WarioWare: Move It! Reviews
WarioWare: Move It! is another amusing entry in the series, with creative multiplayer modes making up for a roster of minigames that quickly become repetitive.
Nintendo serves up another bumper blink-and-you-lose blitz in WarioWare: Move It!, but the package is let down by the need to fumble with often-fussy motion controls.
WarioWare: Move It! is a complicated game to talk about, because at its heart the whole thing is so deceptively simple. You follow simple instructions presented on screen to stay alive and complete bizarre tasks, all of which are framed by adorable characters and fun stories which aren’t important, but remain stylish and lovable enough to ensure this cute package feels complete, despite its short campaign length and a reliance on local multiplayer to draw the most fun out of it. Nintendo has repeatedly said this is a full successor to Smooth Moves on the Wii, and I’d be lying if it doesn’t capture the same joy that comes from waggling WiiMotes around in my living room as a kid.
"I've loved letting go and embarrassing myself in the name of fun"
Following Get It Together and Game & Wario, Move It is the WarioWare game I’ve been waiting for over the last 15 years, and it mostly delivers. The motion-controlled madness gives you plenty of fun and novel experiences, even if a few stinkers are in the mix. Regardless of those, WarioWare: Move It’s catalog is full of microgames I look forward to revisiting for months to come.
WarioWare: Move It maintains the series' zany sense of humor and experimentation, but it often asks more than the Joy-Con motion controls can handle.
Your mileage with WarioWare: Move It will inevitably vary. What do you want from this game? If you want the classic microgames experience, it isn’t really here. If you want a killer multiplayer game to play with the family over the holiday season (assuming everyone is able-bodied), it’ll be ideal. I can’t wait to play this more with friends. But I don’t see any reason to boot it on my own again any time soon.
As comical and outlandish it remains, WarioWare: Move It! and its admirable attempt to add legitimacy to the Switch's motion controls result in an experience that's both inconsistent and at times simply all too unclear to work out. When it works, the ideas posed and the involvement needed do manage to draw a smile at the absurdity one is voluntarily offering, let alone being presented on-screen. If nothing else, the egocentric, narcissistic idea of Wario plastering his face across many a Microgame visual is still as satisfyingly-dumb as it's always been. But it's a feature so obviously mutual to the series across the board and while this latest entry attempts to be both familiar to fans of the series' prior Wii outing, while unique all the same, the failings of its motion control-reliant inputs at times land WarioWare: Move It! in an awkward spot of feeling neither wholly enjoyable nor a complete flop. There's fun to be had in parts -- Microgames at their best when they're both mechanically and visually a source of smiles. But in any way a worthy successor to Smooth Moves or even the handheld Touched all those years ago, this is not.
WarioWare: Move It! is another great entry in this long-running franchise that brings back the motion-controlled mayhem whilst giving you plenty of ways to enjoy its loony fun with family and friends. There are lots of fun modes to dig into and unlock here, the microgames are as daft and colourful as ever, and, as long as you can make peace with things not being quite as fun solo, it's really hard to knock the chaotically silly vibe of this most excellent party game.
WarioWare: Move It! is a hilarious, bonkers game that shouldn't be missed, and the best WarioWare title since Smooth Moves and the earlier handheld titles.
Wario seeks to sneak into all the parties with a game with fun mechanics and very crazy microgames that knows how to take advantage of the unique features of the Switch with great precision.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
WarioWare: Move It! is a lovely game. The variety of challenges is really wide, while the Story is perfect for getting into the mood of the game. I would have appreciated an online multiplayer mode, but still, I had a lot of fun.
Review in Italian | Read full review
WarioWare: Move It! recovers the crazy and irreverent essence of the series with a new installment that puts the entire weight of the gameplay on the JoyCon, and the absurd poses, with good results. Add multiplayer modes to bore, from Story mode to a variety of co-op and competitive experiences, and you've got FUN at its best.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Whether WarioWare: Move It ends up on your shelf is going to depend on how much you like motion controls. Those looking for a more traditional, button-based affair will want to stick with WarioWare: Get It Together. Those who want to enjoy a more physical activity that takes advantage of the Joy-Con controller's capabilities in a party setting will want to veer more in this direction. The Story Mode's samey structure and frenetic frustrations might turn a few players off, but the Party Mode rarely misses.
Most WarioWare fans will likely want to pull the trigger on this one, but I don’t blame you for being wary. There’s a lot of give and take here, especially with the heavy motion focus.
WarioWare: Move It! calls back to the early excitement of the Wii and motion controlled gaming. There's a ton of daft and inventive microgames here (with a slightly surprising amount of bum shaking), that's great for solo, co-op and multiplayer, but brace yourself for some wonky motion controls and fleetingly frustrating failures.
WarioWare: Move It! is a much-needed reset for a series that’s long struggled to hit the creative heights of its Nintendo Wii entry. A return to the physical fun of WarioWare: Smooth Moves is just what the doctor ordered, making for one last must-own Switch party game that’s not afraid to cut loose. Though it takes two steps forward, it's a step back from Get It Together’s most ingenious modes, leaving more space for Nintendo to perfect its wackiest series.
WarioWare: Move It! utilizes the Joy-Con to its full potential, delivering the quick-paced, quirky fun you'd expect from such a brilliant franchise. While Story mode is a blast, the game only offers a few hours of content outside its clever but somewhat disappointing multiplayer. Move It! won't replace a certain red-hatted plumber's party and family game staples any time soon, but Intelligent System's creativity is something to be applauded.
WarioWare games require precise controls to ensure their microgames can be navigated without frustration. Move It's motion controls introduce inaccuracies that are frequent enough to dampen the experience, turning what should be a brilliant game into merely a good one.
WarioWare: Move It! is a masterpiece of minimalist gameplay where a level is completed in a couple of seconds. Incredibly, all the more than two hundred challenges are very distinct from each other and all of fine quality, without any of them seeming to be added to make up the numbers. The Story Mode is already a lot of fun, but the challenges designed specifically for local multiplayer are small strokes of genius. All with a graphic design that highlights the insaneness of the production. At first, it's not so easy to understand what the various mini-games ask of us, but it's all a matter of practice.
Review in Italian | Read full review