Title Wario: Master of Disguise Date 03.13.2007 Genre Action, Puzzle Platform Nintendo DS Developer Suzak Publisher Nintendo

First impressions can be a terrible thing. Wario: Master of Disguise (MOD) is the latest DS game to use a well-known Nintendo character which we all know and love. We've all had our fix of Wario Ware, but some good, solid plat-forming action is what we've all been looking forward to for some time now. I'll bring it to you early on: MOD is NOT a sequel to the Wario Land games in any way or form; if you are expecting to be just that, you will leave empty-handed. But that's not to say that MOD isn't worth your time. It's a different kind of plat-former, slow-paced and of the type that requires a degree of logical thought to solve the many puzzle-like situations our fat thief will find himself in. It's different, but with a patient attitude and openness to new ideas, you will find something special in this gem of a Wario.

Virtual Thief
It's a Wario game, so you should know by now that any story would revolve around his insatiable greed and penchant of all things shiny and glittery. This time his silly scheming lands him in a television program featuring an odd magician by the name of Cannoli. Basically Wario steals this guy's magical wand and then goes off on a quest to locate the shattered pieces of an ancient wishstone. The story about Purple Wind versus Silver Zephyr is irrelevant, but the wand provides the basis of how this game works.

Wari-oid
Wario will traverse the usual plat-forming levels: a volcanic mountain-top, some ancient ruins, a power plant etc. etc. Each level is structured like a mini-castle of sorts, and if you are familiar with the 2D Metroid and Castleroid games, MOD is essentially taking a leaf out of their books. Your aim is the boss room and to get there you usually have to seek out a couple of keys, or something similar, in order to open up new pathways to progress further in. Scattered throughout are a bounty of red colored chests that contain some useless pieces of treasure (with seemingly random dollar-values). However the green chests contain items essential to your quest (e.g. keys) while the purple ones safely hide some rather mystical and worthwhile precious stones.

These special stones will give Wario's wand (named Goodstyle - the names Nintendo come up with these days...) the ability to change Wario's appearance. The default costume sees him outfitted as a thief with Wario's patented tackle ability available from the outset. Other costumes include Genius, which allows Wario to see through illusions and view secret passages; Dragon, which gives him the ability to barf out fire and drop through platforms due to weight issues; Astronaut, which lets him fire laser beams. There are 8 costumes all up (including the default thief attire) and each one has their won unique purposes. You gain most of them early on in the game and so they are all used often, whether it be to batter down some tough enemies or negotiate through some tricky scenarios.

As you gain mastery of each 'job' (through finding more special gems) you'll have even more abilities at your disposal. For example, you will eventually be able to attack as a Genius, and even draw up some life-replenishing hearts as Arty Wario! A lot of creativity is shown here. There are only 2 negative aspects I see with this system, one of which is controls which I will talk more of later. The other is how each costume/mastery gem is required to move on past certain junctures making what looks like a relatively exploration-based game (in the style of a mini-Metroid) more linear than it should have been. If you accidentally miss one of these important gems, you'll know soon enough.

Hanging out with the brothers, the princess and the dinosaur
There are only 10 episodes in MOD, but for a plat-former, each level is rather long; after the first, it will take about 30-70 minutes to complete each one! This is where the slow-pace comes in. You don't just simply barge your way through everything in sight, instead you will have to sit down and think carefully as to how you will get to the other side of the screen; one of the perks of having Metroid-like elements. MOD is more a thinking man's plat-former. Save points are spread out well, but if you ever need to put your game on indefinite hold, a handy suspend feature is available. This is still a good game to take on the go. You won't have to worry much about where you were heading for before; the room of interest is always highlighted on your handy map.

So far, so good. Even better are the bosses, which are some of the most imaginative and funky battles to grace a Nintendo cover. After Mario's ho-hum d-pad based effort, we've seen Peach's emotions run wild with touch-based interaction, and Yoshi's inventive dual-screen antics. Now it's Wario's turn and this ugly plumber's-evil-twin dishes out some fun battles which integrate a good dose of stylus-drawing with a lot of humor. Some of them are actually quite challenging, but this often is caused by human-error in drawing up the correct costume in a hurry. My favorite has to be the Barfatronic Lavachomper which wins the prize for foulest defeat!

Pawnshop Standard
Now every game has its issues, and Wario is no exception. The most popular complaint any gamer would have on initial impressions is that the d-pad & stylus control combo is unwieldy and unnecessary. Granted it does take some time to adjust to it, and there will always be times when you will often draw up the wrong thing, but I don't really see how it could have been as seamless as it is without the stylus. As long as you aim for Wario's head when beginning your scribble and get the general pattern correct, all should go well. You can even draw mega-big and still get it right. It's really not too hard.

One thing which got to me though were all the (red) chests which contained a lot of useless treasure (Ab Annihilator!?). Every time you open one up, it's funny to see Wario shake his booty, but then the repetitive mini-games load up. There are only 8 different ones and they all are very simple to play. One has you tapping out some cockroaches, another has you painting up a picture, and there is pre-school join-the-dots activity in there too. Each mini-game has barely any variations on a theme (even less than for Wario's micro-games!!) and very soon you will probably avoid these red chests altogether; at the end of each stage your total earnings are calculated to count towards ranks of thieving, which doesn't mean much, so why bother? Maybe of the mini-games were good, but even Mario tops Wario here, and he wasn't even trying.

Technically speaking, Wario is very average here. Graphics are sharp with a nice rendered look, but the GBA Wario Land games were much more animated than a lot of the drab stuff here. Apart from Wario's cackling laughter, there isn't any noteworthy voice work (don't talk to me about "Congratulations!"), and the music doesn't really suit Wario's style, but it's not bad. Presentation-wise you can tell that MOD was not developed directly by the big N. It comes across as a budget title, a first-generation title, a tech-demo, call it what you will. But as I said, appearances can be deceiving; this is still a good product. The top screen shows a handy map of the area as well as your life meter and abilities obtained, while everything else happens down below. I find the controls easily grasped, but lack of sensitivity with jumps can be annoying at times. The shoulder-buttons are not used at all - wasted real-estate?

Another Spin-off
Although one could classify Wario: Master of Disguise as a plat-former, I'd say it has more in common with a puzzle-genre game. Apart from the boss encounters, there isn't a lot of action here. MOD is really a spin-off into new territory for a Nintendo character, something which I think should happen more often these days; I've had one too many average repeat attempts at another jumping/sporting/partying-style game to last me a lifetime. Suzak have done a commendable job of pulling this off here, and while it isn't as clean as it could've been had Nintendo developed it themselves with their big budget and big brains and all, MOD is a nice slow ride to take if you have nothing better to do.

Game Score

C+

Reviewed By: Kelvin