Balan Wonderworld

 Xbox Series X
Balan Wonderworld Image
Metascore
47

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 163 Ratings

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  • Summary: BALAN WONDERWORLD is an action platformer game themed around the Balan Theatre. Led by the enigmatic maestro named Balan, the stars of the show Emma and Leo will use special abilities from a multitude of characterful costumes as they adventure in the bizarre and imaginary land ofBALAN WONDERWORLD is an action platformer game themed around the Balan Theatre. Led by the enigmatic maestro named Balan, the stars of the show Emma and Leo will use special abilities from a multitude of characterful costumes as they adventure in the bizarre and imaginary land of Wonderworld. Here memories and vistas from the real world mix with the things that people hold dear. Twelve different tales await our stars in the Wonderworld, each with their own unique quirks. They will explore all corners of these labyrinthine stages, filled with a myriad of tricks and traps, to get to the heart of each story.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 11
  3. Negative: 6 out of 11
  1. Generación Xbox
    Apr 11, 2021
    72
    The magic of Night Into Dreams is glimpsed in small glimpses in Balan Wonderworld, a title with a lot of potential that struggles to get off the ground.
  2. SomosXbox
    Apr 9, 2021
    53
    Balan Wonderworld comes to the market as a title designed to make children enjoy. However, the title fails in most of its proposals, being the artistic section and the use of costumes the only thing that allows the title to maintain its composure at some point.
  3. Edge Magazine
    Apr 22, 2021
    50
    This is not a modern game, no. Nor is it a particularly good one. But nor is it quite the disaster it often threatens to turn into. So, yes, faint praise indeed. We'll ensure such mistakes aren't repeated when they appoint us CEO. [Issue#358, p.116]
    All this publication's reviews
  4. IGN Italia
    Mar 30, 2021
    47
    Balan Wonderworld is a dull game and a boring experience in a lackluster world.
  5. Critical Hit
    Apr 8, 2021
    45
    Balan Wonderworld is a game of missed opportunities. It’s simplified control scheme robs it of any of the subtle complexity that the genre is best at, its various ideas are half-baked at best, and its core gameplay is a taxing uphill climb through even the most basic of platforming principles. Amusing visual design aside, the only thing that Balan Wonderworld is good at is being consistently boring.
  6. Jeuxvideo.com
    Mar 31, 2021
    45
    Frustrating in its playability, abstruse in most of its rules, the soft falls without a net. No drama to report: like a drunken cannon-man, Balan Wonderworld misses his target. Too imprecise for the youngest, too basic for fans of the genre, he cannot count on any of his costumes to hide his shortcomings.
  7. Pure Xbox
    Mar 31, 2021
    30
    With a price point of $60, it's hard to recommend Balan Wonderworld, especially when other platformers (and even collections such as Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which contain multiple games) are a lot cheaper and are much better. The ingredients are all there for a great game, but everything has gone off and rotten. What's been cooked up is a bland, uninspired trip into a world that should have been anything but. Balan Wonderworld feels like bargain bin material that should be avoided at all costs... at any discount.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 49
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 49
  3. Negative: 18 out of 49
  1. Ledyth
    Mar 27, 2021
    10
    The best advice I can give you is, give it a try.
    It might sound strange, but this is the typical game case with a Demo version that doesn't    The best advice I can give you is, give it a try.
    It might sound strange, but this is the typical game case with a Demo version that doesn't do the full game justice at all.
    There are really cool levels in this game. And multiple mechanics that might surprise even the most hardcore platform player today.
    Happy with my purchase.    … Expand
  2. Kiroph
    Mar 29, 2021
    10
    An absolutely stunning game!
    Especially in the art design.

