Games that are basically batches of mini-games can be a hit-or-miss investment. You could buy a group of mini-games that have been well thought out and are as entertaining as a concert with the Gorillaz, Mumford and Sons, Daft Punk, and Kanye West. However, you can just as easily go to the Wii’s Library and find a huge mess of shovelware party game titles that were made just to get them out on the Wii and make a quick buck. The WarioWare series teeters on that line of being super creative and fun, and being a bit too much with a couple of mini-games that are not fully thought out. Game and Wario is no different. I read that Game & Wario is basically a bunch of mini-games that were beta games for the Wii U when it was first announced, and to be honest, I don’t care. That was then, and this is now. Where does Game & Wario stand in the pantheon of mini-game collections? Does it stand with the Mario Party series? Or does it deserve its mixed reception? Let us begin!
The story is nonexistent, and yeah, don’t expect anything as deep as Witcher 2. Wario and his cohorts of silliness are at it once again to make a bunch of enjoyable and creative group of mini-games for the player to play with the new fancy Wii U. That is all you need to know about the story.
The gameplay of Game & Wario is of the mini-game variety. There are a group of single player mini-games and a group of multiplayer games. Let us talk about the single player mini-games. They have you use the GamePad in some really creative ways. For example, Arrow has you holding the gamepad sideways and letting your finger slide back to launch arrows at little Wario robots. Ashley has you guiding Ashley through a field of sweets in a 2D-style shooter by tilting the GamePad from side to side. Gamer has you playing traditional quick Warioware-style mini-games in your bed while watching out for your mother catching you playing games. Kung Fu is a platformer where you must make it to the finish line by only jumping, and having to eat dumplings to keep yourself energized. Taxi has you driving around and stopping aliens from abducting potential taxi patrons and then having you drive up to them and take them to a designated area to get cash! These are just some (not all) of the single-player games that Game and Wario has to offer. The multiplayer side of things doesn’t really offer much. The multiplayer games that I personally liked are Fruit, Island, and Sketch. Fruit is a spy game where the person on the GamePad goes around a level to steal fruit of some sort while the players on the TV guess which person is stealing the fruit. Island is a mini-game where you toss these little things called Fronks onto this island target, and try to gain the most points while dealing with the opposing player trying to gain more points, bumping your Fronks off the spots, and there are other encounters that mix the game up a bit. My personal favorite however is the Sketch where one player draws a picture using the GamePad to draw a picture of a word, while the players on TV try to guess what it is. The entire collection of games might seem a bit lopsided since single-player has more mini-games than multiplayer, but it does give the player a more focused experience. My problem with WarioWare games are usually the number of creative mini-games there are, and how some of them aren’t really that good. Anyway, let us move onto the presentation.
The presentation, while not the best on the Wii U, is solid. It’s bright and colorful, well-animated, and it has a lot of that quirky Japanese-esque charm you see in certain Japanese games. The music isn’t going to win any soundtracks of the year awards, but it’s solid enough to get you through each of the mini-games. The humor is cute. It isn’t “slap your knee” hilarious, but it made me smile with how eccentric all of the characters are.
So, what is wrong with the group of mini-games on the Wii U? Sadly, there are still some mini-game duds within this collection. I never found the robot design mini-game to be any fun, due to how you aren’t designing the entire robot, but only its face. It just sucks. I found it to be the worst mini-game. I know some gamers consider the Patchwork mini-game to be the worst, but at least that is a fun puzzle mini-game. I also think some of the mini-games could have been polished more since it seems like sometimes I lose due to some unfair or unpolished design within the mini-game. I also wish all of the mini-games were multiplayer because mini-games are the best when you have friends or family right next to you. I guess I just wanted the game to be more polished instead of just being another mini-game collection. Sure, you do get the quick simple mini-games from the past games, but they are mostly used for the Gamer mini-game and more focus was put onto the bigger and more designed games in the collection.
Even if it does have some flaws, I still found it to be a good game. My sister and I played the heck out of the mini-games and loved them. We even played 2 or so straight hours of Sketch. Plus, you can’t go wrong when the game is asking you for only 40 dollars or less, instead of 50 or 60. I say, once the price drops, go get it because it is definitely one of the better Wii U exclusive titles. I might have a love/hate relationship with the WarioWare games, but I know that I will have a wacky, crazy, and zany time with Wario and his friends.
This game gets a 7 out of 10
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