Let's be brutally honest with one another here. There haven't been many reasons as of late to actually touch Nintendo's DS system. We're in somewhat of a software drought, which is why the arrival of WarioWare Touched! was so highly anticipated. One of E3 2004's best games, it managed to put the DS's unique abilities to great use while dazzling me with its unique visual style. Now that I've put the final product through its paces I can happily say that it's a good entry in what's turning out to be a phenomenal series of games, but it's by no means a great one. Unfortunately, Touched! doesn't have nearly as much appeal as its predecessors.

In Touched! the diabolical Wario is at it again, this time using the DS's dual screens to maximize his profits. There are well over 180 microgames in Touched!, and while some of them are old favorites, they feel new simply because of the way they're played, for you see, in order to succeed you're going to have to drag, scratch, and tap the DS's touch screen, and in some cases actually blow into its microphone, and just like in the GBA and GameCube WarioWares, this one's got a slew of bizarre microgames. You'll need to do chin ups, strip Wario (ewww), blow bubbles, clean windows, draw Japanese characters, slice food in half, rub a magic lamp, stop a cog from spinning, guide a skier down a mountain, and explore the inside of someone's nose, and I haven't even scratched the surface! There are definitely quite a few games to see, and you won't unlock them during your first play through, meaning you'll have to keep replaying the game if you intend to see everything. However, while it's true that Touched! has quite a bit of replay value, at the same time it won't take you very long to beat it.

Length was never a strong point for any WarioWare game. They provide short, controlled bursts of fun, making them the perfect portable games, so I don't have any issues with being able to beat Touched! in under an hour, especially since, as I said before, you'll need to play it again because there are new microgames as well as toys to unlock. What I don't like is how easy the game is. For some bizarre reason Nintendo and co-developer Intelligent Systems included a slight delay to the time for some of the microgames, so instead of having three seconds to complete an objective you probably have about five. Bottom line, you're not supposed to feel comfortable when playing a WarioWare game, so Touched! is a little disappointing. I can just relax in a comfy chair and calmly play the game without experiencing any stress.

I'm also not thrilled with the game's cut scenes, which can't be skipped the first time through. While I appreciate Nintendo's effort to pump the game full of zany characters, none of the stories that accompany them are interesting (save Wario's), and forcing me to watch them play out in a title whose main selling point is frantic gameplay creates this uncomfortable contrast.

My final two gripes concern the multiplayer (or lack thereof) and the boss battles. The GameCube WarioWare introduced us to this marvelous multiplayer mode, so with the DS version, the lack of it is a glaring omission, especially since Nintendo loves to tout the system's wireless capabilities. Lastly, the boss battles are so beyond lame that my intelligence was insulted. I mean come on Nintendo! Pretend for just a second that someone over the age of eight plays your games!

Even though Touched! didn't turn out to be as good as I had hoped, that doesn't mean it's a bad game. It's a bright spot in the DS's library, and because there are lots of microgames, you'll want to keep replaying it just to see how far you can get before messing up, and its visual style, which is a nice mix of 2 and 3D graphics, is very well done. However, because Touched! has less features than the original, I feel like it's in a way a step backwards in the series, a 1.5 instead of a true sequel. It's a must buy simply because the gameplay is rock solid and it's cool checking out the new microgames, but it's nowhere near as fabulous as I expected it to be.