    I've really liked it this kind of approach
  4. Scorpion2029
    Apr 11, 2021
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is extremely fun to play square Enix and Balan Company really listen to feed back with the day one patch they fix everything people complained about in the demo and the graphics are beautiful the story and music is freaking amazing no matter what the harsh critics been saying about this game people should play this game before judging it.… Expand
  5. efeylmaz14
    Mar 28, 2021
    10
    And there you have it, beautiful graphics, great tunes, solid gameplay, surprisingly good and thoughtful gameplay add up to an experience thatAnd there you have it, beautiful graphics, great tunes, solid gameplay, surprisingly good and thoughtful gameplay add up to an experience that no action/platformer gamer should miss 93% -Dave… Expand
  6. SuperkenGaming
    Apr 5, 2021
    8
    Balan Wonderworld
    Really Fun, Really Underated
    Look, I of all people have the biggest chip on my shoulder when it comes to Balan, Square    Balan Wonderworld
    Really Fun, Really Underated
    Look, I of all people have the biggest chip on my shoulder when it comes to Balan, Square Enix doesn’t love me and wont send me codes anymore… And even I am baffled at the low metacritic score and IGN calling this game bad… it isn’t.. not even close to a bad game… This is probably one of the weirdest games youll ever play, you chose your haracter in the start and youre basically on the journey to fix the hearts of numerous characters all with their own story of sadness… this ggame will remind you a lot of a Mario game… in each level there are golden statues for you to collect that are required to move onto the next section of the world like a star in a Mario game or any other collectathon.. so the challenge does not come in clearing levels, it comes in hunting these things down… which here lies my biggest issue with balan… its insistence to give you collectables that you cant even reach with that level’s characters… each level youll be finding keys and crystals with different chrcters that will give you new abilities, either an attack, or traversal ability for the majority of the time… some charcters not even being able to jump, so youll be essentially character deck building… you can even bring charactrs from other levels into the next levels.. and Balan runs with this in a really frustrating way… there are so many times youll see a statue out of reach because yo udont have the right character from either a previous section or a future section, an in a game all about collecting as many statues as you can to move on, this can be super annoying…. Back tracking and replaying aa few levels almost feels mandatory.. but I do appreciate the variety here.. each level for the most part felt unique to me and memorable.. . at the end of 2 acts in one chapter you will take on a boss, these bosses are all super easy to beat, but it int about beating them, its about finding 3 different ways to deal damage, as youre rewarded up to 3 statues in the end based on your fighting variety… I do feel as though Balan Wonderworld overstays its welcome, clocking in at about 11 hours… and I am annoyed how luck based certain statue erning activites feel… and the overall lenth of the game also makes balan wonderworld just feel overwhelming as again its about colleting, not completing.. you unlock a new set of levels and it isn’t like man I cant wait to see what they throw at me next.. its more so, great, to unlock the next section of the world I need to find 4 statyues in this many levels before it gets back to only finding 3… and it was a strss that proved to just be too much for me during the final stretch.. A game that started with fun, ended with anxiety and frustration….
    Overall though I guess Balan Wonderworld is a game youre either going to click with or not, I for one don’t understand why o many people think this is a bad game,
    I guess because a bit of the sonic team worked on it and this isn’t a sonic game?
    I don’t know, I enjoyed it.
    I give Balan Wonderworld
    a 7.5/10    … Expand
  7. Matuscara
    Apr 6, 2021
    0
    terrible game... full of fake reviews here. pathetic to say the least. Absolute garbage game..
  8. B-Bog
    Mar 27, 2021
    0
    DO NOT TRUST THESE POSITIVE USER REVIEWS. THIS GAME IS ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.

    Seems like Squirt-Enix are resorting to the cheapest tactics    DO NOT TRUST THESE POSITIVE USER REVIEWS. THIS GAME IS ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.

    Seems like Squirt-Enix are resorting to the cheapest tactics possible and are trying to buy their way out of this mess by flooding this site with fake user reviews (look at the profiles of these people, none of them have reviewed anything else besides this POS). For which, shame on you, you f***ers! Don't you have ANY dignity left?

    There was a reason as to why they didn't hand out any review copies: This game could not even be considered decent as a free-to-play mobile game. To release something this bad as a fully-priced console title borders on fraud and is absolutely shameless.

    If my review gets marked as "not helpful", you know who's to blame (hint: it's not the actual players).    … Expand

See all 49 User Reviews

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81
#81 Best Xbox Series X Game of 2021
24
#24 Most Discussed Xbox Series X Game of 2021

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