Balan Wonderworld (Yuji Naka + Square Enix)

[Milo]

Game has clocked over 60 reviews.

Opencritic - 48 "Weak", 61 reviews, 10% of critics recommend

Metacritic:

PS5 - 50 "Mixed and/or average", 26 reviews

Xbox Series X - 46 "Generally unfavorable", 10 reviews

PS4 - 46 "Generally unfavorable", 8 reviews

PC - 39 "Generally unfavorable", 9 reviews

Switch - 32 "Generally unfavorable", 7 reviews

-

Xbox One (1 review)

Metacritic metascore mean/average: 42(.6)

[Ryannumber1gamer]

17 minutes ago, Milo said:

Game has clocked over 60 reviews.

Opencritic - 48 "Weak", 61 reviews, 10% of critics recommend

Metacritic:

PS5 - 50 "Mixed and/or average", 26 reviews

Xbox Series X - 46 "Generally unfavorable", 10 reviews

PS4 - 46 "Generally unfavorable", 8 reviews

PC - 39 "Generally unfavorable", 9 reviews

Switch - 32 "Generally unfavorable", 7 reviews

-

Xbox One (1 review)

Metacritic metascore mean/average: 42(.6)

This is genuinely a disaster. I suspect it won't take long for bargain bins to be getting a new addition.

[Milo]

34 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

*simpsonsstophesalreadydead.mp4*

This is genuinely a disaster. I suspect it won't take long for bargain bins to be getting a new addition.

Was going to add the following to the original post, before you replied.

With at least seven reviews counted on Metacritic, the Switch version of Balan Wonderworld is, as of this writing, the worst-reviewed Switch release of the year and the fourth-worst reviewed Switch game of all time on the website.

EDIT: In addition. The PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X versions of the game are currently the worst-reviewed releases of the year for their platforms as well. The PS4 version fares a bit better than the rest as the third-worst-reviewed PS4 release of the year.

*beat*

Carry on.

[Scritch the Cat]

What do you think are the odds that anyone who worked on this will acknowledge the low opinions of it?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

14 hours ago, Milo said:

Was going to add the following to the original post, before you replied.

With at least seven reviews counted on Metacritic, the Switch version of Balan Wonderworld is, as of this writing, the worst-reviewed Switch release of the year and the fourth-worst reviewed Switch game of all time on the website.

EDIT: In addition. The PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X versions of the game are currently the worst-reviewed releases of the year for their platforms as well. The PS4 version fares a bit better than the rest as the third-worst-reviewed PS4 release of the year.

*beat*

Carry on.

Wow, so it went from being the second-worst reviewed Switch game of all time (only above Vroom IN the Night Skies of all games) to fourth. What an accomplishment.

Oh

[Sonikko]

I've played a fair bit of the demo, the game is bad indeed, but given how much shovelware is on the eshop and the other storefronts, I don't think it deserves to be that low on the chart

[Salamander]

17 minutes ago, Sonikko said:

I've played a fair bit of the demo, the game is bad indeed, but given how much shovelware is on the eshop and the other storefronts, I don't think it deserves to be that low on the chart

A fair point, but consider how much higher a profile (and budget!) Balan must have versus your average shovelware.  Squandering those arguably makes it a far bigger flop than your average bad game; or at the very least, it makes it natural that it should receive so much more negative attention.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

20 minutes ago, Sonikko said:

I've played a fair bit of the demo, the game is bad indeed, but given how much shovelware is on the eshop and the other storefronts, I don't think it deserves to be that low on the chart

Considering that the game was being charged for a full on $60.00, it definitely earned some ire. You come at us with a AAA price, then you better deliver something good.

The higher you charge versus how bad a game turns out to be, can be quite influential of its rating. Balan Wonderworld got exactly what it deserved.

[Danj86]

I've been watching Choctopus play Balan Wonderworld. It's not your average Let's Play. With his wit, cynicism, editing and cutaways, he makes a dull game enjoyable to watch. He does experience frequent lag or stuttering of some kind and it sounded like he tried to fix the problem but failed. I believe he said it was the PC version, I am only just starting to attempt to become a PC gamer, I don't know if performance issues are common on PC games but it certainly reflected bad on the game.

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

This is gonna be good

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

59 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

This is gonna be good

Wow, this actually managed to surpass his Sonic 06 review in length.

[Stasis]

Might just read the novel and play the soundtrack in the background while doing so. Sounds like a better experience. 

If only we got one of these for Balan. It would have been great.

