Wario Land: Shake It! for Wii Reviews by Gamers

When it grew harder to find original concepts for a 2D platformer, developers either went 3D or turned their platformers into hybrids like Viewtiful Joe. Leave it to Nintendo to go back to their retro roots and to publish a real winner--Wario Land: Shake It. Not only are the 30+ levels all hand-drawn (including monsters, bosses, and Wario), but the designs are hand-crafted, too. Each level has two paths (not counting the nooks for hidden treasures or bonus level maps): the one you take to get to the imprisoned sprite, and the one you use to race back to the start with your freed prisoner. In addition, each level sports 3-7 missions, from time trials to platform tweaking skills like "Don't Kill Any Enemies."

Some people have complained that they find this repetitive--these people just don't like platformers. You WILL need to memorize jumps and paths, you will need to follow patterns precisely, and you will need to be clever to make it through some of the levels (though you'll never have to worry about dying--there are no insta-kills, and you'll always have plenty of health). Furthermore, many of the levels are unique, from water and ice environmental effects (not to mention the wind of a speeding train) to special gadgets, like a "miniaturizing" machine or a guy-eating plant.

The one valid complaint is that the use of motion in the game does make your arm a little sore: you'll have to shake poles to spin on them, shake enemies to get health, and--most importantly--shake bags of money in order to reach your treasure-collecting quota. It's not nearly annoying as people say it is (not even in the awkward "subwarine" levels), but it IS tiring. What's not tiring is the joy of exploring new worlds--and if you really explore this game (i.e., don't just try to get through it quickly), you'll find upward of 20 hours here.

This game is very fun and it has great level design with awsome music and good puzzles. The style of the game is like a cartoon ; which has a good story and the transition from one level to another is good. However; the levels are short, there need to be more checkpoints in later levels because it does get frustrating (especially when you are in the unicyclebarrel), and the bosses are way to difficult. It is fun for a while and it is a great one to play a few times a year; so rent it!