Life's tough when you're the middle child - just ask Wario. After twenty agonising years of playing second fiddle to everybody's favourite dungaree-ed duo, Wario's fighting back. That's right, good old Wario has something special hidden up his sleeves; the royal flush to Mario's paltry hand, if you will. And it's not just those garlic-scented, sweaty pits either. Don't you see? Wario has a sense of humour! With all the pretentious ramblings, fine wines and die-rolling formalities of Mario's parties, it's always been Wario's place to get the Mushroom Kingdom buzzing like Pete Doherty's head on a Monday morning. One of these days, Wario's bash is going to get so wild that Toad's going to wake up surrounded by a plethora of hungover Toadettes, Peach is going to have to confess her addiction to magic mushrooms and poor old Yoshi's going to have to book an appointment at the Nurse Joy Family Planning Clinic...

And you know what? Today looks to be that day, because if there's one word to describe WarioWare: Smooth Moves, it'd be "wild"! Never mind that big "7+" on the box - that's nonsense. Wario's latest offering of the popular WarioWare franchise is crazy enough to make even TV nutter Bam Margera steam from the ears with envy. In fact, you almost have to question whether the developers were smoking dried Bowser scales during the production of Smooth Moves, because this is by far the most insane WarioWare yet - and if the absolutely mental microgames don't convince you (shredding a mobile phone with a cheese grater anyone?) the crazy Wii controls most certainly will. Joining Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz as one of the first 'true' Wii titles on the shelves, WarioWare: Smooth Moves feels every bit as spectacular as you'd expect - with the intuitive controls rivalling, if not surpassing, the superb stylus-orientated controls of 2005's Touched!, making for a far more accessible take on the traditional proceedings.

But I've gotten way ahead of myself here. First, a little context: if you've ever played any of Wario's previous 'wares' (see what I did there?) you'll know that, for the most part, the story is utterly bonkers, and it's no different for Smooth Moves. After having his tasty Subway Sandwich swiped by a little, unfortunately-mis-proportioned creature, Wario decides to give chase and thus stumbles upon the temple of an ancient civilisation who - bless their souls - have managed to snuff it during an intense gaming session. No one really knows quite how for sure. Maybe they bought GT Pro? Either way, the temple was littered with Wii Remotes (or form Batons as they're dubbed here) which our garlic-scented entrepreneur takes advantage of in another of his get rich quick schemes. See, I told you it was bonkers! Not that you'll really care about the plot when you could be swiping a sword through a ninja's torso, blasting away a gigantic Godzilla-wannabe with laser beams or squatting like a caffeinated Mr Motivator. But to see the crisp, stylised visuals of each and every tongue-in-cheek cut scene is an endless barrage of joy - even if the importance of their integration is ever so slightly questionable.

This is still WarioWare genius through and through though, so if you've played any of the other entries and sported a big fat grin whilst doing so, you'll know roughly what to expect here: namely, lots and lots of ABSOLUTELY MENTAL microgames. That's right - microgames! They're like minigames, only smaller - usually requiring a single gesture to send them packing. Trust me, you'll love 'em. Smooth Moves, as any other WarioWare to date, sees you completing each of these microgames in succession cast across a handful of Diamond City's equally bizarre characters in order to provide some kind of natural progression. Now that might sound a tad formulaic and even slightly mundane, but when you consider their unhinged qualities and quick-fire spontaneity, you start to see why the WarioWare franchise has become something of a number one 'playa' (just like Toad at those parties!) for Nintendo of late. You never know what you're going to get next (mustn't... use... chocolate... box... cliché!). One minute you're shoving an index finger up a giant levitating nose complete with an awesome 'squishy' sound effect, the next you're warding off elf-like weirdos with a giant poo on a stick, then sharpening a pencil, then balancing a broom on your palm, then drinking a glass of water. FASTER! Then twirling the hula hoop like you could never do in school, then fitting a gross set of false teeth into a granny's mouth, then guiding a paper aeroplane. FASTER AGAIN! Then answering the telephone, then skipping with a little girl, then balancing the contents of a sandwich, then changing gear in a car, then playing pool, then... well, you get the idea. It's this pace and overarching lunacy that makes the WarioWare franchise such a joy to play.

