I have three seconds to open these cupboard drawers, but as soon as they appear I know I’m toast. I stand (and with WarioWare: Move It! you really do need to stand) with arms outstretched. My fists are clenched, and I have correctly assumed the game’s “Choo Choo” position – like I’m going to mime the movement of a chuffing steam train. My body is ready. But as I rapidly yank my fists towards me, again and again until the time runs out, the drawers stay put. And this, sadly, happens relatively often.
Move It! is Nintendo’s latest collection of typically excellent and extremely bizarre microgame ideas, served at breakneck speed. As always, you have only seconds to work out what is going on, what you’re being asked to do next, and then react to actually do the thing yourself. But, this time around, all the microgames require motion controls – and this is something I ultimately found to be more of a burden than a blessing.
When I think of the best motion-controlled games, I think of the one I still play with friends every now and again – Wii Sports. It was an enormous success because its motion controls encouraged participation. The gestures were completely self-explanatory. There were no fiddly buttons to learn, even on the simple Wii Remote. Everyone knew how to hold the controller as a tennis racket, or shift to a different position when using it as a golf club.
