My PS Plus Extra subscription is inspiring me to make bad decisions and a friend did tell me that the PS5 version is "the best one".
Well, I did it. After abandoning the Switch version, I finally beat Balan Wonderworld. I got every costume and beat the extra acts too, just for good measure. I have 41 out of 47 trophies and that's where I'm stopping because I sure as hell ain't getting the Platinum and those Balan Bout statues can kiss my ass.
What are my thoughts? It's bad! It's bad for all the reasons that people say it's bad but the most frustrating thing to me is it doesn't even fully commit to the bit! I wanted to fully immerse myself in those goofy musical theater flash dances and they reuse the same four songs! The game wants to be whimsical so bad but feels like it stops itself before it gets too weird and this game of all games needed to be weirder.
BUT there's more to it than that.
After putting 20 hours of my life into this thing, I truly believe Balan Wonderworld is one of those bad games that needs to be experienced, albeit very cheaply (I've seen this game hover around the five dollar price tag) or with a subscription service. Watching a review or stream of this just isn't enough. You need to live through Balan's Wretched Wonderworld. You just don't know how bad the Balan Bouts are until you try to make a serious effort in getting all the statues and you screw up the last button input in a 6 prompt QTE. You just don't know how bad the grinding portion of this game is until you have to fight a boss again and again just to reset a world so that raindrops, minibosses, and eggs respawn. The Tower of Tims needs 24,000 spins of that Tim Wheel for a trophy. I hatched and bred 100 Tims for another. It took me 25 soft resets for the Tim of Legend. Balan Wonderworld is not just bad, it's relentless.
This was an accomplishment in just how much I can endure before I call it quits, but this game truly earned its reputation. My time on this planet is finite and this is how I used it, and I do hope others do the same because sometimes, consuming bad 3D platformers make you better appreciate the decisions made in better games like Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, Vexx, Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure, and Dr. Muto.
Well, I did it. After abandoning the Switch version, I finally beat Balan Wonderworld. I got every costume and beat the extra acts too, just for good measure. I have 41 out of 47 trophies and that's where I'm stopping because I sure as hell ain't getting the Platinum and those Balan Bout statues can kiss my ass.
What are my thoughts? It's bad! It's bad for all the reasons that people say it's bad but the most frustrating thing to me is it doesn't even fully commit to the bit! I wanted to fully immerse myself in those goofy musical theater flash dances and they reuse the same four songs! The game wants to be whimsical so bad but feels like it stops itself before it gets too weird and this game of all games needed to be weirder.
BUT there's more to it than that.
After putting 20 hours of my life into this thing, I truly believe Balan Wonderworld is one of those bad games that needs to be experienced, albeit very cheaply (I've seen this game hover around the five dollar price tag) or with a subscription service. Watching a review or stream of this just isn't enough. You need to live through Balan's Wretched Wonderworld. You just don't know how bad the Balan Bouts are until you try to make a serious effort in getting all the statues and you screw up the last button input in a 6 prompt QTE. You just don't know how bad the grinding portion of this game is until you have to fight a boss again and again just to reset a world so that raindrops, minibosses, and eggs respawn. The Tower of Tims needs 24,000 spins of that Tim Wheel for a trophy. I hatched and bred 100 Tims for another. It took me 25 soft resets for the Tim of Legend. Balan Wonderworld is not just bad, it's relentless.
This was an accomplishment in just how much I can endure before I call it quits, but this game truly earned its reputation. My time on this planet is finite and this is how I used it, and I do hope others do the same because sometimes, consuming bad 3D platformers make you better appreciate the decisions made in better games like Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, Vexx, Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure, and Dr. Muto.