WarioWare: Touched! Review

Let's face it: the first couple of launch games for the DS weren't that good. The biggest one, Super Mario 64 DS, while fun, was just a demonstration of the graphical power of the DS. No game for a few months was a real must-have for the system... until WarioWare: Touched came around.

This game had a lot to live up for: not only was the first WarioWare for GBA a killer app for the system, it was one of the most innovative games of the decade. So, hence the title, the game uses the DS' Touch Screen and its other features. For those who are new to the series, WarioWare is the ultimante ADD game. It throws at you a random game that lasts 4-8 seconds. In that time period, you have to do a certain task, for example: there's a guy and a girl apart from each other. A small message says "Hook up!", so you have to draw a line to connect them, and the game is beat. When you re-encounter the same game later on, it gets harder by placing objects between the guy and the girl, and the timing in which you have to do it speeds up drastically. You only have 4 lives, and when you loose a game, you loose a life. Every 10 microgames or so, a Boss Stage appears, which lasts much longer than the other microgames. They are usually more complicated and harder, but if you beat them, you get an extra life. This is the perfect pick-up and play game, where you can play for 3 minutes or 3 hours at a time.

Each of Touched's 180 Microgames is split up into different sections, hosted by different people. One batch may require you to make circles on the Touch Screen for each of the games, the other may having you do slicing motions with the Stylus. The most enjoyable ones, though, are 9-Volt's games, which are all based off Retro Nintendo games. Some microgames are insanely strange, bizzare, and hilarious, which adds to the fun-filled time you'll have with the game.

Beating certain objectives in the game unlocks you different applications, which are almost similar to most of the freeware stuff on Apple's own App Store. Like that, they probably won't hold your interest for over 2 minutes, but some games (like the Pyroro Challenge) take good advantage of the Touch Screen and are insanely addictive.

The Graphics are excellent, and are a massive improvement over the GBA games. The music is infectiously catchy, and the game even features full-length tracks that are sung beautifully (like Ashley's Theme). The voice acting is spot-on, too, without being too obnoxious.

Like the other WarioWares, though, this game suffers from the problem of being far too short. The Story Mode won't take a seasoned gamer over a day to complete, but the game makes up for it with its replay value: playing each section over again until you've unlocked all the games for it. Also, the unskippable Story Mode cutscenes last far too long and can drag on.

VERDICT
Gameplay: There are barely any games that are a dud, and are very fun to play and replay. 9.5
Graphics: Uses both the handheld's 2D and 3D to a beautiful effect. 9.0
Audio: Beats you'll be bopping your head to in seconds. 9.0
Overall: Besides DIY, this is easilly the best entry in the series. If you want a break from all other games, this should be a must-buy on your list.
9.25 out of 10