Wario: Master of Disguise

"It's pretty clear from the get-go that WMD isn't the work of the usual Wario crew (who is presumably far too busy coming up with new WarioWare concepts to revisit their mundane platformer roots). Gone is the Wario Land series' graphical finesse, its quirky sound design, its gorgeous music, and its unconventional gameplay. Oh, and its ability to get right to the action -- WMD is bloated with story. And not good story, either. A trite, uninteresting story full of fart jokes. And don't even ask about the lame nods to WarioWare that come in the form of constant minigames. And not good minigames, either. Trite, repetitive minigames designed for preschoolers."

"Wario: Master of Disguise is not a bad game. I've played far worse, and for all its flaws this one can sit comfortably on the positive side of the scoring scale. It's just that Master of Disguise is not particularly a very good Nintendo release. Its design might attempt a DS-specific presentation, but the implementation of the touch screen elements is so amateurish with concepts that wouldn't have flown in the early part of the Nintendo DS system's life cycle. Nintendo-published games are supposed to be the cream of the handheld crop. This one's a bit of the lumpy sludge instead."

"Due to a few gameplay hiccups here and there and some rather boring gameplay in other spots Wario doesn’t quite approach greatness. It’s a good fun diversion for those who like the platformer/puzzle/Metroid hybrid but all others can probably skip it."

"Wario: Master of Disguise is a passable puzzler, but it lacks polish, and the touch-screen controls weren't necessary."

"Wario: Master of Disguise is precisely what you'd expect from Wario: tons of juvenile, yet still pretty funny, scatological humor and some passable minigames. What saves it from mediocrity is the fact that it is actually really challenging. Each level is a puzzle packed with a Russian nesting doll of other smaller puzzles (and minigames), so you can expect hours of frustrating befuddlement (in a good way, though). In addition, it use of the stylus to do just about everything feels inventive and new. If you're looking for something to occupy your time on the bus, you could do far worse than Wario: Master of Disguise."