A true hybrid of platforming, action and puzzle games that works on many levels.
The object of the game is to unlock passages surrounding the Golden Pyramid in order to collect gems and treasures in order to ultimately save Princess Shokora by defeating the Golden Diva who has turned her into a cat. The game is subdivided into six areas. The first is called the Entry Passage and is simply a tutorial which does a nice job of describing the various controls in the game. The next four--the Emerald, Topaz, Ruby, and Sapphire Passages--are the meat of the game. The Emerald Passage is the least difficult and the Sapphire Passage is the most but they can be played in any order. Each of these stages is subdivided into four levels of increasing difficulty and finished w/ a boss stage.
How well you do on the bosses affects the ending of the game so it is worth taking time on the other levels to collect gems which allow you to play mini-games in each passage to earn medals which you can use to buy power-ups to help defeat each level's boss. (You are allowed to replay the bosses after beating the game if you did not get a perfect score the first time around.) There are two difficulty levels, normal and hard to begin w/ and super hard mode can be unlocked by beating hard mode. Even the normal difficulty level is tough enough to be satisfying but the extra difficulty settings and the incentive to finish a perfect game provide this w/ great replayability, which is a very good thing because it is simply a joy to play.
For one, the graphics are excellent. Bright and colorful, they are artistically done in something of an anime style and they work well even compared to technically far superior games which have been released in the decade in between the original release of this game and the writing of this review. The sound is good too w/ catchy songs, some even including vocals, and varied effects which change depending on the environment Wario is in at any given moment.
The controls are tight and responsive and only rarely frustrating. In addition to the standard controls, there are enemies that will change Wario into nearly a dozen different forms like a bat or a snowball which are required to enter certain parts of certain levels. Unlike it the last two Wario Land games, Wario can be killed, though this will happen very few times to even a moderately experienced gamer playing on normal difficulty. His mortality is represented by a life meter which can be replenished by collecting hearts. Aside from the puzzles, most of the challenge here is created by tough enemies rather than tricky time jumps, which makes Wario Land 4 feel like an action game as much as it does a platformer. In each level you must explore and collect four gem pieces and a Keyzar, which is a bird w/ a key for a beak, that opens up the next stage on each level. For most of this, you can take your time but at the end of each level you must stomp on a frog-shaped switch which activates an entryway back to the passage which you only a limited amount of time to reach before losing life and eventually dying. That sometimes some gem pieces or Keyzars can only be collected after this switch is activated adds depth to what is already a formidable challenge.
In the end, this experience proves to be another fun and unique game, even compared to the rest of the series which is unique in its own right. Fans of the series might be disappointed that it diverges from the formula of the last two games but the new timed action elements will easily make up for that for most people. I recommend this for anyone who enjoys puzzles or 2D sidescrollers and highly recommend it for fans of both.