Yet even this collection of skills doesn’t change the overall game feel. Out of the ten or so I tried every one felt different and served a different purpose which is neat. What genuinely surprised me was the diversity of the powers each costume offered. The final version of the game will supposedly have 80 different costumes but the demo only had a fraction of that. Of course, the movement of the game is modified by a wide range of costumes the player can don to bestow upon them several unique abilities. That vibe, that energy is lost when it takes what feels like a solid two seconds to actually begin running and the default jump feels less enthusiastic than my grampy at a comic book convention. The worlds are vibrant and filled with music with dancing being a theme that permeates throughout each world. Everything the player can do, every input and action, feels sluggish, which is ironic, given the background of its developers. This is a perfect description of this game’s presentation.īeyond that creativity I can’t say I enjoyed actually playing Balan Wonderland. Yet when describing the game to Stuff‘s Digital Editor Marcé she remarked that it sounded like a 3-year-old was telling a story that someone happened to illustrate in real-time. It’s clear that the designers had a lot of fun coming up with concepts for the various stages and I’m interested to see what the final version of the game brings. There are some interesting visuals at play here, my favourite being a flying blue whale with metal gears powering it through the air. The levels are bizarre and often surreal mashups of reality.
I’ll be up front and say that there’s a genuine sense of creativity and wonder in the game.
You can dive into what I assume is the complete first act of the game with later acts opening up upon its completion, albeit with a limit on the actual levels you can play. The demo allows players to experience a vertical slice of what Balan Wonderworld has to offer. Admittedly I do tend to pile on the salt, but that’s personal preference. It’s a game that feels designed with the mindset of “more is more” like the developers were afraid to disappoint folks who suggested ideas so instead just threw every suggestion into a pot and hoped the eventual stew would taste good. Two hours satiated any desire I had to dwell within maestro Balan’s magical wonderworld. I played two hours of Balan Worldworld last night and I’ll be honest with you, I don’t particularly want to go back and play more.
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