 

[Sonikko]

6 hours ago, Jovahexeon The Undyne said:

Considering that the game was being charged for a full on $60.00, it definitely earned some ire. You come at us with a AAA price, then you better deliver something good.

The higher you charge versus how bad a game turns out to be, can be quite influential of its rating. Balan Wonderworld got exactly what it deserved.

 

6 hours ago, Salamander said:

A fair point, but consider how much higher a profile (and budget!) Balan must have versus your average shovelware.  Squandering those arguably makes it a far bigger flop than your average bad game; or at the very least, it makes it natural that it should receive so much more negative attention.

Both are good points, again, I'm not saying the game isn't crap, cause it is.

I'm against numerical scores cause I think they're dumb, but if I had to give one myself would probably be a 3/10, which aligns with Metacritic, that said, whilst the end product is undeniably, outright bad, and inexcusable for the asking price, is it really worse than Deadly Premonition 2, Croc's World and the likes (either games greated with the sole aim of "stealing" money out of people who may not be accostumed with the gaming environment and can't discern shovelware from actual products, or games that just do not work well and have little to no effort put into it, Deadly Premonition 2 in this case, or really the entirety of the GAAS industry, see the most recent case with Outriders).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that... scores should be more nuanced, just as the products themselves are more nuanced than either good, bad or mediocre.

It may just be me but I consider cynical-excuses-to-use-gambling-as-a-hook-to-make-endless-money-out-of-vulnerable-people made purposefully unfun to support their exploitative ingame economy labelled as "games", to be way more offensive than a little passion project like Balan that was clearly overpriced by the publisher, although it clearly did not work out.

Balan bad, yeah, but also sad to see it be like that.

[Scritch the Cat]

22 hours ago, Stasis said:

Might just read the novel and play the soundtrack in the background while doing so. Sounds like a better experience. 

If only we got one of these for Balan. It would have been great.

 

Sadly, at least for Yuji Naka I think it's not.  I know his track record has been mixed for a long time, but he made such a big deal of this being his huge comeback to relevancy that his reputation would be better had it not released.  I don't know what to think about him anymore.

[PC the Hedgehog]

On 4/15/2021 at 1:26 PM, Stasis said:

Might just read the novel and play the soundtrack in the background while doing so. Sounds like a better experience. 

If only we got one of these for Balan. It would have been great.

 

Despite Naka and Oshima's many missteps as game creators, it'd be in REALLY bad taste for Sonic's social media to mock their solo efforts considering the franchise likely wouldn't even exist without them.

I actually just finished the novel last night, and it's MUCH better than the game. I'll post my thoughts later when I have time, but I'd highly recommend it.

[Blue Blood]

On 4/17/2021 at 8:05 PM, PC the Hedgehog said:

Despite Naka and Oshima's many missteps as game creators, it'd be in REALLY bad taste for Sonic's social media to mock their solo efforts considering the franchise likely wouldn't even exist without them.

I actually just finished the novel last night, and it's MUCH better than the game. I'll post my thoughts later when I have time, but I'd highly recommend it.

I don't think that the Sonic social media will pull a stunt like that again, but regarding MM9 it was specifically because of an interview where someone speaking for the game said "it's better than nothing". I think it was a translator adding his own words or mis-translating what Inafune himself said, but the sentiment stood. That was line was like a knife to everyone who supported the game. The Sonic social media pages didn't attack the game, but instead mocked a really shitty thing that was said relating to the game in a somewhat official capacity. They did the same thing a some time later by berating loot boxes and other crappy microtransactions... Before SEGA then started using loot boxes and crappy microtransactions in different Sonic games. 

On so many different levels, SEGA wouldn't dare say a thing remotely negative about Balan. It would be incredibly poor form and they know it. The social media guys aren't the same people as those basically running SEGA, but still.

[PC the Hedgehog]

So yeah, the Balan Wonderworld novel. Surprisingly good stuff.

For starters, it explains most things the game either leaves out or leaves vague. Who is Balan? Who is Lance? What is their connection (and boy, was I surprised when the big reveal happened)? What is Wonderworld? Why are all the people there? What's with those drops and Tim things? The only thing it really doesn't explain is all the dancing, which, thankfully, the book has none of.

It also builds up the characters a lot more. The little cutscenes in the game were cute and all, but the book allows their stories to breathe a bit more. We learn why they ended up in Wonderworld, what the pieces of their hearts symbolize, and why the worlds they've created are the way they are. Plus, everyone actually interacts with everyone else. Certain characters develop friendships with each other. Some even have an incredibly surprising connection that isn't revealed until the very end of the book. We even get to see Leo's growth and development as a character as the story goes along, meeting the others and developing deeper connections with some of them. He even has his own "stage" in Wonderworld.

