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Wario: Master of Disguise

EMAIL PRINT ds

8.5 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 11 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Suzak

Genre(s): Action, Platform

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older)

Release Date: March 5, 2007

Summary

When Wario sees a TV series about a thieving master of disguises, he dives through the television screen, steals the theif's quick-change wand and takes over the entire show. Episode after episode, he breaks into exotic locations, such as a luxury liner, watery ruins and an Egyptian pyramid. Draw Wario's 8 disguises: By sketching a symbol on Wario, the player puts Wario in outfits that give him powers, such as Theif Wario's tackles and Cosmic Wario's laster blasts. The player also uses the stylus to wield powers. Explore enviornments: Wario travels the globe in ten missions that span nine exotic locations. The player must attack many enemies found in each location and also use Wario's disguises to get past puzzling obstacles. Play mini-games to unlock chests: To pick the lock of each chest, the player must play one of eight stylus-driven mini-games that grow more difficult as the game progresses. [Nintendo]

Cheat Codes & Hints: GameSpot Hints & Cheats

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Play Magazine

This is one(more)DS game not to be missed. [Apr 2007, p.59]

G4 TV

Master of Disguise is a textbook on using the touch-screen to revamp traditional genres -- fans of off-beat action games are going to love it.

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GameBrink

Due to a few gameplay hiccups here and there and some rather boring gameplay in other spots Wario doesn’t quite approach greatness. It’s a good fun diversion for those who like the platformer/puzzle/Metroid hybrid but all others can probably skip it. [JPN Import]

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Yahoo! Games

Its use of the DS touchscreen is innovative, despite its handful of control issues. Platformers don't always have to be walks in the park, and it's rare to have one challenge you this much mentally.

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GameSpy

Precisely what you'd expect from Wario: tons of juvenile, yet still pretty funny, scatological humor and some passable minigames. What saves it from mediocrity is the fact that it is actually really challenging.

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Game Informer

These minigames are passable at first, but the fact that you have to complete one every single time you open a chest will have you questioning whether any treasure is worth this constant hassle.

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Thunderbolt

Although one could classify Wario: Master of Disguise as a platformer, I'd say it has more in common with a puzzle-genre game. Apart from the boss encounters, there isn't a lot of action here.

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AceGamez

If the game ran as smoothly and perfectly as I am sure it was intended to then it would have been superb, worthy of an eight or nine.

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Official Nintendo Magazine UK

One for the Wario hardcore only. [June 2007, p.95]

GamingExcellence

I somehow can't seem to put the game down. Its one redeeming quality is that it's so incredibly addictive. The controls are brutal at times, but the game is creative and enough of a new experience that it makes the game feel like something fresh.

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Cheat Code Central

Just think of it as a new challenging adventure with one your favorite characters and new "stylus skills" added.

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NGamer UK

Plenty of typically interesting Wario ideas in another original and amusing platformer, but it's spoiled by a deeply uncomfortable and annoying control system. [Apr 2007, p.54]

Da Gameboyz

With good visuals, good sound and average gameplay, this title’s overall score is hurt by some poor implementation of the touch screen functionality, which just did not do [as] good as job as it could [have].

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Nintendo Power

Despite its shortcomings, Master of Disguise managers to deliver a moderately enjoyable platforming romp. [Apr 2007, p.86]

GamePro

The gameplay stays varied throughout, but Master of Disguise ends up feeling a little gimmicky due to uninteresting characters, plot, environments and graphics.

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Games Master UK

A few nice ideas are let down by an overenthusiastic DS control scheme. [June 2007, p.69]

GameSpot

A passable puzzler, but it lacks polish, and the touch-screen controls weren't necessary.

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IGN

Not particularly a very good Nintendo release. Its design might attempt a DS-specific presentation, but the implementation of the touch screen elements is so amateurish with concepts that wouldn't have flown in the early part of the Nintendo DS system's life cycle.

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Modojo

Level design, enemy design, and damn near every other category of this game are in short, unimpressive.

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Pocket Gamer UK

It's not that the Emperor has no clothes, but in Master of Disguise, Wario's garb looks distinctly threadbare, despite some cute ideas.

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GameTrailers

It looks like Wario should stick to minigame compilations, after all.

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Zentendo

It’s a shame to see great anti-heroes fall to such depths.

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NTSC-uk

Wario's a greedy so-and-so, and he goes to a lot of trouble to get what he wants. Master of Disguise is an enjoyable diversion which some will enjoy, but you have to question whether Wario's elaborate scheme was really worth bothering with in the first place.

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Deeko

All in all, Wario: Master of Disguise was a game that attempted to bring something new to the table, but instead faltered and broke along the way.

