Review of Balan Wonderworld: a colorful adventure from the creators of Sonic

If you are a fan of platform video games you are in luck. An adventure that we have been waiting for a long time is coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Nintendo Switch. Join us to discover the analysis of Balan Wonderworld and let yourself fall in love with its beautiful and colorful art. Are you ready for fun?

Welcome to the fantastic world of Wonderworld

From the beginning of this 3D platform adventure you will be able to select the main character: Leo (boy) and Emma (girl). Balan, a character with a top hat face that gives the game its name, will accompany us to the magical world of Wonderworld. Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima, two of the minds that shaped Sonic the hedgehog, give us this colorful world.

Wonderworld will be the setting for the main story and is presented as a musical play in which our avatar will have to overcome his past, his fears and all those reasons that prevent him from moving forward in life. Balan will be our ally and companion, since his goal in life is to help people achieve happiness

Our adventure will begin on Tim Island. From there we will be able to travel between the 12 different worlds of which Balan Wonderworld is composed. In each world we will know the story of a person who needs help to achieve happiness, and we will be the ones in charge of making it possible.

Old school platformer

Do not expect to find in Balan Wonderworld a video game with impossible jumps or frantic levels. The action is rather slow and focuses more on the collection of objects and the exploration of the scenarios than on epic and unforgettable combats

However, it is a video game that knows how to innovate and seeks new formulas to innovate within a genre in which there have been very interesting proposals lately as Mario Odyssey or Crash Bandicoot 4. The main novelty it presents is the use of costumes or appearances. We will be able to simultaneously swap between three different costumes that will have a series of skills associated with them. It will be essential to correctly combine these costumes, since the scenarios will have routes that we can only complete with certain skills. What if I want to have all the costumes but I already have 3 on me? It is not problem, we will have to our disposition a closet in which they will be stored and we will be able to use them in other levels.

Balan Wonderworld is not a metroidvania, but its costume mechanic allows us to return to previous scenarios with an ability that we did not have before and that will open access to an unexplored area, so discovering all the secrets of this game will not be easy. We will be able to jump, attack or fly and the combats will not have a very high difficulty. The real challenge of Balan Wonderworld will be to find the necessary statuettes to advance to the next level

The playability of Balan Wonderworld is completed with a series of sport mineogames distributed throughout its 12 worlds and by the challenge that supposes to make with the rest of collectibles, such as the Tims.

Playing together is more fun

One of the strong points of Balan Wonderworld is undoubtedly its cooperative mode. With two controllers and a console you will be able to enjoy this experience with another person. We have already seen similar proposals in other platform video games, as for example in the recent Sackboy: a big adventure

The smallest of the house will love it and will provoke nostalgia in the older ones. If there is one thing we know for sure, it is that Balan Wonderworld leaves no one indifferent and its particular proposal will convince all types of players

Ode to color and harmony

The artistic section of Balan Wonderworld is simply outstanding. Naoto Ohshima does not disappoint anyone and gets very colorful characters and scenarios that put us fully into that musical and imaginary world

In the sound section it has another great professional of the industry, Ryo Yamazaki, responsible for the soundtrack of great role-playing games such as Final Fantasy XIII and XIV

Final conclusions

Balan Wonderworld brings to the table a 3D platformer that will make you fall in love with its art and will convince you with its replayability. Highly recommended for the smallest of the house and recommended to play with another person at your side in cooperative mode

The best thing about it

• Its artistic section: you will fall in love from the first minute of the adventure
• Replayability: it won't be easy to find the statuettes in its 12 worlds
• Costume mechanics: a differentiating element in the genre

Worst part

• The collection of statuettes can become repetitive
• No graphical impact

We have made this analysis thanks to a download code for Playstation 5 provided by Koch Media.