Weird microgames? Strange storyline? Fun to play just the same? Sounds a bit like WarioWare Touched!
User Rating: 7.8 | WarioWare: Touched! DS
My foray into the somewhat different world of the Nintendo DS began with WarioWare Touched! For someone who has never played any WarioWare games, it was quite an eye-opener, but quite good fun just the same. :) The Gameplay in WarioWare Touched! is fairly simple to pick up, even for someone who has never played a single game on the DS before - like myself for instance. Those of you who are unfamiliar with the WarioWare games will find yourself playing quite a few "microgames", which are usually quite simple - but often quite amusing and strangely addictive - tasks you need to achieve within a short period of time. The microgames are packaged up with a certain character within the game, such as Wario himself, or other amusing characters such as 9 volt or Dr Crygor. Each character has a short story associated with their games, such as battling aliens in a Karaoke competition, or chasing a monkey that has stolen some bananas. In addition to a given story, each character's games have a style associated with them. For example, Wario's games generally involve tapping on the Touch Screen with the stylus, whereas Mike's involve blowing into the microphone, and Ashley's involve dragging things across the screen. Now, with the exception of Mike's games, every other game relies on the Stylus and Touch Screen. For a new player, this will involve a certain amount of confusion until you figure out how to use these tools effectively, but it's fairly easy to pick up. I found this to be quite a good introduction to the whole concept of using the Touch Screen for playing games, but got a bit concerned when playing some of the higher levels as I was worried I was gonna drive the stylus through the screen while I was trying to pop a (seemingly) infinite number of balloons! :) Finishing a characer's story unlocks new characters to play with and also some kind of strange toy to play with in the Toy Room. These toys will vary from the amusing to the downright weird - for example, what's a Grandma simulator? A second playing through each character's games will enable you to unlock a second toy should you pass a given level, usually somewhere between 20 and 30 for a given character. So after a time, you build up quite a supply of weird and wonderful toys to play with, in addition to the microgames themselves. An added bonus is the Album feature, where you can replay any individual microgame that you have already played during a story. This can get quite frantic at times, particularly when you're on the edge of your seat, waiting for the brief seconds that you will be getting to complete the task in front of you. Although there is some variety in each level of the selected microgame, it does get a lil' bit repetitive after a while. Having said that, there is some strange satisfaction in completing Level 60 of a given game and then having a quiet lie down to recover. :D One question though - where's the multiplayer part? One of the big drawcards of the Nintendo DS is the ability to play wireless multiplayer games. WarioWare Touched! doesn't seem to have that capability at all, which was a bit disappointing. Sure, you can play Table Tennis with a friend, but that is with both of you using the same console. It doesn't take away much from the game, but would have been an interesting addition. The sounds and music in the game aren't bad. The music in between each level tends to get a bit repetitive after a while, particularly when you're going for those second toys for each character. However, inside each microgame you will usually find a cheery lil' ditty playing away, with one or two exceptions where there is simply silence. But for the most part, there is a decent amount of silly noises and cutesy tunes happening whenever you play a game. The only problem with that is that even if you find one that you like, it's over a lil' too fast given the short length of each microgame. The game itself felt a bit short for my liking. Now don't get me wrong, I quite enjoyed all the slicing and stabbing and popping and dragging and other weird and wonderful things involved. I also found a lot of the games to be quite amusing, and a lot of them got a chuckle from me. So I enjoyed the game itself quite a lot. It just seemed a bit easy to wade through all the character's stories and even unlock their second toys. The Album feature allows some replay value for the microgames you enjoyed the most, and even some that you didn't. This extends the play time of the game somewhat, as you earn yourself some lil' flower type things for achieving a given level within each game, but I am unsure as to what this ultimately earns you. Overall? If you're looking for a good introduction to the Touch Screen, and enjoy playing some amusing, sometimes quite silly, but also strangely addictive games, then check out WarioWare Touched! It's well worth a look, but I'd probably suggest a rental at first. If you enjoy it, then go ahead and buy it! I know I did. :D 
