Review: The Wonderful End of the World [PC]
josh, 21-Mar-09 » The Wonderful End of the World Review, by Josh
Let me just start off by saying that The Wonderful End of the World by Dejobaan Games is a strange game. The game came out about a year ago at this point, and while the premise is simple, it’s very odd. The game is described on the developers website as “The Earth is about to be eaten. It's your job to take as much as you can and create a new world to replace it,” which is completely correct, as you would expect from the company that produced the game, but the actual process of gathering up the stuff is much more entertaining. The second level of the demo is what really sold me and got me to review the entire game. For all the gamers out there, how does this sound... a retro gaming level that starts you off within a game of Pong, set within a game of Pac-Man, surrounded by various pieces of other games including Centipede, Tetris, the Tron light cycles (including light trails), Mario-esque mushrooms, and to top it all off Space Invaders hovering overhead. Oh yeah... and that’s only the second level.
The Second world sets you in a retro game world where you'll find your fair share of early gaming's staple titles.
You start off each level as a “puppet” made up of just a few spheres to give you a visual reference of how big you are. You progress through the game by picking up objects that are smaller than you by walking over them, and as you pick up more objects, you grow in size, allowing you to pick up more and more items. Throughout the 12 levels, you’ll pick up things as small as a thumbtack through to as large as a skyscraper. Most of your time playing is spent walking around gathering up smaller items in the hope that the next big item you pass will be smaller than you.
The Opening level starts you off at the scale of a strawberry or an orange slice.
If you’re already an indie gamer, this might sound a bit familiar. If you’ve ever played the Japanese game Katamari Damacy, then this will all be very familiar territory for you. The difference is that the Katamari games only made their way to PS2, PSP and to Xbox 360, while this is a PC exclusive. Some will dismiss it as just a port of Katamari, and while it may be, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a look. For fans of the series, this game provides more of that action, but at a greatly reduced cost at only $9.95.
The final level starts you off with computers, plants, and people...
I really enjoyed this game because of how odd it is. The game tells you that you are the puppet of a goddess who has been tasked with gathering all the objects from this world to create another. Apparently the reason why the earth is going to be destroyed is because there is a demon with the head of a fish that is coming to destroy the planet. Seriously? What kinds of drugs were required to write this game? Although to be fair, if you know the source material of Katamari, this plot actually makes a lot more sense. Bottom line is that you’re not going to play this game for the story of it, but rather the potentially unhealthy sense of glee you get when you manage to grab your first dog and you hear a polite little bark letting you know you’ve gathered it. There’s something very wrong, but definitively satisfying about essentially picking up a person and hearing them give out a slight yell. Unhealthy? Probably. Fun? Absolutely!
... but ultimately finishes at this with you picking up scyscrapers.
Unfortunately, this game does have a few flaws. The main aim of the game is to pick up items that get progressively larger. Occasionally you will happen upon items that you’ll not be able to pick up, which is fine, but you will be able to pick them up after a few more smaller items, leading to a lot of backtracking. Having said that though, most of the levels are not that big, making backtracking a bit easier. When you are beginning a level, the world is huge and you are constrained by a fence or some other object that is larger than you, but once you grow large enough to gather the fence, you can see that the level designers decided that, instead of just creating an invisible wall or perhaps putting in some sort of natural barrier, they would just take the floor plane and angle it up, meaning that some of the levels, when you grow to the larger sizes, effectively end up being roughly the shape of a cup. I can understand that they want to give the player some boundaries so they don’t go rolling off into nothing, but I would have appreciated something a bit less abrupt. There’s also occasionally a problem with fitting through spaces when you are a larger size than them, but I think that was my problem, not the game’s.
To finish up, I think this is a great game and that if you haven’t played Katamari, you should definitely pick this up, and if you have played Katamari, you should still pick this up. It does have its glitches and weirdness, but that’s part of what makes it so much fun. The absurdity of the premise, along with the sense that this is a game that was made just for fun make it a truly great experience, and if you give it a shot I think you’ll thoroughly enjoy it as well.
