When I first heard of BADLAND: Game of the Year Edition. I thought “Oh joy, ANOTHER port of a mobile game that will be a cash grab.” After I first played it, I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but actually fun. The controls felt at home with the controller. As I continued through the story, however, the magic started to fade.
Badland was originally released in 2013 as an iOS and Android game. The same year, it won Apple’s iPad Game of the Year award and the Grand Prix award at the International Mobile Gaming Awards. The following year, it was released for Windows phone. Finally, this spring, it was released as the Game of the Year Edition for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Wii U and Steam. In BADLAND, you play as a small black bat-like creature named Clony.
As you progress through the levels, you must avoid obstacles, as well as collect power ups including ones that multiply Clony. Not only is the goal to finish the level, but finish the level with as many “clones” as you can. This version of the game included all previous DLC, as well as fine tuning the controls and levels to accommodate for the trigger and analog sticks. While some controls are different, the game’s details were left untouched, for better or for worse.
STYLE
Stylistically, this game is oh so satisfying. The art style is a combination of a grim, dark foreground, with a grim, yet colorful background. Combine this art with the sounds of a gentle forest (of course, with the occasional sounds of saws, explosions, and plopping of the clones hitting the ground/dying) and you get a visually and audibly pleasant experience.
GAMEPLAY
Imagine if Limbo and Flappy Bird had a bastard child born from hate, causing it to be hardened to not care about your feelings. That’s BADLAND. To a T. The gameplay is broken up into 3 sections: Single Player, Co-op, and Multiplayer. The first two have one major detail in common: they are both very difficult, and they do not let up.
Single Player
Before jumping into my rant, let’s take a look at the style of gameplay. The levels are broken down into “day segments.” There are two days, and 4 “courses” in each day. (Dawn, Afternoon, Dusk, Night) Each course has 10 levels, and each level has 3 objectives. Yeah. Confusing. However, the objectives are optional, so as long as you complete the level, you will progress. Since this is the GotY edition, both update courses are included: Daydream and Doomsday. These are challenge courses, and dear God, they hold true to their name, says the man who was only able to make it to level 2 of Daydream before saying Uncle. I will say it now and harp on it: dear. God. This. Game. Is. Hard.
That is probably one of my biggest complaints with this game, so bear with me. At first I very much enjoyed playing this game. However as the levels went on and I died over, and over, and over on the same part of a level, the novelty wore off. The game quickly went from being a new and fun adventure, to being a chore, and not even an acceptable chore, like walking a dog or taking out the trash, but scrubbing an entire room with the smallest possible brush you can think of. That is why this review has taken a month to complete. I was only able to stomach playing a level or two before I just could no longer take it. I can only take having 30 clones on the screen, then having them all whisked away, crashing into walls and dying left and right and hoping that one did not get thrown off screen while not being in control. This description happens more often than I would wish. With BADLAND being a mobile game first, I can understand why this feeling occurs. With mobile games, we are able to play a level here or there when we have a moment of down time, but with console games, time must be set aside to sit down and enjoy the game. There were some levels that took well over 5 minutes to complete it, so why would I choose to play this difficult, and sometimes unfair, game in the 30 minutes to an hour I have to play games instead of a different game in my catalog? I asked this multiple times and could not come up with a single reason for playing it any longer than a level or two every few days by myself. What does help: friends.
Co-op
Yes, there is co-op in this game. It is only couch co-op, and only the main signed in player will get achievements (Really.. Who in the world thought that is a great trend to start?) But is it good? Ehh. The downside to it is even with only one other friend on the screen, it got confusing. Which could lead to complications with three or even four players controlling multiple clones on the same screen. The level structure is similar to Single Player. Some powerups are moved and some extra obstacles are added, but all in all it is the same level hierarchy. The only layout change is that the objectives are adjusted to contour to multiple people playing. All in all, Co-op is fun, just not phenomenal.
Multiplayer
This, in my opinion, is where I see myself playing BADLAND for a long time. It too is only couch, but it works so well. Instead of being the same as single player and co-op, it is competitive minigames that resemble the story missions, but are modified for certain competitions. Some are unlocked from the beginning, and more are added as the game is completed. There are 24 matches in all. Even with just playing with one friend, this was by far my favorite part of the game, and will be included in the “Guy Game Night” rotation with friends. We finished one match and immediately wanted more. The levels were not too long, and each had its own quirk that kept gameplay fresh. In the average sea that is BADLAND, the multiplayer is definitely the Great Coral Reef. If I were to recommend this game to anyone for anything, it would be for this reason and this reason alone.
FINAL VERDICT
All in all, the game is not horrible. It has its downfalls, which may tickle your fancy, but still can be enjoyable. While it could be extremely difficult, there was a sense of satisfaction when levels were completed. The design of the game is beautiful. The visual and audio is impeccable, even if there can be frame rate hiccups at times. By far, the best part of the game is when friends are brought along for the journey. The more the merrier in my opinion. So all in all, average game with good party play, wrapped in an extremely pretty box.
