Wario: Master Of Disguise
© N/A

Mania Grade: C+
Platform: DS
ESRB: E 10+
Genre: Platforming
Players: 1
Online: No
Developer: Suzak
Publisher: Nintendo
Suggested Retail: $34.99
Graphic: C
Sound: C
Gameplay: B-
Replay: B-
Fun Factor: C+

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"Wario: Master Of Disguise"

Do you remember Wario? I hope you do, otherwise you probably are not reading this review right now. For every hero to be a hero there must be a villain. For fire fighters it is obviously fire, for Batman it is the Joker, and for Mario it is Bowser. Yes I did say Bowser and not Donkey Kong. So where does Wario fit it? Well just like the M in Mario’s name is flipped upside down, so are the ethics that Mario has, and thus Wario is created. Why was he created? Originally it was as a villain for Mario to vanquish, but everyone knows that in the Mushroom Kingdom no one ever dies. They may be reincarnated into another form, even showing off their likeable side. 

Here we have Wario, a lazy treasure thief sitting at home while dreaming of riches, but while sitting in his home he watches a little television trying to numb his pain of being a failure. As he watches the television he stumbles upon the show of the Silver Zephyr, who uses a wand to give him multiple disguises to outwit police officers so that he can steal their treasures. Wario, ever the troublemaker, becomes fascinated with this ability and so creates a helmet that allows him to jump into the television realm and thus take over this wand. As a side note, I guess he should have just waited for the television to show images of Fort Knox if he wanted a treasure fix.  

Putting that aside, after he gets this wand and becomes the Purple Wind (Silent and deadly), he gains the ability to change his appearance. At the same time though a disturbance in the force is created, forcing someone to become to Ying to his Yang, and thus a rival is created. But there is a little bit more to the storyline where the wand reveals to the pair that there exists a Wishstone that can grant the owner a wish. The problem with the Wishstone is that it is broken up into five pieces, and so Wario must navigate the television universe to locate these stones so that he can make a wish in TV land before the Silver Zephyr can collect it. 

The mechanics of the game are fairly simple, and delightfully designed so that either a lefty or a righty can play the game. With stylus in hand you can draw on the screen for other effects as well, and depending on the type of costume you are using you will need to. The general costume that you will use is the thief costume, which allows you to run and jump higher than the other suits. There is also a spacesuit costume that has a few quirks of its own. It cannot jump as high, but the suit can hover in the air briefly making it a bit easier to reach platforms further away from you. It also has the ability to shoot lasers out at the world just by tapping on the screen with the stylus. 

There is the Arty Wario where if you drawn on the screen you may manifest either a block to jump on, or a mystery exit to take you back to the beginning of the level or the last save point. There is Captain Wario that floats on water, which can make navigating over currents a breeze. There is Sparky Wario, which lights up dark areas, but can also activate puzzles with this juice. There is the Genius Wario with a radar to detect hidden passages, and while they can be navigated without him, it shows you were they are. Perhaps my favourite is the Dragon Wario that can breath fire to burn away fire blocks, and there is also a Wicked Wario that can burn away blue flame blocks. It feels a bit like Kid Chameleon, but you get to bring the different masks with you. 

The game is 2D and a side-scroller with sprites. The different abilities will eventually allow characters to navigate the levels differently on the second go, which means there is a bit of replay value if you want to collect every last treasure. Collecting extra coloured gems, which are collected generally by defeating enemies, can level the costumes up for more powerful effects. The goal of the game is to make as much money as possible, which is either done by opening treasure chests, looting moneybags, completing levels in record time, or shooting star panels with a laser.  

Treasure chests pose their own problem for players, as there is no instant way of capturing their contents. When you attempt to open a treasure chest it goes into a minigames to see if you are Wario enough to retrieve the treasures. Each of the minigames involves using the stylus, but generally in slightly different ways. One involves connecting the dots in a puzzle, and another is a trace the outline while avoiding lasers. A fairly easy one involves a half painted icon, and the game provides a finished example and you must match it up. There is a 3X3 puzzle where you try and solve what the image is. There is a splatter the roach minigames where you squish roaches with the stylus. Finally there is a drop box that drops random items, and you must make sure they glide down into the proper receptacles. They are fairly fun the first few times, and on later levels they get difficult, but still they are not much fun after a while. If you fail to complete the minigames, the treasure box opens up and chucks out a few bombs that you must avoid. 

Graphically the game is a good sprite game, which keeps in perfect tune with Wario’s bizarre nature. The environments look and play well, much like anything you could normally expect from Nintendo. It does nothing to reinvent the wheel, but it does not need to. The games are on the light side when it comes to graphics, but they are still a bit interesting. For sound though, nothing is really great either. It does its job, collects a paycheck, and goes home. 

In the end, this is an average game. It will entertain you for a while, but some may just get bored with it to the point where they put it up on the shelf. I personally enjoy it because I generally like 2D games, but many people have evolved from that. If you pick the game up though, you will need to sit down for a while to complete each of the levels. That can be a down point because it is about dedicating time to completing tasks, rather than just completing levels and having fun. Wrapping up, Captain Gordon gives Wario: Master Of Disguise a C+. 

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? CaptainGordonEdward@Gmail.com