The demo containing the first two levels can be found here: http://www.dejobaan.com/wonderful/demo.htm
While the complete game can be purchased for $9.95US here: http://www.dejobaan.com/wonderful/buy.htm
It can also be found on Steam here:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/15500/
For more info on Dejobaan games, including information on their next game, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, a game described as “Jumping, skydiving, design-your-own stunts for Windows,” visit
http://www.dejobaan.com/
Let me just start off by saying that The Wonderful End of the World by Dejobaan Games is a strange game. The game came out about a year ago at this point, and while the premise is simple, it’s very odd. The game is described on the developers website as “The Earth is about to be eaten. It's your job to take as much as you can and create a new world to replace it,” which is completely correct, as you would expect from the company that produced the game, but the actual process of gathering up the stuff is much more entertaining. The second level of the demo is what really sold me and got me to review the entire game. For all the gamers out there, how does this sound... a retro gaming level that starts you off within a game of Pong, set within a game of Pac-Man, surrounded by various pieces of other games including Centipede, Tetris, the Tron light cycles (including light trails), Mario-esque mushrooms, and to top it all off Space Invaders hovering overhead. Oh yeah... and that’s only the second level.
The Second world sets you in a retro game world where you'll find your fair share of early gaming's staple titles.
You start off each level as a “puppet” made up of just a few spheres to give you a visual reference of how big you are. You progress through the game by picking up objects that are smaller than you by walking over them, and as you pick up more objects, you grow in size, allowing you to pick up more and more items. Throughout the 12 levels, you’ll pick up things as small as a thumbtack through to as large as a skyscraper. Most of your time playing is spent walking around gathering up smaller items in the hope that the next big item you pass will be smaller than you.
The Opening level starts you off at the scale of a strawberry or an orange slice.
If you’re already an indie gamer, this might sound a bit familiar. If you’ve ever played the Japanese game Katamari Damacy, then this will all be very familiar territory for you. The difference is that the Katamari games only made their way to PS2, PSP and to Xbox 360, while this is a PC exclusive. Some will dismiss it as just a port of Katamari, and while it may be, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a look. For fans of the series, this game provides more of that action, but at a greatly reduced cost at only $9.95.
The final level starts you off with computers, plants, and people...
I really enjoyed this game because of how odd it is. The game tells you that you are the puppet of a goddess who has been tasked with gathering all the objects from this world to create another. Apparently the reason why the earth is going to be destroyed is because there is a demon with the head of a fish that is coming to destroy the planet. Seriously? What kinds of drugs were required to write this game? Although to be fair, if you know the source material of Katamari, this plot actually makes a lot more sense. Bottom line is that you’re not going to play this game for the story of it, but rather the potentially unhealthy sense of glee you get when you manage to grab your first dog and you hear a polite little bark letting you know you’ve gathered it. There’s something very wrong, but definitively satisfying about essentially picking up a person and hearing them give out a slight yell. Unhealthy? Probably. Fun? Absolutely!
... but ultimately finishes at this with you picking up scyscrapers.
Unfortunately, this game does have a few flaws. The main aim of the game is to pick up items that get progressively larger. Occasionally you will happen upon items that you’ll not be able to pick up, which is fine, but you will be able to pick them up after a few more smaller items, leading to a lot of backtracking. Having said that though, most of the levels are not that big, making backtracking a bit easier. When you are beginning a level, the world is huge and you are constrained by a fence or some other object that is larger than you, but once you grow large enough to gather the fence, you can see that the level designers decided that, instead of just creating an invisible wall or perhaps putting in some sort of natural barrier, they would just take the floor plane and angle it up, meaning that some of the levels, when you grow to the larger sizes, effectively end up being roughly the shape of a cup. I can understand that they want to give the player some boundaries so they don’t go rolling off into nothing, but I would have appreciated something a bit less abrupt. There’s also occasionally a problem with fitting through spaces when you are a larger size than them, but I think that was my problem, not the game’s.
To finish up, I think this is a great game and that if you haven’t played Katamari, you should definitely pick this up, and if you have played Katamari, you should still pick this up. It does have its glitches and weirdness, but that’s part of what makes it so much fun. The absurdity of the premise, along with the sense that this is a game that was made just for fun make it a truly great experience, and if you give it a shot I think you’ll thoroughly enjoy it as well.
The demo containing the first two levels can be found here: http://www.dejobaan.com/wonderful/demo.htm
While the complete game can be purchased for $9.95US here: http://www.dejobaan.com/wonderful/buy.htm
It can also be found on Steam here:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/15500/
For more info on Dejobaan games, including information on their next game, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, a game described as “Jumping, skydiving, design-your-own stunts for Windows,” visit
http://www.dejobaan.com/
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| Category: | Game Reviews |
| Posted: | 21-Mar-09 12:11:18 am |
| Author: | josh |