Common Sense Note
WARIO WARE TWISTED! is as innocent, random, and irreverent as any show on the Nick Jr. TV lineup. There are butterflies to catch, bubbles to pop, and cats to help cross elevated planks. A few games involve cars falling off platforms or stick figures being crushed, but the imagery is too simplistic and unrealistic to effectively imitate violence.
Parents may want to make sure their kids don't play the game with the GBA plugged into a power outlet as the movement necessary to play might cause the plug to be yanked out of the wall. The action might get kids a little over-stimulated, and are likely to be frustrated trying to perfect the hand-eye coordination necessary to play. Parents may want to set a time limit before allowing their kids to play.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Kimberly Reyes
The evil and money-hungry Wario returns for his second GBA adventure with a plethora of new and weird micro games to keep players equally frustrated and amused. There's no real plot here besides the basic backstory explained in the intro: Wario and his friends invented tricky games to make them money; it's your job to figure out how to beat them -- and prove that you're smarter and quicker than Wario and his cronies.
Most of the games have the same basic structure (avoid something, jump over something, identify something, break something) but the zaniness of each particular situation -- and the speed of which the games come at you -- throw you off guard time and time again. For example, one minute you are shaving someone's face and the next, pulling on a roll of toilet paper.
As with the last game, players are given about four seconds to figure out how to complete the given tasks (like feeding a mouth, or keeping a pig behind a fence) and even less time to absorb the hilarity of the wacky scenarios before being given another command. But, really, having more time to complete the task would ruin the fun and shock value of jobs that range from guiding a hand to pick a nose or guiding food down a digestive system (not to worry -- these are funnier than they are gross).
Get ready to get moving: Instead of just quick thumb-numbing action, the bigger and bulkier Wario Ware Twisted game cartridge has a built-in gyro sensor to detect movement; this lets the GBA know when you are swinging the unit back and forth in accordance with the game's wacky demands.
This version is much more complicated than the original, and packs a lot more challenges inside. It starts off basic, and grows increasingly difficult (with a few reprieves). In addition to having to move the GBA unit around, a lot of the later levels involve both swinging and button pressing action and it gets very complicated trying to remember which games require which action in the blink of an eye.
The new "Spindex" feature helps to compensate for the added intensity. With this option you can go back and practice any particular game you've already played so that the next time it pops up you know what to expect. There is also a "Souvenir" section where all the goodies you win after you complete any Boss Stage (the last great challenge of any given round) are kept. Souvenirs range from wind-up music boxes to kaleidoscopes to new games utilizing the motion technology. There are substantially more goodies and surprises to unlock in this game when compared to the original (130 in all), which allows for more playing hours.
Overall, Wario Ware Twisted! is sure to suck in the kids, and is potentially just as enjoyable to adults. The game doesn't require any button memorization or have a real storyline to remember, so it's perfect for kids without a lot of video game experience.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentA woman must avoid tripping over rocks to run into the arms of a man -- that's about as heated as it gets. |
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ViolenceNo gore but stick figures can get squashed or hit with balls. |
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Social BehaviorWario and his griends are greedy -- but players work against them the whole time. |
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Educational ValueGreat hand-eye coordination practice, but no real academic learning takes place. |
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