Wario: Master of Disguise for Nintendo DS Reviews by Gamers

Master of Disguise has a great foundation to it, with clever level design, an original moveset for a platformer, and a solid soundtrack. It's certainly a game I wanted to like.

Unfortunately, the controls make this game very difficult to play, because both the buttons and stylus are used. You really need both hands to play the game, even though either the D-Pad or the letter buttons are theoretically enough, because to jump and steer with just one hand, as is often required, is very difficult. So you need two hands for that, but you also need to keep your stylus at the ready, because you must use it to switch costumers, launch most attacks, and even do simple things such as open doors. So I had to keep switching how I'm holding the stylus to accomodate. It kind of works most of the time, but it never gets past being annoying and it can get you in trouble in tense situations. Additionally, this game doesn't always register very well what you have drawn so you may have to try drawing what you want again and again. The controls work, but barely, and it keeps the game from being as fun as it could be.

The level design is nonlinear and there is an aspect of exploration, which I generally would like, but unfortunately with the controls being as they are, I wasn't very interested in trekking around longer than need be. That's a problem because sometimes you're going to miss something and then have to make your way all the way back to a certain room.

If you're looking for a nonlinear platformer that could occupy you for 15 hours to beat (longer if you're going for all the treasures and bonus content) and you can put up with the control issues or have a third hand, then this could be a good choice for you, if not then skip it. Without the control issues this would have easily scored an 8, maybe higher if I got invested in the extra content. If ever they rereleased this and you could change costumes with the R or L buttons, I would definitely pick this up.