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Balan Wonderworld demo launches January 28

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
I don't hate it but it's underwhelming and clearly aimed more at kids than Sega nostalgics, which is probably a mistake.

I enjoy the atmosphere, the style of it, and the music, and all the different acquired abilities are a nice gimmick. But the movement feels painfully slow to me and the level design thus far is dull. That ight improve as the game goes but it doesn't make a great first impression.
 
Just played through the demo. What a very strange game. So beautiful to look at. Very kid-friendly and easy to play. What frustrated me is how characters would just disappear for no reason. I was going through the early levels after getting the Gear Prince and at one point he just wasn't available anymore, and I didn't feel like going back to the other level to pick him up again. It seemed to randomly happen at other times too. I ended with 19 trophies.

Is it possible to get to that far away platform in the first level using the sheep? I almost made it but not quite.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Game is pretty good, but the controls need some fine tuning and the frame rate needs to get locked. Love the wierd/wild levels, reminded me a bit of Alice or physchonauts.
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
I tried it on switch and ps5...looks much better on ps5, but still looks like shit. There is some ps2 era texture work. This feels like something that would have been okay on the gamecube...in 2002, not a video game for modern consoles in 2021. If the demo is anything to go by, this game will be fucking terrible.
 

RNG

Member
Also I forgot to mention this but why does the Polar Express make a cameo appearance in this game?
 

justiceiro

Marlboro: Other M
Tried yesterday and it was afuwl. First, the game randomly freezed every few minutes, generally during cutscenes. The camera also just goes inside the character head every now and then for no reason. Them, the change in costumes powers took so long that I actually took some hits from enemies while changing costumes. It's colorful and somewhat charming, but techinically, it's a disaster.
 

Bragr

Banned
You have to be a potato to believe this game had any chance of being good, even so, the demo is a lot worse than expected.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Game is charming but the controls are all sorts of clunk. And 5 buttons are mapped to the action/jump command. Ick.

If you want a better platformer I'd go with A Hat in Time or even better the upcoming enhanced port of Super Mario 3D World that releases in 11 days.
 

D.Final

Banned
I think that isn't bad.
But with the next Mario porting game it will be destroyed.
Even if it's fun
 
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nikolino840

Member
Played the first world on Switch and everything about it felt awful.

Jumping is a canned animation without any sort of momentum involved.
Stutters terribly every time the camera turns.
Moving objects disappear when you get close to them.
Pop in happens about four feet away from you. You really don't have any sort of moveset outside of the suits.
Running animation is wonky.
Characters look like human Sonic characters.

A game like this pales in comparison to Mario Odyssey, if not Mario 64.

Final thoughts:

Maybe becouse is the first project of a new team
 
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Shaqazooloo

Member
Apparently the final boss can possibly cause seizures, so becareful of that I suppose...

 

Ailynn

Faith - Hope - Love
Cringe Reaction GIF


I feel really bad about saying this, but everything about this game aside from the beautifully done cinematics just feels....gross.

The two times I decided to try to stick it out, the game crashed. The animations and random dancing animal characters make my spine cringe, and the "rolling" backgrounds make me feel nauseous.

I can't help it...
I'm sorry for everyone involved. :lollipop_pensive:
 
Game is starting to grow on me, you really got to take it as it's own thing rather than compare it to other things. So far it seems to be a light hearted collectahon platformer. The heart of the game based on what I played are the collectible power ups which give you abilities and help you collect more collectibles. The minigames are fun as well. Only thing that bugged me is that you gotta be careful when getting a new powerup as it overwrites the current powerup, so make sure to switch to another powerup or if you have two of the same one to switch to that one to avoid losing a unique powerup
 

Havoc2049

Member
Game is starting to grow on me, you really got to take it as it's own thing rather than compare it to other things. So far it seems to be a light hearted collectahon platformer. The heart of the game based on what I played are the collectible power ups which give you abilities and help you collect more collectibles. The minigames are fun as well. Only thing that bugged me is that you gotta be careful when getting a new powerup as it overwrites the current powerup, so make sure to switch to another powerup or if you have two of the same one to switch to that one to avoid losing a unique powerup
One cool thing is that you can go to the circle of light checkpoint and open up the dressing room and change outfits, so you are never in a jam.

The first level is rather basic platformer fair, but after that the game becomes really interesting with all kinds of cool game play mechanics.
 
One cool thing is that you can go to the circle of light checkpoint and open up the dressing room and change outfits, so you are never in a jam.

The first level is rather basic platformer fair, but after that the game becomes really interesting with all kinds of cool game play mechanics.
Awesome! I went into that room but didn't know that, thanks for clarifying! Thanks for the heads up on the levels too, I had a feeling there was more than meets the eye to this game, glad you confirmed it!
 
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Isa

Gold Member
I've been waiting for this. I know its not gonna set the world on fire but damn it I've gotta support the guys and gals that entertained me throughout my childhood and beyond! I played the demo and sure it was kind of disappointing but I enjoyed it for what it is. I doubt Squeenix gave them much budget plus its a new team together. I appreciate the colorful style and vibe, plus with all the gore and violent games out there its nice to play something lighter as a palette cleanser. I liked in the demo messing around giving those gems/crystals to the little creatures, reminded me slightly of Sonic and the minigame on the VMU. Got it ready to go on my PS5 but can't play it yet. Glad to see you fine folks giving the game a chance.
 

Bridges

Member
I thought this was announced for Game Pass back when it was revealed at July's Xbox Showcase, am I crazy? I thought every game they showed at that conference other than Watch_Dogs Legion was going to be day and date launching on Gamepass but now I see this listed as full price.

I was actually looking forward to trying this despite the absolutely abysmal reviews and impressions, but I don't think I can justify the $60 price tag.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I was one of the people who was really excited for this game but man the demo completely turn me off. If the the full game turn out to be great then Demo done pretty shitty job showcasing the game.
 
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Impotaku

Member
Don't know if this was reported but the demo has been removed from all platforms.
LOL a bit late for them to do damage control the demo worked as intended just not in the way they hoped. They are probably hoping there are suckers out there that won't have tried the demo or watched a review to blindly buy their turd of a game.
 
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