Hands-On: WarioWare Smooth Moves!

The WarioWare team has been busy crafting another zany experience this time on Wii.

Whilst there may have been some minor concerns with the accuracy, even over-accuracy in some cases, of the Wii controller, there was one game on Nintendo's stand that single-handedly convinced us that all would be well come release day, and that game was this game, WarioWare Smooth Moves!. Up until now, the best in the WarioWare series is easily Twisted on the GBA. The combination of Nintendo knowing their game (and audience), the evolving sense of humour of the series and the innovative tilt cartridge made Twisted truly come into its own. And now with Smooth Moves, it will be able to make use of an even more innovative input.

Obviously being a fairly simple concept, it doesn't take as long in development for a game such as WarioWare to get the controls set up just right, as opposed to more complex games like Twilight Princess, and it takes even less time for players to get to grips with. Much as Touched! on the DS was the perfect way for those new to DS to learn the various input methods that machine offers, Smooth Moves will be an equally appropriate way to get to grips with the Wii. As such, it was among the first games we chose to have a go on.

The major addition to the WarioWare mix, at least in the E3 build, is that it now shows you which input method you will need just before you play each of the mini-games. Thankfully though, unlike in Touched!, different input methods are not grouped together, so each new mini-game still generated that frantic feeling of 'oh no, what do they want me to do next!?'. The input methods were humourously named too, most in a self-explanatory way - The Dumbbell, The Samurai, The Big Cheese - though not anywhere near as amusing as the now perfected humour of the games themselves, which from what little we saw mostly included hula girls and elephants (though not at the same time, that would be silly).

All in though, we're not just looking forward to getting hold of the finished version of Smooth Moves, which of course we are, but our time with it did much to convince us that the Wii remote (at least, in the hands of a good developer) will be as intuitive and accurate an input device as any other that gamers have been given to use over the years.

Stephen Rowley
Staff Writer, Kikizo.com