Poor Balan Wonderworld.

[wpykdg]

IN DEFENSE OF BALANWORLD:

Balan Wonderworld is sadly being bashed to the cosmos and back for mostly it's story telling and gameplay controls. I for one actually see this game for the "hidden" underrated masterpiece that it truly is. As much as I would love to type up a whole essay or present a powerpoint presentation via Youtube on why the "gamers" are actually wrong about this game, I figured I just sum what this game's main intention was all along. Do you want to know what that is? To challenge the "gamers" perspective of what an actual puzzle platformer is! It is hard to tell at first but hear me out.

From the start of the game, the main character (from what I am hearing from other gamers/consumers) is abducting characters and taking them on an adventure, that helps them find themselves, solve their main issues that they are dealing with in life and to learn about the true nature/meaning of friendship and bonding with others. What's really fascinating about this game from other "world famous" and "well known" platformers, is that it does not give you the freedom to use all the power ups or switch between them at once. While this maybe an insult to others, I can see where the game designers were coming from based on a game design stand point. They wanted to challenge the term "puzzle platformer" and see what the player can do with limited power ups/embarking on various missions, that will showcase just how intelligent and open minded gamers really are. It is NOT supposed to be another Mario, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Sonic and etc., based action/puzzle platformer. Balan Wonderworld wants to be it's own individual game. The issue/main complain here, is that "gamers" don't want nothing innovative/ new at all. As a matter of fact, this game exposes how much the players/gamers, do not like big changes or to be challenged on certain aspects of the game at all.

Long story short, I agree with every Youtuber who detests this game for a lot of things. However, I do not agree with them for simply bashing this game over it's hidden deep story, (which requires a lot of critical thinking on our end) different/simplistic power ups, (which also requires the player to decide how they want to play the game) and for just comparing it to other well known platformers. If we stop comparing Balan Wonderworld to other Nintendo games, (tons of gamers have been spoiled by Nintendo and mostly expect certain platformers to play like a Mario, Yoshi, Donkey Kong and etc.) I honestly believe that gamers will enjoy the game more, play it from a different perspective and stop increasing their expectations to such impossible levels. Once Balan Wonderworld does the following, I believe that the game will do just fine: (But the game designers and etc., are probably already demotivated about the poor sales/well deserved criticism, so they are probably going to cancel a sequel/move on to other projects. This is why Indies thrive in innovation and AAA games stick to FPS, battle royale and etc.)

-Fix the bugs/glitches (Listen to the consumer/gamers complaints carefully on what really needs to be changed/fixed)
-Add a game + mode where players can use all the power ups on a harder or easier difficulty setting.
-Add a mode where players can experience the game/ as a narrator is telling the story. (Kind of like what Guilty Gear Xrd does, except a narrator is talking instead of the characters. There is no gameplay. It can be like a movie mode.)
-Create an After story DLC, where we can play as Balan in a whole new way. (I do admit that the quick time events are rather disappointing/sorely not needed in this game)
-Lower the price of this game by $20. (This game should have never been $60+ tax to begin with)


The rest is up to you all. Not everyone is going to agree with you at all times and that is ok. Give this game another chance. Or you could just use a PC trainer (For the PC port) to experience this game in a new way on PC. ;)