Game - Warioware Touched (DS)
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   195 of 392 readers found this review helpful.

Wario shines on the new handheld

Ah, the poor DS. Not quite a gameboy, more like a teeny N64. Where will it define itself?

The stylus and mic certainly set it apart from other handhelds, and Warioware Touched shows the capabilities of these two tools. Game developers can look to this game for control options on future carts.

But...I'm not here to tell devs how to do their jobs. I'm here to play the hell out of this game and tell you about it.

And play the hell out of it I did. Normally I get many months of pleasure out of handheld games because it's rare that I have time to play them (if I'm at home, I'm on a console). Touched was an exception. I couldn't put this game down! To unlock all the extra goodies takes a while (you need to work through the pitifully small storyline to open up all the characters, then replay them until you've gone through all their mini-games to get all the cool toys) and some of them bordered on frustrating.

The games are categorized by action (blowing games are all together, as are circular stylus motions, scribbling, slashing et cetera) and there are a few characters that mix and match, which makes for a daunting task indeed. In a 3 second window you need to determine if the stylus or mic are to be used, and then how to solve each riddle. There are about 180 games, ranging from using the stylus to unroll a roll of TP to blowing up balloons via the mic to tapping on the screen to kill bugs. One highlight was the "old school" section, some classic NES games were used and adapted to the stylus. Granted, you only get to play in 3 second bursts, but it was good to see the old hits!

Touched easily blows the previous Warioware games away. The combination stylus/mic play is FAR superior to the button mashing predecessors...and it's always nice to have a game that your non gamer friends can pick up and play.

The graphics are cutsie, but clean. The music, while repetitive, is catchy. As you work your way through each different level, the speed increases, and the music speeds up as well creating a higher level of tension. It's like taking a 33RPM record and spinning it with your finger to about 5 times its normal speed. *For you kids out there, do a little research on LPs to catch my drift* It should have been annoying, but since it's only in 3-5 second bursts, it was somewhat funny!

Another nice feature, in the options you can set it for left handed or right handed play. Southpaws should dig this feature!

I'm quite pleased with the game, it's amusing, funny, and is something both my five year old and I can both enjoy. I am going to ding it a whole can on the pricing however. This should have been released as a $29.99 game (which is still obscene, but meh, what can you do) instead of $34.99.

This definitely should be a staple in any DS collection.
4 solid cans out of 5

Added:  Saturday, April 09, 2005

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