A Quick Sugar Fix
Soda and candy mascots have periodically made their way out of the plastic wrapper and into the video game market. As mentioned in last week’s Pick & Play by fellow Cheat Code Central writer Shelby Reiches, 7-Up’s mascot Spot is the first that comes to mind. He starred in a fairly successful platformer in his day, but a lot of that was because Spot became a pop phenomenon (no pun intended), after being showcased in 7-Up commercials for a lengthy period, and was tailored to the same audience that was already hooked on video games. It was a smart strategy by PepsiCo, and the game even won some awards in the sound and music department.
World Gone Sour, however, enters a completely different gaming environment than that of the early 90s. It is a side-scrolling platformer based on the journey of a those beloved cinema treats, the Sour Patch Kids, but the overall product was clearly not given enough time to reach that perfect sugar high. Yet despite the remedial design and control issues, it’s still only five dollars to download, and has a quirkiness to it that may just win you over.
In World Gone Sour, the purpose in life for a Sour Patch Kid is to make it into the belly of a human—their Nirvana, if you will. But you, a poor little green gummy, were unfortunately purchased by a clumsy kid at the theatre, who tripped over his untied shoes and launched you into the garbage can, doomed to never be eaten. But unlike other Sour Patch Kids who turn psychotic after being tossed aside, you refuse to let your destiny go unfulfilled, and thus begin a journey out of the garbage can and into the world.
The world however, is not that big, and basically consists of the movie theatre and a few areas in and around a house. Being such a tiny little candy, the backdrops are larger than life, with platforms and puzzles that use all manner of fictionally contrived household items and candies. The design is clearly surrealistic in nature, and some aspects of it are very cleverly put together. If you’ve played LittleBigPlanet, then you will undoubtedly draw comparisons to the environments here. However, World Gone Sour leans a little more toward realism, and a lot more toward shoddy. It’s nothing grandiose in quality, but that doesn’t stop the wacky designers at Playbrains from toying with absurd candy brand names. Pus Poppers, What The Fudge, Dairy Bombs, Holey Molars, Fat Mama Sugar Cones, Diet Dilly Squeeze, and Mr. Poopers are just some of the crazy names given to avoid using other trademarked brands.
Of course, the world is not without its share of enemies, which are comprised of things like gooey gum and broken, chomping light bulbs. Bosses are engineered monstrosities of these simple items, and are usually helmed by one of those tossed Sour Patch Kids gone insane. You begin tackling these obstacles as a small Kid, quick and nimble, but only able to withstand a single hit. Throughout each level you’ll rescue more Sour Patch Kids, who’ll gladly follow your lead like Pikmin. These troops can be tossed to hit triggers or to dispatch enemies, with the standard jumping on top of heads being the other way of destroying baddies. After collecting enough followers, you can absorb them to make yourself bigger, giving you more physical endurance and the ability to ground pound through fragile barriers or charge up your attack, but at the cost of speed. Certain areas and the occasional secret nook require you to discharge your brethren to fit through the crevice, a clever ideas that tugs a little at the strategy strings.
Collecting stars and defeating enemies will increase your score, and Green Gummies will fill a meter that grants you an additional life when full. Gaining extra lives is essential, partly because you will make sacrifices for a more robust score and partly because the controls are horrendous. There is a lag with the button response, especially while jumping, that requires you to adjust your timing. You don’t stop and turn on a dime, many of the platforms are unforgiving, and swinging across chasms usually results in landing on deadly spikes or into boiling cooking oil.
Of course, these sacrifices aren’t necessarily a bad thing, as a third of your final score is derived from different methods of execution. There are eight ways to die, which includes being drowned, sliced, squashed, burnt, flung, exploded, skewered, and melted. If you want to spare yourself, you can be completely maniacal and toss one your companions to its death instead, watching it writhe in pain briefly before evaporating. It may seem inhumane, but since your buddies poof back into formation after a few seconds, it’s worth the brief bout of sadism.
Like the visuals, the music and effects are a throwback to the golden days of side-scrolling platformers, although in the sound category it’s a mix bag of odd but humorous voice acting and just plain boring everything else. The narration and commentary throughout the journey makes me believe the designers were sparked by another recent downloadable title called Bastion. However, instead of a cool, deep Clint Eastwood-like voice, the narrator sounds more like Bill Murray’s portrayal of Carl Spackler in Caddyshack . The musical score sounds like it was taken straight from the old arcade hit Paperboy, and your Sour Patch army sounds exactly like Pikmin when thrown. It’s nothing worthy of any praise, so hit the mute button or throw on your own tunes for this one.
When I first began playing World Gone Sour, I was disappointed with the technical flaws of the game. But as I progressed, it started to stick to me like the wet gummy I was controlling. Perhaps it’s the hilarious product branding, or the ability to send Sour Patch Kids to their doom, or maybe it’s the fact that this simple adventure is only five bucks. It’s not going to win any awards, the dark humor may be a turnoff to some, and it doesn’t do anything drastically new, but it’s a fun diversion nonetheless, and worth five Washington’s if you’ve grown tired of your high-priced picks.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.1 Graphics
It’s reminiscent of LittleBigPlanet, but not nearly as pretty. 2.5 Control
The button lag and horrid wall jumping are huge issues. You can adapt, but you shouldn’t have to. 2.2 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Oddly humorous narration doesn’t make up for the rest of the shoddy audio. 3.5 Play Value
There’s not much to it, but it’s only five bucks, so it’s still worth a quick sugar fix. 3.0 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.
Review Rating Legend | |||
---|---|---|---|
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid | 2.5 – 2.9 = Average | 3.5 – 3.9 = Good | 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy |
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor | 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair | 4.0 – 4.4 = Great | 5.0 = The Best |
Game Features: