hit a switch in the final part
of the level you must go back to the beginning of the
level to escape the level. Weak. Plus you are timed
for bosses now so watch the time.
Overall if you can see through it's problems then you
got one of the best Game Boy Advance games around.
Overall: 7 out of 10