Balan Wonderworld is the latest from the famous video game designer, director and developer Yuji Naka. Naka is best known for his work on the Sonic the Hedgehog and Nights game series, and teamed up with Square Enix to create Balan Wonderworld.
That said, Naka is a long way from these franchises right now, and Balan Wonderworld is quite different. The game is a 3D platform game, reminiscent of something like the original Jak and Daxter or Lucky’s Tale, but creates its own feeling and personality.
Players will explore colorful 3D worlds and will need to solve puzzles, collect items and complete levels to progress.
The strong point in Balan Wonderworld, however, is the use of costumes in the game. The main character (you can choose to be a boy or a girl) is quite helpless, only able to jump on enemies’ heads. However, each level is filled with Kirby-type power-ups, given to you by a cast of friendly allies. Fortunately for these friends, you don’t have to eat them.
These power-ups are numerous, creative and specialized. In just a handful of levels that are available in the demo, there are ten different power-ups and each level challenges you to make use of your unique skills.
To give you an idea, there is a power-up Sheep that allows you to swell (more or less like Kirby, actually). While in this state, you can glide and catch winds to extend your flight.
There is also a Pig power-up that allows for butt blows, which can damage enemies and bog down certain platforms on the ground to solve certain puzzles or reach new areas.
There are even some more foolish ones, like a Witch / Fox power-up that turns it into an invincible cube that you can use to quickly break certain boxes as you slide.
These power-ups are also worth going back. There are areas and puzzles at previous levels that can only be accessed using power-ups from later chapters. For example, an increase in power that you can obtain in Chapter 6 can be used to access an area in Chapter 1.
The main reason for doing this is to obtain Balan Statues, which can be used to unlock new chapters, add new worlds to explore and progress in the game.
In addition, you can collect gems of different colors to feed these cute bunny-bird creatures called Tims that frequent the upper world. These gems change the properties of the Tims and can then be used to help you with several different benefits when you are exploring a chapter.
History leaves a lot to the imagination, and I say this with affection. Nobody speaks but Balan – the mysterious entity that is guiding the main character through his “World of Wonders”. And instead, Balan Wonderworld expresses itself through the emotion, colors, sound and music of the characters.
Each chapter seems to tell its own short story. Chapter 1 is about a farmer whose crops are suffering from a storm. The main character and Balan, through their actions, are able to stop the mysterious evil entities that are causing the storm and are able to help the farmer.
What is also evident is that the power-ups you find in each chapter are somewhat themed around the story, which is also a cute touch.
Combat is not terribly difficult at any time. The boss fights in the demo feature a specific power-up that makes it much easier, but there is some freedom to use other power-ups as well.
For example, a boss throws gusts of wind that you can spin back at him with the Wolf power-up. Or, alternatively, you can avoid the bursts and use the Dragon’s power to throw some fireballs at him.
I really enjoyed the freedom that players have in the demo, as well as the creativity of the different power-ups. I wonder, however, how much Balan Wonderland will push this concept forward or whether the demo is the ceiling in terms of complexity.
I wonder this because the game looks very much aimed at children. Don’t get me wrong, as an adult I still enjoyed my time with the demo, but between the pieces of the story on display and the fairly easy combat, it seems obvious that Balan Wonderworld was not meant to be a challenge for hardcore gaming fans. platform like Crash Bandicoot or even Super Mario.
Whether it increases in difficulty is yet to be seen, but anyway, Balan Wonderland is shaping up to be a very relaxing, exciting and fun platform game that is accessible to all ages.
There is always room for well-made games that everyone can pick up and enjoy. When I was a kid, I grew up with amazing games like Sonic the Hedgehog. It was a game that I could handle about seven years old, and I still love it today because it is a great game.
There are so many terrible games aimed at children, so I can appreciate the efforts of games like Balan Wonderworld to be something that everyone can enjoy. After all, not everything needs to be hardcore like Donkey Kong Country.
If you want to try the Balan Wonderworld demo for yourself, it will be released this Friday at midnight ET.