Warioware Gold is a series return to form after that whole Snapped fiasco and the slow climb with Game & Wario where the series first fell down after staying on it's peak with Twisted, Touched, and Smooth Moves. This game brings back the iconic rapid fire survival arcade microgame collection we all come to know and love.
Gameplay is exactly what you expect from Warioware: you play a stage and microgames come up for you to play. Beat it, and you continue. Fail it, and you loose a life. Loose all your lives and it's game over. Beat the stages once to unlock their endless modes and go for a high score. Etc. Etc. Although this time around, their are now three control schemes to work with: Mash, where you use the buttons; Twist, where you tilt the console left and right; and Touch, where you use the touch screen (there's also Blow, where you use the Mic, haphazardly shoved in there as well). Each work great and are natural to switch between. The story mode is divided into 3 leagues, one for each control, ending with three final stages combining the styles in one big ultra league. After the story mode, you can unlock challenges with twists on previous stages and get little prizes from a toy machine, such as minigames or cutscenes that you can dub over in your voice. Speaking of which, the cutscenes are fully voice acted, a series first, and they have a sort of energy to them that brings the characters to life. Some of them aren't that great; Ana and Penny sound like they have a lot of gunk up their nose and some of the voices aren't even close to their characters, Dr. Crygor especially; he changed from fabulous mad doctor to meek mad doctor and it sounds nothing like him. The cast of Diamond City also received more cartoony face lifts that I found quite fitting; Ashley I found that extra bit of adorable alongside her gothic, uninterested tone of voice. The gameplay is not without faults, though. The reward system made it tedious to fish the good stuff out of the sea of mediocre; seriously, do I really need an alarm clock for each character?
But still, Warioware Gold is still great enough to establish another peak in the series, where hopefully they'll stay on this one too and make a few more games on it. Who knows? We could have a Smooth Moves 2 on the Switch using the joy cons for forms, like an extension to the balance stone from the first Smooth Moves. Make it happen, Nintendo!
Final grade: B+
VideoGame Warioware Gold: a proper return to form
Warioware Gold is a series return to form after that whole Snapped fiasco and the slow climb with Game & Wario where the series first fell down after staying on it's peak with Twisted, Touched, and Smooth Moves. This game brings back the iconic rapid fire survival arcade microgame collection we all come to know and love. Gameplay is exactly what you expect from Warioware: you play a stage and microgames come up for you to play. Beat it, and you continue. Fail it, and you loose a life. Loose all your lives and it's game over. Beat the stages once to unlock their endless modes and go for a high score. Etc. Etc. Although this time around, their are now three control schemes to work with: Mash, where you use the buttons; Twist, where you tilt the console left and right; and Touch, where you use the touch screen (there's also Blow, where you use the Mic, haphazardly shoved in there as well). Each work great and are natural to switch between. The story mode is divided into 3 leagues, one for each control, ending with three final stages combining the styles in one big ultra league. After the story mode, you can unlock challenges with twists on previous stages and get little prizes from a toy machine, such as minigames or cutscenes that you can dub over in your voice. Speaking of which, the cutscenes are fully voice acted, a series first, and they have a sort of energy to them that brings the characters to life. Some of them aren't that great; Ana and Penny sound like they have a lot of gunk up their nose and some of the voices aren't even close to their characters, Dr. Crygor especially; he changed from fabulous mad doctor to meek mad doctor and it sounds nothing like him. The cast of Diamond City also received more cartoony face lifts that I found quite fitting; Ashley I found that extra bit of adorable alongside her gothic, uninterested tone of voice. The gameplay is not without faults, though. The reward system made it tedious to fish the good stuff out of the sea of mediocre; seriously, do I really need an alarm clock for each character? But still, Warioware Gold is still great enough to establish another peak in the series, where hopefully they'll stay on this one too and make a few more games on it. Who knows? We could have a Smooth Moves 2 on the Switch using the joy cons for forms, like an extension to the balance stone from the first Smooth Moves. Make it happen, Nintendo! Final grade: B+