It’s a (Balan) wonderful life

If you’re feeling down and need a colourful pick-me-up, taking a trip into the Balan Wonderworld could be your answer.

This 3D action platformer from Sonic the Hedgehog creators Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima sees you play as Leo and Emma, led into a dreamlike realm by the mysterious clown Balan. Each chapter is made up of stages formed from other characters’ stories, such as a farmer afraid of a storm ruining his crops or a diver whose love of the sea is undone by a traumatic accident. As well as restoring balance to these people’s hearts, you might just save Leo and Emma from their own worries.

Getting around the levels means collecting costumes (of which there are over 80), each granting our heroes new powers. Though some of them are nothing new, the costumes do give a novel twist – notably a sheep that puffs up to glide in the air, and a wolf that spins like the cartoon Tasmanian Devil to smash through obstacles.

It feels a bit simple compared to other 3D platformers, but finding new costumes does incentivise you to revisit levels: in one we found a webbed path that was inaccessible but surely hinted that a spider costume wasn’t far away…

Under all this weirdness is the familiar DNA of the creators. Balan’s big eyes coming out of their top hat will surely make you think of Sonic as well as the jester-like figure from Nights into Dreams, a game that also revolved around two children facing their inner struggles. With two-player co-op also available, Balan Wonderworld looks like quite the family adventure.