Critical Reception: Nintendo's WarioWare D.I.Y.

This week's edition of Critical Reception examines online reaction to Nintendo's microgame creation title WarioWare D.I.Y., which reviews describe as "a potent tool for expression." WarioWare D.I.Y. currently earns a score of 86 out of 100 at Metacritic.com. IGN's Craig Harris rates WarioWare D.I.Y. at 9 out of 10. "It's obvious by now that the WarioWare series is Nintendo's license to let its game designers run wild with a very loose leash," he writes. "The untethered creativity has been something the WarioWare franchise has always embraced, from the GBA original to the DS and Wii follow-ups, and WarioWare D.I.Y. is pretty much the company handing over that creative license to the gamer." "WarioWare D.I.Y. encapsulates all the creative tools of Mario Paint and reproduces them in a versatile game creator," Harris explains. "You can animate game sprites and paint full backgrounds as well as create a short musical tune or stitch together a longer song. But most importantly, you're using those assets in game creation: you're building the same style of challenges that have been seen in previous WarioWare titles." WarioWare's simple, bite-sized challenges lend themselves well to user-created content. "Half the challenge is in figuring out what needs to be done by the single clue that pops up from the start," Harris notes. "It could be something simple like 'Start the car!' and you'd tap the key in the ignition, or you might have to 'Get the coins!' and you'd need to figure out that tapping a Super Mario block multiple times will get you the result you need." D.I.Y. creations won't be as complex as microgames featured in previous WarioWare titles, however. "To keep things a bit more streamlined WarioWare D.I.Y. only allows 'tap' based games," Harris warns. "So you won't be able to create challenges where you drag objects from one side of the screen to the other, nor will you be able to build games that use the D-pad or buttons of the Nintendo DS." Otherwise, Harris feels that D.I.Y. will help spark creativity in budding game designers. "This is the first time I found myself truly engrossed in the process of building a game from scratch because of how simple yet powerful it is," he says. "Sure, when all is said and done there's not much to a five to 10-second 'tap the screen' mini-game, but the fact that you can get something up and running and working in a short amount of time definitely fuels that sense of satisfaction and instant gratification." Justin Calvert at GameSpot scores D.I.Y. at 8 out of 10. "If you've ever had the desire to develop your own game, or you're someone who can't play an existing game without thinking about ways it could be improved, WarioWare DIY might be just the creative outlet that you've been looking for," he says. "It's true that these games are limited in scope and will be played for seconds rather than for hours, but getting them to play exactly as you want them to can still be an enjoyable challenge, and hey, even the world's best game designers had to start somewhere." Calvert notes that the game's setup seems daunting, initially. "Many of WarioWare DIY's included microgames need to be unlocked before you can play or reverse engineer them, and you need to spend time exploring all of the game's features in order to get all 90 of the games," he warns. "The menu system can take a little figuring out, but it makes a lot of sense once you spend some time with it." D.I.Y. contains lengthy tutorials to acquaint players with the basics of game design. "At the start of each freelance project you're presented with templates that clearly show what Wario is after, but you're also told that you're free to completely ignore the templates if you prefer," Calvert explains. "You might be asked to trace pictures of rabbits with and without crossed eyes to appear in a whack-a-mole-style game but instead opt to fill their roles with zombies whose heads cave in satisfyingly when you hit them, for example." Calvert continues: "The 'DIY 101' lessons are much more time-consuming but do a great (if occasionally long-winded) job of introducing you to the concepts of AI (action items), triggers, switches, win conditions, and the like as you're taken step-by-step through the creation of three microgames." "The included creation tools are user-friendly enough that anyone can work with them, but they're not so dumbed down that you feel like they're doing the work for you," Calvert concludes. "There's even more fun to be had solving design-related challenges for these games than there is playing them, so if you have even a passing interest in making your own games, you'd do well to pick up a copy." 1UP's Jeremy Parish gives WarioWare D.I.Y. a B+. "D.I.Y. takes an intrinsically complex concept and makes it simple and accessible," he writes. "In the process, it also employs the grammar of videogames to transform an unstructured toolbox for user expression into something that strongly resembles a game." Parish warns that the title's longevity depends entirely on the player's creative energy, however. "What you take away from WarioWare D.I.Y. is completely proportionate to what you invest into it," Parish explains. "If all you want is a collection of quick, amusing microgames in the traditional WarioWare fashion, prepare to be disappointed; D.I.Y. contains less than 100 microgames, which isn't really all that many more than were included in WarioWare Snapped! -- an inexpensive, downloadable DSiWare title." "Granted, D.I.Y. does ship on a special high-capacity cartridge that offers room for something like 90 more minigames," Parish continues, "but even so it's hardly the meatiest chapter in the series." However: "Despite these drawbacks and caveats, D.I.Y. is genuinely incredible," Parish assures. "It's about one step removed from bare-ass-naked programming, dependent on building scripts and objects and relationships and event flags and even assembling your own graphics and music, but Nintendo has managed to make it feel whimsical and unintimidating despite the innate complexity of the process of game creation." "Nintendo has created a potent tool for expression here," Parish praises. "Creativity often thrives under the most severe limitations, and those who relish the opportunity to entertain others (or even just themselves) in videogame form will love WarioWare D.I.Y."