Story-wise, it can be kind of by-the-numbers. The first third of the book has Leo entering Wonderworld and meeting all 12 characters, as well as checking out the happy, carefree worlds they've created for themselves. Interestingly, Lance is the one who guides him along, giving the impression that he's the guiding light while visions of Balan appear intermittently, causing everyone to express concern (which is kind of unwarranted, as there's no indication that he's malicious at all). By the middle, Balan makes himself known and Lance reveals himself as the "villain", allowing everyone except Leo to become corrupted and leading to the majority of the game's story of Leo going around saving everyone's hearts and whatnot, now with Balan's help. The last section of the book is by far the most interesting, a pretty lengthy epilogue where all the characters get their lives back on track and all even end up meeting each other despite being from different countries, speaking different languages, and in some instances, living in entirely different time periods(!) Two of the characters even get married! The only two characters who don't get confirmed happy endings are Lance and, surprisingly, Balan himself, though I won't spoil why.

Pretty much the only downside of the book to me is how they treat Emma. Yeah, she's in here too, helping out Balan while everyone else is working with Lance. She doesn't really do a whole lot, and her story is actually even less developed than it was in the game.

All in all, while the book certainly had its flaws, it also contained all the magic than the game sorely lacked. It really helped me to appreciate what Naka and crew were trying to do with this new world...and made me sad at how badly the game itself botched its potential. I would highly recommend anyone remotely curious about the world of Balan Wonderworld to save $60 and pick up the book instead.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

On 4/15/2021 at 4:43 PM, Sonikko said:

Both are good points, again, I'm not saying the game isn't crap, cause it is.

I'm against numerical scores cause I think they're dumb, but if I had to give one myself would probably be a 3/10, which aligns with Metacritic, that said, whilst the end product is undeniably, outright bad, and inexcusable for the asking price, is it really worse than Deadly Premonition 2, Croc's World and the likes (either games greated with the sole aim of "stealing" money out of people who may not be accostumed with the gaming environment and can't discern shovelware from actual products, or games that just do not work well and have little to no effort put into it, Deadly Premonition 2 in this case, or really the entirety of the GAAS industry, see the most recent case with Outriders).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that... scores should be more nuanced, just as the products themselves are more nuanced than either good, bad or mediocre.

It may just be me but I consider cynical-excuses-to-use-gambling-as-a-hook-to-make-endless-money-out-of-vulnerable-people made purposefully unfun to support their exploitative ingame economy labelled as "games", to be way more offensive than a little passion project like Balan that was clearly overpriced by the publisher, although it clearly did not work out.

Balan bad, yeah, but also sad to see it be like that.

Oh trust me man. I get exactly where you're coming from. That said, I wouldn't say this is a symptom of Balan Wonderworld necessarily being more targeted than more scummy games, but also a look into the scope and setting of each little.

That being said, in some ways it is unfortunately worse than those examples you listed. On the basis that they at least do function properly. Balan is an outright bonkers experience. The story is incomprehensible half the time, the gameplay isn't fun in the slightest, and the way the game was actually meant to function is ass-backwards.

Now, one could argue that on the merits of the moral values behind other games that yes, things are much worse, and hey, if anything,quite a few GAAS games have been seeing their just deserts for shoddy performance as well there, but I do get what you mean with how it can be frustrating that other games don't get to see pummeled as much as certain others.

I suppose with other cases, there lies some hope that they'll get better. Unfortunately with Balan Wonderworld, the very foundation of the gameplay was rotten.

[charmsb]

Man, seeing the first page of this thread compared to the last... this game was dunked on and then forgotten.

[Shade Vortex]

I mean, the gameplay... is very forgettable. There's nothing noteworthy or of value to be had there. All this game's got going for it is a decent production value: good visuals, music, aesthetics/art direction, cutscenes, etc... reminds me of Sonic Forces in so many ways. But you know what?  I'd rather play Forces, the gameplay there may not have been super great, but it also wasn't mind-numbingly slow and straight up not fun thanks to its mechanical shortcomings (the single button style of gameplay that Naka is obsessed with really came to bite him in the ass this time).

[Scritch the Cat]

I kind of want people to rip the models and make a better game out of the concept.  I was going to say that it doesn't give people a lot to work with, but then based on what PC said maybe there is plenty.