Want to spend an hour or so wandering around colorful cartoon dreamy landscapes by the creators of Sonic the hedgehog? Do you enjoy the feeling of being pleasantly baffled? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you will want to play the demo Balance Wonderworld. It’s something else.
This other thing is a dream platform game in which a couple of your heroes, Leo Craig and Emma Cole, are sent by the mysterious master Balan on a journey through imaginary worlds created from other people’s dreams. At the show, which will be released tomorrow for PlayStation, Xbox, Switches and Steam, we explore the dreams of a farmer who has had crop problems, a boy who dreams of flying, and a girl who met a kitten.
The demonstration opens with the chosen protagonist in a place called Tims Island, a green field with portals at the available levels. This is where we interact with the Tims, fluffy little creatures who follow Leo and Emma on their adventures. By feeding these creatures crystal drops collected in the different stages of the game, we can change their colors, which affects the usefulness of the Tims as we explore. Red Tims attack. Pink Tims will look for hidden objects. They are definitely not from Chao Sonic the hedgehog, but they are sorta.
Sonic’s similarities make perfect sense, given Balance Wonderworldpedigree. The new game is directed by Yuji Naka, director of the original Sonic the hedgehog, with art direction by Naoto Ohshima, the Sonic designer and director of timeless classics Nights in dreams i Blinx: the sweeper of time. Echoes of each of these games can be found Balance Wonderworld.
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The gameplay stages of the show are vast and wonderful lands of wonders full of disguised dancing creatures, golden statues to collect, challenges to overcome, and puzzles to solve. Colorful landscapes take clues from the dreamers who dream of them. Farmer levels, for example, are dotted with giant vegetables and barns. The “The Boy Who Would Be One with the Wind” level of the show features the real, giant-sized boy, reclining in the air, supposedly dreaming of flying. The designs are extravagant and imaginative, as one would expect from art director Naoto Ohshima of Sonic i Nights in dreams fame.
The mechanical core of Balance Wonderworld change of clothes. Leo and Emma open dresses as they venture out. Each has a unique ability. The Soeping Sheep suit allows the heroes to transform into balloons, which can ride the wind created by the rotating fans. The Elastiplant suit allows the couple to extend their upper body to access crystals and switches located slightly higher than other crystals or switches.
Other costumes mimic moves you might find in a Mario or Sonic game. The Aero Acrobat costume gives Leo and Emma the chance to spot enemies and airborne objects, launching themselves at them to attack. This is Sonic’s home attack. Pounding Pig’s dress is Mario’s pound in the shape of an adorable pig.
Instead of giving the characters all these skills and letting them go into the city in some dreamy landscapes, Balance Wonderworld he juggles up to three dresses at a time. This gives the player something to think about as he traverses the levels of Crystal Drops and hidden secrets. Level checkpoints can be used to change players ’costume formation, so don’t worry if you come across a path inaccessible to your current wardrobe.
I can’t honestly say that I have a firm understanding of what exactly is going on The wonderful world of Balan to play the demonstration. I spent much of my playing time pointing at the screen and asking my partner what the hell was going on. Why do they dance? Why is this fan? Why is that giant boy floating there? Our characters seem to be a couple of well-meaning kids wandering around to solve people’s problems, which is good. We may also be hallucinating, which can be fun. I’m really looking forward to getting to the bottom of this tripled mystery when the full game comes out on March 26th.