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In a sense the WarioWare series is symptomatic of the massive sea of change that’s taken place at Nintendo. When it first appeared on the Game Boy Advance it immediately drew praise for its refreshing, fast-paced and gloriously irreverent style. Likewise, Wii has drawn similar praise for its originality and the refreshing sense of fun provided by the Remote and Nunchuck control scheme. If Wii was meant for one game only, WarioWare could well be it.
For those who’ve managed to miss the WarioWare flavour entirely, here’s an abridged history of the series. As previously noted, it started on the Game Boy Advance with Mega Microgame$, and its basic concept was to present the player with hundreds-upon-hundreds of quick-fire microgames that increased in speed and difficulty as you progressed. It wasn’t a complicated idea, but the way in which it was presented made it an ideal portable game. Since then, the series has spawned a GameCube party game (WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$), a tilt-sensitive GBA sequel (WarioWare Twisted!) and a touch-sensitive outing on the DS (WarioWare Touched!).
Smooth Moves, on Wii, is a culmination of all the games to date. The original concept is still there, but it’s joined by the party games of the GameCube version and the tilt and touch features of the two most recent titles – facts which rather backup the idea that WarioWare and Wii are inextricably linked. The Remote, with its unique movement sensing gadgetry, provides a wealth of options and Smooth Moves constantly delights with the number and ingenuity of uses for it.
The story – yes, there is a story – sees Wario stumble upon a temple, the Temple of Form. In the temple he discovers the Form Baton – or the Wii Remote as we know it – and depending on what ‘form’ he holds it in, he is granted special powers. From this point on, new forms are introduced progressively and each set of microgames will at some point add a new form into the mix.
At first, these forms are relatively simple and fairly obvious. ‘The Remote Control’ is the basic form, and has you holding the remote exactly as you would normally. The further you progress, however, the more perverse and unusual the forms can become. A good example is ‘The Elephant’, which requires you to hold the remote against the tip of your nose and various other positions will have you holding the Wii Remote above your head, at your waist or even putting it down in ‘The Discard’ position where you mustn’t touch the remote until instructed. If all this seems mundane on paper, the opposite is the case when actually playing the game, with the constant fast pace making it a laugh a minute.
Nothing can illustrate this better than a description of some of things you’ll witness in the game. Again, words don’t do justice to what you’ll experience, but any game that requires you to grate alarm clocks, shove false teeth into the mouths of old ladies and fire bananas into giant nostrils qualifies as severely surreal. Some of the best moments, such as the aforementioned nostril incident, occur during the boss battles, which can produce some really fun moments. One boss battle has you fending off the approaches of a ninja swordsman, and this once again shows off how well WarioWare uses the remote.
It isn’t all fast-paced frenetic action though; Smooth Moves also provides plenty of opportunities for slower and rather more deliberate activities should you want a change of pace. Later on in the game you’ll unlock a Tetris-esque game that uses the Wii Remote’s tilt functions. Balancing the Wii Remote on your palm in a form called ‘The Waiter’, you have to move and manoeuvre a small platform and balance a collection of falling objects and shapes onto it.
The quirky sense of fun found in Smooth Moves is further enhanced by both the graphics and sound. Neither may be advanced, even by Wii standards, but the art style is fun and rather idiosyncratic. Likewise, the music is pretty catchy yet cheesy in the same breath, and these facets bring to life the bizarre events that unfold in the game.
Playing Smooth Moves, one immediately gets the sense that the name is drenched in irony because there’s simply no way you could look ‘smooth’ playing this game. Even James Bond, were he ever to play the game, would be rendered a demented court jester by the act of pretending to hula-hoop whilst holding a white remote at his waist. Try to imagine Daniel Craig – or better yet Roger Moore – performing such an act with a straight face. Nope, I’m no seeing it either, and that’s the very point of the game. You’re not supposed to play it with a straight face, that would be defeating its purpose entirely and that’s the reason why WarioWare Smooth Moves is a game worth looking forward to.