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NintendoWorldReport

While Master of Disguise may look like a Wario platformer on the surface, the game is plagued by terrible pacing, obfuscated level design, and unsatisfying controls. If you're not going to do a Wario game right, Nintendo, don't do it at all.

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Game Almighty

[A] less than stellar adventure.

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Game Revolution

Discovering and learning to use the different disguises keeps Wario: Master of Disguise exciting for a few levels. But once the novelty wears off, there’s really nothing to keep you interested in the game.

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GameDaily

Wario: Master of Disguise could have been a huge leap forward for Nintendo's anti-hero. Instead, it ends up as a low-grade, tiresome platformer, knocking the series almost completely off course.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

If there’s one thing that can’t be doubted, it’s Wario’s credentials as a Master of Disguise – he’s managed to take a sub-par puzzle-platformer, and make it look like an inventive spin on a well-worn genre. Sadly, this particular disguise doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

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Electronic Gaming Monthly

It's a decent enough action-platforming romp, sure, but it's clearly not the product of the real Wario crew. [May 2007, p.87]

games(TM)

Perhaps the biggest letdown of all is that Wario’s mischievous side is never allowed to flourish with few opportunities to create havoc in Kaitou Wario The Seven’s sprawling levels. [JPN Import; Apr 2007, p.108]

Eurogamer

The sad fact is that there isn't a single spark of imagination or joy in this entire game. Despite some obvious effort, Wario: Master of Disguise is just utterly tedious in every respect and an absolute chore to play.

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Edge Magazine

There’s a desperate lack of innovation on display here; nondescript levels based around ice caves, pyramids and inevitable Mayan temples. The boring locations exacerbate the sneaking feeling that the levels, which can easily take an hour or longer to finish, are simply too large. [JPN Import; Mar 2007, p.81]

1UP

Poorly made platformers were a big part of the 8- and 16-bit eras, too, so maybe things are just coming full circle. Fortunately, most of us still remember how not to spend our money on crap like this.

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Sydney Morning Herald

Apart from being tediously simple and lacking variety, the challenges have absolutely no tension, because failure just means you have to try again.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Christoffer L gave it a6:
This is the weirdest wario game ever made, and I hardly love it. Only 10 unreplayable episodes, bosses without challenge (except Sprinx wanting you to solve 3 riddles, that part was annoying) and the system of the crests is kinda pointless, but still fun. The story is not bad or good, there was only one primary goal: collect all 5 pieces of the wishstone and wish for all treasures in the world. Some of the disguise symbols are pretty hard for the system to regonize, like almost everytime I'm about to change my self to Cosmic Wario, the game thinks I want to become Arty Wario even if I draw the circle perfect. The game is fun and feels very well to finally solve a problem you find yourself stuck in, but after completing the whole game, theres an little bonus: gather all treasures and complete the 5 extra episodes, NO THANKS, I just wanted to complete the game.

Colin C gave it a9:
Okay, my first 30 minutes with this game, I thought it was awful. Graphics seemed subpar and story seemed stupid. 30 minutes later, I was starting to enjoy myself more. 30 minutes after that, I was hooked. I've been playing games for 25 years and I've never gone from hating to loving a game like this. And having played the game through to the end, I'm amazed at some of the low critic scores and reviews. It makes me think that maybe they stopped playing it in the first 30 minutes. I found the stylus controls for changing disguises worked wonderfully. Yes, some of the minigames aren't topnotch (and especially start off way too easy, but they do get harder near the end.), but the level design and story really pull you and and keep getting better and better. It was the boss fights that first hooked me, and then as I got more powers and the level design started requiring me to be more inventive about how I used them, I really started digging this game. I don't this this game has sold well (just based on the number of user votes here) and that's a crying shame. I own both a psp and a ds, and this is some of the most fun I've had on a handheld. (Other favorites include every Advanced Wars game, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Papaton, and Zelda The Phantom Hourglass.)

PurpleWind gave it a9:
This game is fantastic. Nowhere else will you find a platformer that makes you think and solve puzzles like this one. the story might no be high-brow, but it's WARIO would you expect a classy or even classic story? It's just Wario in one of his better adventures. The Costumes add to the challenge with each change bringing abilities used to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles. Master of Disguise is a great adventure that is worth a look. "The Purple wind, silent but deadly. Smell it!"

Alex S. gave it a10:
I love this game it is so cool even though it can get hard in several parts. And I'm only on A Third Thief Brings Grief Level 4 but it is still awesome.

Tony G. gave it a0:
pure poop... touch controls are horrible and boring. nintendo needs to focus more on the game than gimmicky control. horrendous.

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Wario: Master of Disguise

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What The Critics Said

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