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Wario Ware Inc.: Mega Party Games Review - Gamecube

Wario Ware was a smash hit on the GBA and saw a new style be born from the wacky developers at Nintendo. It saw players play through a staggering amount of microgames ( over 200 in total) which was pretty much the whole game, yet somehow it worked by means of fast paced and overall weirdness. Indeed, it doesn't sound too great in text, yet playing it yourself, you'll find it was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Following its successes, Nintendo did what seemed natural, release Wario Ware on the GameCube. Unfortunately, it turned out to be nothing more than a rehashed version of the GBA version with only a few extras.

Gameplay

Single-player for Mega Party Game$ is basically the GBA version of Wario Ware. You have to play your way through various themed levels that are packed with about 25 microgames that only last a few seconds each. The themed levels names describe the sort of microgames it'll have on offer such as how the IQ level is based on puzzles and thinking while the Nature level is all about organic life microgames. After blasting your way through all microgames, you will have to complete a boss level which will fortunately have no time limit and is, once more, based on themes. To introduce each mini-game, you'll find yourself in an elevator that goes up one floor and lets you play a microgame, but be warned that if you lose you'll loose one of your four lives and once you loose all four, you'll have to start again. Sadly, the elevator is a bad turn when compared to the funny clips used in the GBA version.

But the thing about these microgames that makes them so fun is that when you start to play, you be told what to do with very few words such as 'dodge' or 'grab.' However, you are only left with a few seconds to find out exactly what to do and pass the microgame. You'll often be hitting the 'A' button when you had to move the control stick. This is exactly what made Wario Ware fresh in the first place to newcomers. The sheer speed and confusion made you laugh and the microgames themselves were downright weird. A new feature to single-player mode though is the unlockable music videos that are not a big deal and are in fact, a little annoying to some. Don't get excited over it, it isn't much. The bad thing about all this though is that all the games are taken from the GBA version and left as they are leaving players who have come back for more, feel some what disappointed and ripped off. Luckily, Mega Party Game$ has been released at the budget price of $49.95 so if you haven't played the GBA version you will get satisfaction.

There is also an Album mode where you can view and play all microgames and even brake records where you have to play ... (continued next page)