New Yuji Naka Platformer - Balan Wonderworld (Multiplatform)

mjqjazzbar said:
I’ve only played the demo, but I’ve read a few reviews and seen full gameplay. The game’s not technically great and the gameplay is extremely basic. There are also quite a few graphical glitches. What reviews should it have gotten, if the world were more fair? I think it’s objectively not up to standards, so what would you hope to see in a more balanced review?
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I can't say this reflects my experience. I'm playing Balan on a PS4 Pro and I haven't encountered any glitches or even slowdown. Even with 70 (and counting) Tims in my hubworld at once I haven't noticed any performance issues. With that said, I understand the situation on the Switch could be vastly different, if that is where the bad footage is coming from. Which honestly makes me wonder why any company outside of Nintendo should ever bother developing games for the Switch at this point.

danielmann861 said:
Yeah I didn't understand why Yooka Laylee received the reception it did either. It did exactly what it claimed to do and somehow that was bad? Didn't get that one either at all.

As for Balan. I liked the atmosphere of that demo, but the game play was just too brain dead to really enjoy for me. But then again, I think I honestly don't really care for 3D collect-a-thons too much as is. It's not a particular favorite genre of mine.
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Balan is one of those games where you aren't fighting the enemies but instead the level designs themselves. I guess that makes Balan more like a puzzle game then a straight-up platformer. The costumes are like pieces in the puzzle and you need to figure out what fits in a level to keep moving forward. But that's precisely where the demo became a problem.

Balan really does shine when the level design gets more sophisticated. Those first couple of levels are dead easy and I can see that's why it might push away new players. Balan didn't really click for me until I got to Chapter 4, the air themed level. That's where you get the sheep costume I mentioned earlier, which is great for replay value and treasure hunting. Along with a bat costume that basically operates like Sonic Adventure's homing attack, less useful for exploration but fun to attack with.
 
It's upto you of course, but I'd say go for it.
I can't help but just smile while playing it, because it really does feel like I've been pulled back to the glorious days of the Saturn & Dreamcast. It's not original today, but it would have been back then I think.
It's just oozing with the stuff that made Sega/Naka so great during the 90s.
It's not overly difficult except when doing the collectibles etc. It's just a chill platformer at it's core, set in a unique world. You'll see nods to stuff like Clockwork Knight and obviously Sonic. Even some of the combat reminds me of Burning Rangers.
I personally think this title should be supported at it's RRP so that we are able to get more games of this type.
I miss them.
 
Watched the IGN video and admittedly there's more to the game than I got from the demo. However, the review mentioned all the issues I had from the demo and some. What made me laugh is even the menu has the one button design so you can't even go back apparently.
 
After watching some gameplay videos last night, I have decided to pass on the game as it's just not for me. However, I can understand some of its appeals. There is a wholesome, colorful, and whimsical charm to the overall experience. In some ways, it brings me back to my childhood in the 80s when everything was an exciting discovery. And in other ways, it reminds me of SEGA's infamous Nights into Dreams.

It's video games like this that remind me that we need more wholesome and creative titles like this. While I won't be supporting this title, I wish Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima the best of luck regardless of the negative reviews.
 
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I'm not sure exactly what to do with this one. I've been feeling like buying it anyway, to support the devs, but I'm a little conflicted by the accounts I'm hearing here. It sounds like it's good fun, but it also sounds like it could be a little bit like Super Lucky's Tale, and while that game was charming (no pun intended), I didn't particularly like it mainly because of the collectathon aspects.

Also kind of sad to see that it's only available on Steam. I guess there's a demo that I could try out still, but it sounds like it's not really that good at describing what the game feels like later on.
 
Ba
Rydeen said:
I'm not sure exactly what to do with this one. I've been feeling like buying it anyway, to support the devs, but I'm a little conflicted by the accounts I'm hearing here. It sounds like it's good fun, but it also sounds like it could be a little bit like Super Lucky's Tale, and while that game was charming (no pun intended), I didn't particularly like it mainly because of the collectathon aspects.

Also kind of sad to see that it's only available on Steam. I guess there's a demo that I could try out still, but it sounds like it's not really that good at describing what the game feels like later on.
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Are you talking about it only being available on PC via Steam? Because it's on all of the current and last gen consoles.
 
24Nathan said:
Ba

Are you talking about it only being available on PC via Steam? Because it's on all of the current and last gen consoles.
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Yeah, sorry. Should have been more specific. I meant only available on PC through Steam.

I don’t have any of the PS4/5, XBO/XSX, Switch consoles, and it’s entirely possible I never will. I just play on PC for newer games.
 
I beat it a couple of days ago, thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact now I'm going back and trying to get all the hidden statues. It's just a fun, charming oddball experience. And this is coming from someone with no love for collectathons. If you don't mind a slower pace and some jank on the level of say Sonic Adventure, I say go for it.
 
Kintor said:
Which honestly makes me wonder why any company outside of Nintendo should ever bother developing games for the Switch at this point.
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It's a poorly optimised, crap port. That's not on Nintendo's hardware, that's on the developers.

Anyways, I didn't just buy this "terrible", "disastrous" game at full RRP shortly after launch, but I must really hate myself, because I bought the abysmal Switch version. And you know what? Despite the jank, the baffling decision to make it a one-button game and the dreadful Switch performance, I'm actually really enjoying the game.

The character designs, aesthetic, world design and art direction are all fantastic and remind me of Sega's glory days. The power-ups system is fun and the way they feed into the world's level design is inventive.

It's not amazing and it has some pretty obvious flaws, but for what it is, it's plenty of fun and it's not like there's any other platformers out there that are like the kind of stuff Sega was doing in the 90s and early 00s.
 
Reprise said:
the baffling decision to make it a one-button game
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They confirmed that this was a design choice so that children who played it didn't feel too overwhelmed.

From my experience, the game looks gorgeous on the Xbox Series S with no frame rate, glitching or other issues. But then it is X/S enhanced.
 
Reprise said:
I completely understand the reason for it, I just don't believe it is a good system regardless of their intention.
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Personally I have no issues with it, it never bothered me in the slightest that all four buttons did the same thing.
But perhaps an option in settings for different layouts would have been a wise choice. Costumes could be mapped to certain buttons at the start of a stage, maybe...
Nontheless, it hasn't soured my enjoyment of the game in any way and makes things far less complicated while doing hazardous platforming.
 
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