WarioWare: Get It Together! Review

Fancy seeing Wario here!

The new entry in Nintendo’s WarioWare series sees the gang back for more hijinks. This time, as the title implies, the focus is on making the chaotic microgames more fun in multiplayer.

    For those uninitiated with WarioWare, the gameplay consists of playing a selection of short 5 second microgames. Each microgame starts with a phrase appearing on the screen and you must figure out what is happening, and how to come up with a solution as quickly as possible. As you get later in the stage the microgames become faster and the objectives more difficult which adds to the fun. The microgames are hectic, bizarre, and really fun. You’ll be completing simple objectives like picking a nose and helping a dog drink its water.

    The new Microgames are really funny and some of the unexpected outcomes put a smile on my face. Protecting flower buds from a meteor causes them to sprout in the cutest way imaginable but having a boy drop his ice cream causes the happy art and music to dramatically drop.

    Of course, being a WarioWare game, fan favourite 9-Volt returns allowing you to play some microgames based on Nintendo properties which are always a highlight.

    New to this entry is each player controlling a playable character in a platform-like fashion. This helps to facilitate multiplayer as everyone can play simultaneously. In previous entries, multiplayer modes had players take it in turn to beat microgames but now everyone can play together!

    The WarioWare cast genuinely feels like some of Nintendo’s most underutilised characters. Everyone remembers Wario’s egomaniac attitude, Ashley, the little emo witch, and Mona, the cute heroine with too many pets. Having them brought into the gameplay really helps their characteristics stand out.

    Each character has unique abilities for better or for worse.

    On the one hand, having all these characters with unique abilities make the microgames infinitely more playable as there are different ways to pass the microgame. For example, in one microgame, Orbulon, the little alien with a tractor beam, can simply lift up and store the cat’s faeces from the litter tray instead of needing to hide.

    But on the other hand, it can sometimes be unclear how a particular character's move set can be used to beat a particular stage. Many of the microgames feature moving an object and 5-Volt, the angry mother from the Smash Bros. Stage, can’t walk and can simply teleport around the screen. It is simply not obvious how to get her to finish a bunch of the microgames. Of course, all characters can beat every microgame, but some are better at clearing some than others.

    This can cause an unfair advantage in multiplayer as potentially one player will be at a strong advantage due to their character.

    Additionally, I found it hard to play in multiplayer because it is difficult to explain exactly how a character's unique abilities work. It would be fine if you played through the story mode in the two-player mode which you can do cooperatively, but it is quite complicated to just hop in and have fun.

    There are short tutorial levels for each character to show off their abilities, but there are over twenty of them. That is a lot of tutorials to play through when all you want to do is hop in for 5 minutes and enjoy the chaos. A lot of the modes mix up the characters you use frequently so you can’t even pick a few and hope for the best.

    I played through the story in single-player and then decided to play the multiplayer modes with friends and I always felt I had an unfair advantage as the platforming elements are less intuitive than previous games.

    Something great is the number of multiplayer modes available. One has a player playing a microgame whilst the others work together to blow up a balloon. If the balloon pops the person playing the microgame loses, but if the player beats the microgame the next player will have to play the microgame. As you can imagine, this leads to some really tense moments.

    There is also another mode which is like air hockey. Using your character, you try and score a goal, and if you manage to score one you have to beat a microgame to gain a point. However, when you are playing the game, the other players can mess around with the screen to make it more difficult.

    WarioWare games are often quite short and this one is no exception. The main story can be beaten in only a few hours. There are some challenges to complete for those buying it as a single-player game to extend the playtime. For most, the longevity will come from playing in multiplayer. It is a little daunting for new players as it is not always clear how certain character's abilities can be used and how they can beat certain microgames.

    Overall, WarioWare: Get it Together! is a fine entry in the dormant franchise and it is always fun to be back with the WarioWare crew even if the titular multiplayer has some problems.