Balan Wonderland demo was OK.
Good visuals IMO, but keep in mind that this is more of a slower paced adventure platformer, that's on the light side. Will satisfy younger children but more veteran/older players might be put off.
There are QTE challenges that are optional but I think in the main game they reward a cheevo at least. They're pretty simple though so nothing critical. it's just that the QTEs don't feel like they add anything to the game :V
The one thing they should fix in the full game is that power up boxes should always be available in case you want to switch back to a previous one. All in all it's an OK demo for what I expect to be an OK game. Keep expectations low and you might enjoy it but I dunno if I could recommend it at full price :X
IIRC, it was the first game in the series to feature it.
I tried the demo after reading your post.
I agree that from a technical standpoint the game looks fine... but personally found it really
really ugly. There is a distinctive lack of visual cohesion... in some respects it feels
asset-flippy. The character art is reminiscent both of Mighty No. 9 and Sonic, the world sometimes looks a bit like 3D Harvest Moon and sometimes like Yooka Lalyee's worst levels. The hats are the most elaborate assets and look like Nights.
But yeah, gameplay-wise it feels stiff, slow and undercooked.
That's too bad because on paper this is exactly the kind of stuff that I'd enjoy.
Edit:
Note to self: remember to google stuff before writing uninformed posts.
Well, apparently the characters/hats look they way the do because of Ohshima Naoto's involvement (Sonic and Nights' designer)...
