So consider me bitter that we do not play as them! Both character designs set the tone of their respective games, with Balan clearly being this title’s NiGHTS. This is no surprise with Ohshima taking the reins of the character designs Ohshima was the reason why NiGHTS looked so appealing, and was so fitting as the centrepiece of their whimsical adventure.
We got a look at the titular Balan, who appears to borrow greatly from NiGHTS. The aesthetic of Balan Wonderworld gripped many of us from the moment its concept art was shown, and the excitement to see even more news drop about the title heightened to an all new level when the gorgeous opening cutscene was revealed. NiGHTS focused on the whimsical and fantastical meshing of reality and dreams, making for wonderfully imaginative designs and visually stunning levels that make you feel you’ve been whisked away to - and want to stay in forever.
#Balan wonderworld demo review series
This in turn explains my personal interest in Balan Wonderworld, as I was hotly anticipating a nostalgic trip back to what the NiGHTS series had delivered. While we all know their names as being those who brought one of Sega’s biggest IPs to life, my fondest memories are from their conception of NiGHTS. This marked the first reunion of Naka (Sonic the Hedgehog’s original programmer) and Naoto Ohshima (Sonic’s character designer) in 20 years - they last worked together on Sonic Adventure in 1998. Let’s get this out of the way so I can forget about it sooner than later! Why all the excitement for Balan Wonderworld?īalan Wonderworld is the first title from Balan Company, a new subsidiary of Square Enix formed by industry legend Yuji Naka. Maybe some children will enjoy it, but it’s a massive disappointment for fans who were looking for a truly engaging 3D platformer.I experienced the demo on arguably the worst platform for it - the Switch - so while my points will be centred on how it ran on Nintendo’s hardware, it is worth pointing out that it seems to have performed better on all the other platforms it is available on. Overall, it doesn’t seem like there is a chance for the Balan Wonderworld team to actually fix these issues since it seems hard-baked into its design. Props for the actual look of the game’s characters, but that’s about it. That sense of flow is just not there, with enemies and even boss fights not proving to be challenging at all. The hidden objectives and secrets to be found for players who extend their reach is what makes it worthwhile.īalan Wonderworld doesn’t seem to have a lot of rhyme or reason to its level design and power-up system. Yet, it is the level design and challenge of Super Mario Odyssey that gives it a sense of flow. The game feels like a slower version of Super Mario Odyssey, which shares that sort of "specific power-up for a specific collectible" approach to game design. This lock and key style of game design gets very old very quickly, especially since it doesn’t shake things up by having you switching between costumes on the fly, hence throwing all sense of player creativity out the window. Need to glide somewhere? Use the sheep costume. Need to break a block? Use the dragon costume.
This inane attention to the idea of simplicity is extended to the level design, where each costume is needed for a specific action. This makes each costume feeling supremely shallow in their capabilities as well. Somehow, this also stretches to the menu navigation, with every button acting as the confirmation button and no button assigned for exiting the menu. Depending on the costumes at hand, it can either be a special jump or some sort of projectile attack. In Balan Wonderworld, every single special move is assigned to every button. Platformers have moved on from being just simple run-and-jump affairs, with the likes of 2D platformers like Celeste and Super Meat Boy being a real test of wills, while newer 3D platformers like Super Mario Odyssey and Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time blending old and new concepts cohesively in its gameplay. But it just pales in comparison to the actual gameplay of it all. It is certainly inviting right from the game's opening cinematic to the prospects of worlds to explore and the exclusive costumes you get with each version of the game. Players can battle Negati, play Balan’s Bout mini-games and collect Balan Statues together as Leo and Emma, combining abilities from different costumes to explore each wonderous world and access new paths that are unavailable in solo play.
The demo features three of Balan Wonderworld’s twelve magical worlds, and also supports local two-player co-op that can be enjoyed with friends and family by plugging in and pressing any button on a second controller.
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