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Wario Land 3 review

Game: Wario Land 3
Platform: Game Boy Color
Genre: Action (Platformer)
Developer: Nintendo

Reader review by jaksiel

Date unavailable

Nintendo has given us yet another game that proves that they don’t mess up games starring their franchise characters. Wario Land 3 is an addictive game that has sucked many enjoyable hours out of my life.

STORY: 4/10
I personally don’t like the story in Wario Land 3. As it goes, Wario is sucked into a music box and a hidden figure asks him to collect five other music boxes, with Wario being able to keep any treasure he collects along the way. Sure, he gets treasure, but helping someone else out doesn’t seem to be in Wario’s character.

GRAPHICS: 10/10
Nintendo developed Wario Land 3 only for the Game Boy Color (GBC), and it shows. In my opinion, Wario Land 3 has the best graphics of any GBC game on the market. They are bright enough so you can clearly see what is going on, but they’re not so bright that it hurts your eyes. You can easily tell what’s going on and everything seems sized just about right. Wario himself retains his normal attire, and the enemies look either comical or imposing.

SOUND: 6/10
Yet another game proves that the GBC doesn’t have the greatest sound capabilities. The sound is passable, but not that great. The background music of great games stays in your mind hours after turning the game off. This simply does not happen in Wario Land 3. To WL3’s credit though, the background music is not so annoying that you turn it off. The sound effects are in the same boat. They do the job, but there’s nothing memorable.

GAMEPLAY/CONTROL: 9/10
The basics remain from previous Wario Lands in terms of control: A Jumps, and B Attacks. Unlike Wario Land II though, those are the only two moves you have until getting some powerups. As for the gameplay, the basics are that you enter an area, find a key, and then find the chest that matches the key color. All in all, there are 25 different areas spread through four “worlds”: North, West, South, and East. It’s very simple moving between the worlds. You can either find the path that connects to the next world from your current world, or even simpler, you can press Select and then choose next map (either to the right or left). There are 3 different kinds of items to be found in the treasure chests. As mentioned before, there are the 5 music boxes that the figure requested. Then there are 9 powerups that give Wario new moves, thereby granting access to places he couldn’t go before. The other 86 treasures either do nothing (d’oh!) or, by themselves or with other treasures, open up new areas for Wario to explore. Which brings us to another point: the fact that when you start the game, not everything is available to you. I hope you don’t expect to go in the first level and get all four treasures, because that’s not how it works. Sometimes you’ll see a key and/or chest that you simply won’t be able to reach for the time being. There’s one other important factor in Wario Land 3: whether you’ve entered the level during the day or night. Don’t take that to mean that it depends on whether you play WL3 during the day or night...this isn’t Pokémon Gold or Silver. All it is is that if you’re in a level that’s during the day, the next level will be during the night, and vice versa. That’s all there is to it. Alternatively, once you get the Day/Night Tile (one of the treasures) you can change between night and day at will by pressing select and then A on the Day/Night Tile. Within the levels, one innovation from Wario Land 2 remains: You are invincible. YOU CAN’T DIE (well, except for on the final boss)! Despite this, WL3 is not by any means an easy game. First of all, there are still enemies that can turn Wario into things like Fat Wario, Zombie Wario, and Yarn Wario. Sometimes that is needed to get further in the level; other times it’s just a hassle. Second of all, being invincible doesn’t mean you know what to do. It can take you literally hours to figure out just how to get to a treasure. That’s right, it’s a GAME BOY game that requires you to use your BRAIN. Strange concept, huh? At least you’ll be having fun during those hours...until playing a level for the sixth or seventh time and still being stuck. Lastly, there are still bosses. Although they’re not able to kill you (again, except for the final boss) they are very annoying. Typically, if you get hit by a boss it changes you into a different form of Wario and makes you leave the boss encounter to a different point in the level, thereby forcing you to access the boss all over again. The bosses also suffer from the challenge factor. Some of them you can’t figure out how to hit them for a while. One other thing affects your progress through a level. Sometimes you’ll come to a block that says “Mini-Game Clear” that is blocking your path. This means you have to find a Mini-Game door and play a Game. And that game is...(drumroll please)...golf! Well, not golf in the traditional sense. Wario has either 3, 4, or 5 tries to kick a dead enemy into a hole. Once you succeed, the block will rise providing you with access to deeper in the level. On the whole, you will remember fondly the time you spent with WL3 while trying to fall asleep at night...and you’ll be trying to figure out how to get past the part where you’re stuck.

REPLAY: 9/10
Replay is actually high, which is amazing for a game of this type. For one thing, if you go through the game, you’ll discover that only 50 treasures are actually necessary to get to the final boss. This leaves 50 more treasures for you to locate after beating the game. Then, once getting all 100 treasures, you’ll get a screen that says “Perfect!” and you’ll open up Time Attack Mode. This is a mode where you try to get all four keys within a level and then leave the level as fast as possible. Finally, you’ll have access to four 5-hole golf courses to practice and perfect if you so choose.

RENT/BUY: BUY!!!
Wario Land 3 is not a game that can be beaten in a week. It takes time and effort, so you’ll need to purchase it to get the most out of the wondrous title.

OVERALL: 91/100
I wanted to give Wario Land 3 a higher score very badly, but the sheer difficulty at times forced me to drop it down to a 9. But unless you’re a gamer without the patience to search around for what you need, WL3 is a must-buy if you own a GBC.

Rating: 9/10

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