Wario Land: Shake It!

Provides players with an engaging and polished experience -- everything on a technical standpoint is sharp, the presentation is energetic and lively, and the level design/variety is solid...but this entry in the Wario Land series just feels lacking in some extra element inherent in the previous titles -- some spirit seems to have been lost in the translation.

Sadly, after playing this year’s other solid platformers (Braid, Lost Winds, De Blob), Wario Land Shake It! just doesn’t grab me by the shirt collar and demand I play it.

Wario Land: The Shake Dimension proves that 2D platform games can definitely hold their own in today’s world, even on powerful home consoles, since this outing is truly a sight to behold.

Sadly, Good Feel haven't provided enough in the way of innovation to the table to make Wario's latest pillaging of treasures and tropes a truly worthwhile experience, nor are their attempts at imitation anything more than adequate.

Exudes a certain endearing charm that makes it quite a playable game.

A game which is good, but not great, and certainly not up to the standard of Nintendo's best 2D platformers.

Wii owners expecting a motion controlled tour de force will be quite disappointed. For the most part you play as if the Wii Remote is a standard controller, only using its special abilities when you need to shake something, aim a throw or steer a vehicle.

Unfortunately, beneath that striking detail, Shake It! plays exactly like Wario Land 4(GBA). [Nov 2008, p.68]

If you're looking for a weekend rental, this could be an okay retro choice. [Dec 2008, p.124]

For as many times as I had to replay certain stages, Wario Land: Shake It! felt kind of brief, though there were aspects that managed to wear out their welcome before it was over. Still, a 2D game with this kind of detail is enough of an anomaly that it can be enjoyable for that alone, and despite some structural issues, it shakes up the usual platformer formula enough to be interesting.

Nintendo is famed for sprinkling around mechanics other developers would build entire games on, but here the effect is quite irritating. [Oct 2008, p.97]