Nintendo have tried to *snigger* 'shake' up the formula a bit for Smooth Moves, namely with the introduction of the forms system. Although it's really just a snazzy name for the way in which you grasp your Wii-remote, the system really does allow for some unique - and previously impossible - microgames. Before each microgame begins, you're let in on which gesture is required to defeat it. With over 15 forms to master, it's safe to say that no microgame plays out identically. Starting out with the basic 'remote' form, the Wii remote can be used for the likes of sawing a log of wood, guiding a stick-man to his humble abode and swatting flies a-la Mario Paint on the SNES. However, as you progress you then get to try out some of the far more ingenious forms, such as the 'chauffeur' (held like a NES controller) in which you take to the wheel of a car. Then there's the 'finger food' form, allowing you to lock a door with a decisive twist of the wrist. Not to mention the 'dumbell' form, which sees you lifting weights, playing a game of table tennis and participating in a heated arm-wrestle with one of your Mii characters. Whilst these forms allow for a far more dynamic selection of microgames, purists may scoff at the form system's tendency to slow down the action somewhat between microgames, deviating from the original's unforgiving test of your lightning-fast reactions. However, whilst this is true to an extent (time allowed for altering form stance is fairly lengthy), Smooth Moves still vomits microgames at Schumacher-scaring speeds and it's safe to say that few will be disappointed with the results.

Fan-favourite 9-Volt returns for Smooth Moves, along with a whole host of Ninty references to make you gawp at the screen with misty-eyed nostalgia. Due to the increased horsepower of the Wii hardware, everything from 8-bit NES classics to the graphical showcases of the Gamecube era have been captured in microgame form and it's this merging of new and old that makes the experience so unique. Part of the thrill comes from the integration of the fabulous Wiimote, like flicking the it to make Mario jump and collect coins in 8-bit glory, tilting it to roll Samus' morph ball through a Metroid Prime-esque landscape into a nearby barrel and hovering from Wind Waker-style platforms with Link.

One aspect that certainly hasn't changed from Smooth Moves is that of its visual style - or rather, its endearing lack of one. Whilst the game's many cut scenes and characters share a beautifully unified animé style and Tweenies-inspired colour scheme, the same cannot be said for the microgames. One minute you're sharpening a ghastly polygonal pencil and the next you're manoeuvring a cel-shaded Link in full-blown 3D. This lack of consistency that some may deem it detrimental gives the game a unique and bizarre visual style that echoes the spontaneity of the crazed microgames. As such, the score's insane-o-meter has been cranked to eleven, with some of the craziest J-pop warbling and upbeat melodies ever to grace a videogame - and whilst not particularly memorable, they certainly do the job. As such, the use of the Wiimote's embedded speaker has been utilised to great effect, with some hilarious voice samples littered throughout a handful of microgames.

As with many games the multiplayer is where it's at, especially since the single player mode, rather disappointingly, can be completed in just a few hours. And this time around there are more modes than you can shake a poo-on-a-stick at. First up is Survival, a quick fire assault of random microgames hurled relentlessly at the players until a winner emerges. Then there's the unhinged Bomb mode in which a bomb is passed between the players, exploding in the ashamed faces of the player who fails the microgame. Not only that, but you also get to select the form the microgame utilises, so if you know that your pal hates a certain microgame, selecting the form category the game is in means there's a greater chance that he'll have to step up to it - adding a small degree of tactics. Other favourites return in the form of the Balloon mode, which sees you cautiously pumping up a balloon as you endure countless microgames - the goal being to tactically pump the balloon so that it explodes on your rival's turn. This is made all the more difficult in light of the fact that if you fail a microgame, your rivals are each given an additional chance to pump the balloon - meaning that microgames have to be mastered in order to risk the chance of defeat. There's also a fair number of microgames designed around the technical wizardry of the Wiimote; clutching it in the sketch artist form you can play a full blown game of darts with your pals, which is certainly set to become a party favourite. There's even the option to attach the nunchuck controller, which can be held by another player, with the other holding the Wii remote. One example of this is the paper plane minigame, where the controller's gyroscopic functionality is used to guide paper aeroplanes through vast obstacle-rich labyrinths until the other player bails.

With over 200 microgames at the helm and mulitplayer support for up to twelve players with only one Wiimote, this is by far the most complete WarioWare package yet. In fact, if Smooth Moves doesn't get you hot and sweaty like Wario's pitts on a humid summer's day then you clearly hate games, are a Daily Mail reader and/or Jack Thompson is your God. WarioWare: Smooth Moves retains all of the absolute insanity and well-designed microgames of its forerunners and is living proof of the Wiimote's ability to bring entirely new dynamics to game production. This is perhaps the most essential Wii game, bar with the almighty Twilight Princess. It isn't perfect, (the fairly short single player mode being the only slight drawback) but if you're looking for a top notch party game with potentially infinite replay value due to fabulous multiplayer then you've certainly found it in Smooth Moves - so at this point the smoothest move you could make is to pick up WarioWare post haste!

Reviewed by Ricky Lee Staines for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).