I have absolutely no idea how World Gone Sour was made. Capcom’s certainly no stranger to shilling brands, as evidenced by their successful iOS effort, Smurfs’ Village, or even their oft-forgotten 1990 NES game, Yo! Noid, starring an even more oft-forgotten Dominos Pizza mascot, the Noid. Oddly enough, though commercial adaptations are traditionally frowned upon in the video game industry, Capcom’s proven time and time again through both those works and through their older Disney games that it is possible to create a quality video game based on an established brand. Can they and developer Playbrains find sweet inspiration in an even sweeter brand of candy?
World Gone Sour is the story of one green Sour Patch Kid’s suicidal journey to get eaten after his abandonment in a movie theater. If that plotline isn’t disturbing enough, the game takes its unlikely protagonist through a regular little shop of candied horrors along the way. Other Sour Patch Kids want nothing more than to stop our hero from achieving his gastrointestinal nirvana and throw shoes, dolls, and pencils at him in an effort to stop him.
To its credit, the game is fairly charming and quirky in a Toy Story-gone-wrong kind of way. The game has some genuinely funny moments, and the narrator elicited a few chuckles from me in his description of the absurdities present in World Gone Sour. I’m still completely baffled as to what demographic this game is aimed at, given that its T rating (which it fully earns, mind you) seems a bit high for a game based on candy. I wouldn’t expect Method Man to have as much passion for gelatin and sugar as he shares during the theme, but it somehow works in the weird mixture that is World Gone Sour.
The gameplay isn’t quite as interesting as the rest of the game. It’s not a disaster, but its standard, generic 2D platforming combined with a lack of unique enemies causes the novelty of its premise to wear thin despite its short length. The green Kid can defeat enemies by jumping on them or throwing other Sour Patch Kids at them that he finds along the way. By absorbing his followers into himself, he can take an extra hit before he dies. However, his followers never permanently die, causing World Gone Sour to hit that frustrating platform polarization zone: Challenges are either cheap and kill in one hit, or they’re far too easy. Regardless, World Gone Sour offers its players plenty of extra lives, so as long as players don’t get too frustrated, beating the game is only a matter of time.
World Gone Sour is a fun $5 platforming experience with a unique setting and environments that bring to mind Sid’s Room from Toy Story. There’s not a lot of depth to it, but for a cheap sidescroller, it’s silly and funny enough that it’s worth the price and the few hours it takes to beat it. It’s got local co-op to enjoy with a friend, and I guarantee that the game will generate a few laughs. Don’t expect a masterpiece, but for those who want a quick 2D platforming fix and don’t want to spend a lot for it, this is worth the price of admission.
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