The Wonderful End of the World (Game Review)

Like most of the games in my Steam library (as well as most of the games I'll probably be reviewing here), The Wonderful End of The World is one of those random games that I bought on a whim during one of their seasonal sales and completely forgot about (I tend to do that a lot). Anyway, if you know me then you will know that I love games with silly art styles, and this game had just that. I still had no idea what the game would be about, but I went ahead and purchased the game anyway (Steam sales will do that to you). It was actually part of a bundle pack that included four other games from the same developer and it was on sale, so it seemed like a pretty good deal.

Yes, one of their games is actually called "AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome". And yes, it's just as insane and awesome as it sounds.

Anyways, what is the "End of the World" that this game speaks of, and why is it so wonderful? I have no idea. Seriously, it's never mentioned in the game. It's actually mentioned in the game description in the Steam store, but not in the actual game. That's kind of silly, but it's really no big deal. The basic gist of it is that the world is in danger of being devoured by a mythological demon with the head of a fish, and you play as a magical being of pure energy whose job is to save whatever you can from the world before it's eventually consumed (again, none of this is ever mentioned in the game).

Our protagonist, ladies and gentlemen.

So there we go. You're a being of energy who has to run around and absorb whatever you can into your body before the time limit. Sound familiar? Collecting objects by running into them? Take a look at the screenshot above. If you need additional help jogging your memory, here's another one;

It feels so familiar...

Yea, it's a Katamari Damacy ripoff. Seriously, it's the exact same game. It doesn't even try to do anything new; you run around the level collecting smaller items like books and spoons in order to increase your size so you can run into and collect bigger items like chairs and tables. Repeat that process until the timer runs out in each level, then do that twelve more times, and that's The Wonderful End of The World for you.

You read that right; there's only twelve levels in this game.

At first, I was ready to stop playing after the first two levels. It's just a Katamari ripoff, after all. But then, I played another level. And then another. And then another. Yea, it's a Katamari ripoff, but at least it's a good Katamari ripoff. That rush of adrenaline you get during those last ten seconds was a key part of Katamari, and it's present in this game as well. Also a huge plus is the fact that the twelve stages are all different from one another, and the music is pretty catchy as well. The stages are a little smaller compared to Katamari, but it's still pretty fun racing the clock, trying to collect everything in the level before the time runs out.

Though I may come off as being pretentious, this level is one of my personal favorite, a "surrealist library where the words have literally leapt out of their books".

Now, while I did enjoy the game, I can't deny the fact that it was also a relatively short one. You can play the game from start to finish in no less than an hour, and if for some reason you don't get an A+ on some of the levels, there's probably another 30minutes going back to those levels and perfecting them, and another 30minutes if you're going for all the achievements. So yea, even at most, this game takes only two hours to complete. That's even shorter than Little Inferno. The final nail in its coffin is the price; $9.99. While it won't exactly burn a hole in your wallet, that's still a lot for a game that can be completed in such a short time (just for reference, other games you can get for $9.99: GTA Vice City, Limbo, Hitman : Blood Money).

Seriously, this game that lasted well over 20 hours is only $9.99, proving that there is a God, and that he loves us.

In conclusion, The Wonderful End of The World isn't a bad game. It's actually a pretty good game; just a rather expensive game for the amount of content it offers. If you are considering getting this game, do what I did and get the developer bundle during a sale. At least then you'll get five games for the price of one. As of now though, $9.99 for a two hour game is simply way too much, and just isn't worth it. 

Even if there is a fantastical candy level, complete with dancing gummy bears.