ManaByte
Gold Member
Allow me to preface this by saying I do revere Yuji Naka as something of Sega’s eccentric uncle next to the GOD Yu Suzuki. So, while I never would pay full price for Balan Wonderworld, I would try it for free (as it is on PS+) or very very cheap (it’s currently $11 for a Xbox PlayAnywhere copy). I downloaded it on PS+ and while it is pretty terrible, there are brief flashes of the Naka we once knew.
Balan of course looks like NiGHTS, the music is similar to that too (but more repetitive and annoying), but the player characters look more like Billy Hatcher. The costume element reminds me a lot of the Genesis game Kid Chameleon:
The biggest problem is the game plays like a c-tier DC or GameCube platformer stuck in the early 2000s. It’s not good, but you can see glimpses of where Yuji Naka is trying to recapture something from his past like a washed up lounge singer working an airport dive bar.
If you ever liked a game Naka has made, it’s worth a download just to see how far he has fallen and to experience this bizarre attempt at recapturing talent that died with the Saturn.
Balan of course looks like NiGHTS, the music is similar to that too (but more repetitive and annoying), but the player characters look more like Billy Hatcher. The costume element reminds me a lot of the Genesis game Kid Chameleon:
The biggest problem is the game plays like a c-tier DC or GameCube platformer stuck in the early 2000s. It’s not good, but you can see glimpses of where Yuji Naka is trying to recapture something from his past like a washed up lounge singer working an airport dive bar.
If you ever liked a game Naka has made, it’s worth a download just to see how far he has fallen and to experience this bizarre attempt at recapturing talent that died with the Saturn.
