Wario Land is a pretty good game with a unique control scheme, however it is very easy and extremely short to boot.
Story wise, it's like every single side-scrolling platformer back in the day. An evil king has taken over a kingdom, imprisoned the inhabitants, stole their treasure and kidnapped their queen. Pretty much, one of the inhabitants escaped, found Wario by accident and begged for him to save his people in exchange for their treasure. That's Wario Land: Shake It as a whole.
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THE GOOD (+)
Gameplay wise, Shake It plays identical to the way games of this caliber did on the NES. Holding the Wiimote sideways, you control Wario's movements via the D-Pad, jump with the '2' button and perform a short yet powerful shoulder-dash attack to eradicate enemies with the '1' button. Combining the action commands will allow Wario to perform an upward dash giving him more of an edge to make the more difficult jumps that his normal one cannot perform. They are other abilities that he has such as the Ground Pound, completely identical to Mario's version. But there's more behind Wario's arsenal than what meets the eyes.
The one thing that makes Shake It unique are the Wii's motion sensor features inserted into the game. Wario's powerful is showcased via a simple shake of the Wiimote, allowing him to execute a ground punch with earthquake proportions that stuns enemies and unlocks paths blocked as well. Also walking up to stunned enemies or money bags will make Wario grab them automatically. Proceeding to shake the Wiimote constantly will drain major currency that is needed for progressing through the game and garlic that replenishes your health. Not to mention you can hold the '1' button and aim enemies or other specific items by tilting the Wiimote as if you were wielding a gun. They are other functions that I will not be explaining in this review, though let's just say they are very useful during your progress.
Wario Land: Shake It is presented, visually, in a style reminiscent to Japanese animation which greatly shows in the game itself. Not to mention it has a unique charm of humor that Wario has been known for. Whether it be Wario burning in flames (in a comical way mind you), taking hits or pulling off specific tasks, Wario will do something that would get a laugh out of you. Not to mention how crisp the visuals are in the background. Though to me graphics mean jack in videogames.
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THE BAD (-)
The one thing that hurts Wario Land: Shake It is its length. It is a VERY short game which can easily be beaten within 12 hours or even less, especially if you speed run the game too. Short games are a bit disappointing, especially if the gameplay is really good whereas longer ones get very tedious and repetitive. If the game had the same length as Super Mario World then yes, I would not have mind that type of length. Other than that, no. The short length really hurts Wario Land: Shake It and it makes the game feel like it would work a lot more on the DS than on the Wii.
Second thing that hurts the game: how relatively easy it is to breeze through the game. It's as if this game was mostly made for people who have NEVER touched a video game in their life. Understandable enough, though the game should have been better if they added at least a little bit of a challenge to it. Sure they have specific challenges for each level but those are just there for perfectionists, so pretty much no challenge in a relatively easy game.
And finally, the motion sensor controls make the game feel more like it is a gimmick more than anything else. I understand that the Wii has motion abilities though using them to perform certain tasks such as controlling a mine cart by tilting the Wiimote to match the movements. Just limiting them to just shaking items/enemies and performing the earthquake punch.
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Wario Land: Shake It stands true to the platformers of old with stiff controls, good gameplay and a unique charm along with light hearted humor for everyone to enjoy. However, the length plus the lack of difficulty along with the somewhat gimmicky motion controls does not the game look worthwhile.
I recommend renting this game first before purchasing.