I was sorely disappointed in my time with this game. Wario World has a very unique and fun proposition as a game and one that I found promising, but the further I went on, the more I became either bored or frustrated. Any sense of enjoyment and satisfaction I had from the game diminished with the progress I made.

It's gameplay is a very simple and intuitive fighting-platform setup, but it's heavily flawed on both angles. Combat amounts to little more than landing hits and succeeding it with a maneuver that will almost immediately clear the surrounding enemies. Positioning is pretty cumbersome, so you cant tactically evade enemies, it usually amounts to pulling out while they play their long attack animations and then you can get back in. That, or enemies will block your attacks repeatedly/overwhelm you with major crowds which don't have any interesting risk or strategy in defeating them other than fenagling 3 hits on one of them and then running away to avoid attacks -> get back in to do one super maneuver. It has absolutely nothing going for it as combat gameplay besides landing those big attacks which are the biggest strength of the game, far and away. It's regrettable that Wario's kit is too limited for any interesting or thoughtful playstyle and that the enemies aren't constructed around it very well either.

The platforming is probably the more frustrating area of the game. In order to clear a level, you have to play through these small box rooms with puzzles or platforming sections (which by the way, why would you completely sideline the main combat gameplay from what's supposed to be progression?) and these have really strange oscillating difficulty, one puzzle in the same level will be way more challenging and tedious than the other, and while I think utilizing action as your means of interaction is a strong pitch, it falls flat when most of it is finding a stupid solution or bashing tiny cubes precisely.

If I had to point at what I think is the largest flaw, it'd probably be the level design. By level 2, you're stopped into spinning enemies to open gates, and then you're jumping on rubber balls with some of the worst platforming ever invented and then you're fighting enemy spawners while nothing happens. The game will introduce jarring mechanics like mirror views and just expect you to perform at your best in that situation. It's got gimmick bosses that are each worse than the last, like the lava bull which you don't even attack or the awful cup matching boss which was what made me quit playing. It's completely thoughtless as to provide an engaging challenge and not frustrate you.

I do think there's strong points in the game's presentation, the visuals are rough but I think they are still a strong art direction, even if they're not particularly unique for the most part. (If you've seen another 2000's action game, you've seen what this looks like.) I do enjoy how it progressively employs more abstract and dangerous/unsettling environments across the game's levels, and in other cases, has ones that are comically augmented to fit the standards of a wario game. The enemy designs are probably my favorite part of the game, I think they're morbid in the best way possible, which is operating on some kind of logic that's still completely bizarre in retrospect. They've also got amazing expressions and, truthfully speaking, some well constructed visual design. I am a fan of the sound for the most part, All your core actions have a fun character and weight to them, and I think they suit the gameplay and elevate the basic feel of the game nicely enough that you'd want to keep playing it. Additionally, The music's incredibly audacious and viscous in any genre that it tackles, and it does really elevate Wario's character during gameplay.

On the whole, I don't know that a lot of what makes this game attractive saves it from how infuriating and tired it can become. I can certainly say that I probably would not have been happy spending 50 dollars on this back in 2003.