Wario Land: Shake It! -- Final Opinion.

Just like with Viva Pinãta I'm not entirely complete with Wario Land: Shake It! but I'm offering up my final opinion. I think I've done all I'm going to do with the game for now because I just need to at least make some sort of attempt at getting out on top of this avalanche of seasonal titles before suffocating entirely. I've completed the main game with one-hundred percent treasures and challenges complete. That leaves the extra hidden levels mainly untouched. Shake It is an exceptionally pretty game with its cartoon level high quality animation. But that's not a lot if the gameplay isn't there. The gameplay is there. It's backed up with perfect controls, even with the Wii gimmickry taken into account. The game has been getting some criticism for its uninspired linear level design. Given how the challenges are set up and how they're actually to be considered the main course of the game, I have no problems with the level design. I don't need the freedom to explore to nowhere in Shake It. The game features an amazing soundtrack that walks the wonderfully bizarre line between '70's exploitation film score and '70's after school special  and or movie of the week. The game barely has a story. Wario is greedy, so he's tricked into doing something, the end. Wario is fun in the old fashioned way. It feels like a 16-bit game, in the best possible way. Again, I hope this one will get strong word of mouth and generate the slow burn sales to being a hit. Somehow I doubt it with this one though. And that's a shame. We need more of these types of games. Wario Land: Shake It! is a successful return to the 16-bit era. I'm giving it an 8.5.