![balan wonderworld switch review balan wonderworld switch review](https://hardcore-gamer.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/03/Balan_Wonderworld_1.jpg)
Outside of all this, you can kick back and relax on the Isle of Tims. We wanted to see more of this love and passion in the rest of the game, but instead, we're only teased with glimpses of what could be. It's really the only time the game shows any sort of creativity and is a painful reminder how uninspired everything else is. You're even rewarded for experimenting and finding three unique ways at damaging your opponent. We hate to comment on what a game 'could' be, but with the recently released Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, which utilised special abilities in a rapid and fun way, it's an absolute slog to sit down and play this.īalan Wonderworld shows its most potential in its boss battles, which actively encourage you to use multiple suits and abilities against the big bad foe. It doesn't help that swapping between the suits puts you in a painfully slow animation, instead of an instantaneous switch. Each suit has a single use and never requires any experimentation. Some allow you to swim through conveniently placed paths of water, while others will turn you into a box at random. There's no double jump or any sort of evolution in your natural abilities - it all relies on the suits. Having both your jump and suit ability mapped to the same button is a bizarre choice and takes so much control away from the player in a game where every action should matter. You use the thumb sticks to move and control the camera, the bumpers to switch between a variety of suits you find throughout the world, and basically any other button to jump and use the suit's ability. Balan Wonderworld uses very few buttons - the thumb sticks, bumpers, and any face or trigger button is all you need. But considering this is made from the minds who concocted heroes such as Sonic the Hedgehog, it's shocking just how dull the game is to play.Īlarm bells start ringing when you take a peek at the control scheme. Many were critical of the demo for feeling slow, sluggish and unresponsive, and to Square Enix's credit, the game does seem a lot smoother and faster.
![balan wonderworld switch review balan wonderworld switch review](https://www.tehnoplus.si/modules/uploader/uploads/s_product/pictures/balan-wonderworld-nintendo-switch-8.jpg)
Along with its mess of a narrative, Balan Wonderworld does very little to engage the player in even the most basic of platforming challenges. Games such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro hold very little in terms of plot, but manage to perfectly engage with their simplicity and pitch perfect gameplay. We'd be willing to forgive this if the other components were stronger. Why was a colossal farmer staring over us with a menacing gaze? And why, oh why, do we have a group of Furbies following us around each level? When you're asking yourself existential questions such as these, the ball has been dropped somewhere. Instead, we found ourselves wondering why the dancing wolves disappeared as soon as we went up to them.
![balan wonderworld switch review balan wonderworld switch review](https://witchsreviewcorner.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BALAN-WONDERWORLD-Demo_20210201093902.jpg)
You could probably sit down and attempt to pull back the curtain on Balan Wonderworld and see what message each world is trying to convey, but honestly, doing that gives it more credit to what is actually there. What unfolds is a journey across several worlds, helping people who are downtrodden, before an inevitable evil presence appears. Then, you stumble across Balan Theatre, ran by the mysterious (and to be honest, kind of creepy) Balan. At the beginning, you're presented with a very basic character selection which leads to a sad backstory. The game is a hard experience to explain, due to the fact that we're not entirely sure what's going on ourselves. Unfortunately, if anything, the demo highlighted the best parts of Balan Wonderworld, as it only goes downhill from there.
![balan wonderworld switch review balan wonderworld switch review](https://sirusgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/genshin-impact-18-1024x576.jpg)
Even when the lacklustre demo launched earlier this year, we held faith and hope that buried somewhere in there was a great game. With the talent involved and being lead by Yuji Naka, the creator of classic franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, it seemed like a sure win. Unique abilities, colourful worlds, and personality busting from its seams. It checked all the boxes for what we look for in a platformer. When Balan Wonderworld was announced last year, it was a game that seemed completely up our alley.