Costume change

When I hear the name Yuji Naka it fills me with joy. So many games that I remember growing up were born from his mind. Titles like Sonic the Hedgehog to Phantasy Star and of course Burning Rangers. He was kind of the face of Sega titles in its prime. That was a long time ago though, and over the past decade plus the games he created didn’t really fill me with as much excitement. So, when I heard he was returning with a new platformer that resembled his early work, I was on board. Balan Wonderworld is a game that feels like it was lost in time. It would have felt right at home on the Dreamcast, which is both a good and bad thing.

The game kicks off with players selecting either a breakdancing boy or recluse girl as their avatar. Honestly neither choice really makes a difference outside of some obscure cut scenes. The story of Balan Wonderworld is awkward at best and confusing at worst. There is a lot of style with not much substance. It felt like a fever dream at times. The cut scenes are well done but made little sense to an overarching narrative.

MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: XSX (reviewed), XSS, PS5, XB1, PS4, Switch
Price I’d Pay: $29.99

On paper the premise of the game is sound. This is a platformer that relies on various suits to perform different moves and progress in each level. An example is one level has water tunnels that can only be traversed in a specific suit. Players can collect multiple suits and switch between them by tapping the bumpers on the controller. Navigating each level requires various suits, suits require keys, but it is all pretty rudimentary. I did enjoy the variety of levels. They felt straight out of a platformer from the late 90s early 00s. From the clear design to the colorful palate this game truly does feel like a lost Dreamcast title.

OK. So far so good. Now let’s get into the weeds. Balan Wonderworld is the kind of game on paper that sounds like a good idea. Suits granting powers to complete puzzle platform levels with a charming visual style. While I did enjoy my time with the game, I was constantly annoyed by its archaic design choices. For starters, each suit change requires an animation that takes way too long for something that I did very often. Think of playing a platform game where jumping is not something you always have. So, if I needed to get on a specific platform, I had to invoke the animation until I cycled to the right suit for a simple jump.

Dying in a level also resets more progress than I would like. Say I had the dolphin suit and fell off a platform trying to grab a collectible. Then I have to grab the key again, then switch to the suit all while making my way from the poorly placed checkpoint. Once it didn’t bother me, after the 20th time I was ready to throw my controller. The game is never hard, but it can be frustrating due to the design choices. It feels like so much of the game is arbitrary costume switching or just a lack of having a jump button with all suits.

This is endemic of the entire game. There is only one button to perform actions and instead the design is that each suit makes that button do different things. Again, this sounds unique and clever on paper, but in execution it can become a real chore. The tedium of having to swap suits and watch the animation over and over really drags on as the game does. I feltmy enjoyment turn to frustration as I just wanted to collect something only to have it thwarted by poor design. This is a game that requires a lot of revisiting levels to collect all the pieces with new suits as you progress, but these mechanics made me simply not want to do that.

There are a ton of costumes in the game, over 80 in fact, but it feels like a bullet point. A lot of them overlap abilities and seem to only slightly modify the core functionality. Sometimes it feels like the game would have benefitted from streamlining of these ideas into a dozen or so really fleshed out suits. There are also mini-games hidden in each level where players get to step into the shoes of the Nights-esque main character on the box. These are simply button-press mini-games that take little to no skill to complete. They feel like everything else in the game, which is half-baked.

I do love the look of Balan Wonderworld despite its flaws. The colorful visuals really remind me of a time when platformers were popping with color. The warping levels and unique themes feel right out of the Saturn era. There are weird occurrences of characters and geometry just randomly appearing and disappearing at times, which is jarring. I am looking at you giant girls in the early water stage. That just creeped me out.

Balan Wonderworld is a game that I tried hard to love. It is not the pariah that the internet makes it out to be though. I think the game is charming and flawed. It has tons of issues, but I still finished it. I had some good times sprinkled in with the frustrations. It took me to a simpler time in platform games and there is truly nothing else out there with the same kind of presentation and whimsical ideas it delivers. That said $60 is a hard ask for a game that seems to want to frustrate players at every turn. I wanted to love Balan Wonderworld, but it did everything in its power to test my love every chance it got.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Level themes
  • Very charming
Bad
  • Redundant suits
  • Mechanics are annoying
  • Level linearity
5
Mediocre
Written by
Ken is the Editor-in-Chief of this hole in the wall and he loves to troll for the fun of it. He also enjoys long walks through Arkham Asylum and the cool air of Shadow Moses Island. His turn-ons include Mortal Kombat, Metal Gear Solid and StarCraft.