WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania

You've woken up late for work. You shower in seconds, scoff your Corn Flakes, brush your teeth, run to the station and jump on the train as the doors close. Then you notice the commuter girl sat opposite has snot protruding out of a nostril. You wish she'd sniff it back in or wipe it, but feel powerless to make her do so.

Not so in WarioWare, Inc. Here, a few button presses and the offending mucus would be safely back inside her nose, just as the cereal bowl would have been empty in three spoonfuls and your teeth gleaming in two strokes. But the nasal drip is as good an indication of the game's nature as any.

WarioWare is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it, fast-paced procession of some 200 minigames, the majority lasting no longer than three or four seconds, which involve the most mundane of activities (for example, correctly administering eyedrops) along with the odd excursion into the more surreal (build up a Plasticine man before a rock squashes him, say). The mini-games are divided into levels, in which you have four lives to make it to, and beat, the final 'boss' round before opening further levels.

The variety and manner in which the challenges are randomly mixed, combined with a bewildering cadence, is fundamental to WarioWare's unique flavour, but the game's core attraction remains its staggering simplicity. With most tasks rarely requiring more than a single button press - they are, fundamentally, straightforward reaction tests - anyone can play WarioWare. And given the addictiveness, everyone will want to. Whether it's to beat your high scores or open up new areas of play (a multitude of bonus games, including classic puzzle favourite Dr Wario and a series of two-player original offerings, can be accessed by completing the main game mode), everyone inevitably returns to WarioWare, Inc. for one more go.

WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania

Whirlwind paced, utterly addictive, uniquely fun and relentlessly playable.
Score
Joao Diniz Sanches
Joao Diniz Sanches
With three boys under the age of 10, former Edge editor Joao has given up his dream of making it to F1 and instead spends his time being shot at with Nerf darts. When in work mode, he looks after editorial projects associated with the Pocket Gamer and Steel Media brands.