Wuppo Review

Honestly I can say that I haven’t experienced a game like Wuppo before. Now it’s not like there aren’t a lot of 2D adventure games out there, but it’s more about how the game made me feel. If video games embodied emotions, I’d say that Wuppo is 100% happiness. Seriously, this game can make you feel happy even if you don’t want to, at least that’s how I felt it. I found myself really enjoying the game and not really paying attention to flaws and negative aspects, I just managed to completely sink into it and top of it all, I had the widest, stupidest smile on my face the whole time … well, most of the time. Okay, let’s get into the review, because let’s be honest with each other and say that this is probably not the only time I’ll repeat how happy this game is.

First of all I want to mention one of the most distinctive features of Wuppo and that is its art style. Wuppo looks as if it’s been drawn by a 5-year-old kid … and it’s amazing. It just looks so appealing, I mean the game on the side has this mature theme, because it kind of represents how the real world is working (I’ll mention more of that later), but on the other hand you have this childlike manner, because come on, you play as a fluffy fur ball with a constant smile on its face. And seriously, a lot of games strive to meet up graphical expectations of the new gen consoles and PC, but occasionally when I find a unique breath of fresh air and I get so satisfied. I believe this is the main charm of the world … exactly that is looks like something your child would draw for you to hang on a wall, somewhere and it’s so pleasant to look at. I mean, I was drawn to the game visually. When I saw on steam the fury little balls with little smiles and this “hand drawn” world, I simply had to request this game. The only complaint I can make about the visual part of the game is that sometimes it’s hard to tell what exactly you can and cannot jump onto and that can be a little f*cking up at times. But it’s okay Wuppo, I forgive you.

Let’s dive into the story. I think Wuppo falls heavily into the exploration category and that is because, you indeed do that most of the game. And, oh I just love the details put into the story. All right, so we are this furry little ball, who lives in a house, filled with furry little balls and life is just awesome. These furry balls are called wums, by the way, and are one of the 4 races inhabiting the world of Wuppo. Now I did not remember the names of the other races, but there’s basically one that spits water, one that throws rocks and one that is extinct, because they were all thrown in a big whole or something for waging war on the rest of the races. I cannot just imagine how serious a motive, such as war can be between these adorable creatures in a game like this. Seriously. I fire colorful gumballs at enemies … that should be enough said.

Anyway, so we are living our little wum life in this wumhouse, but we get kicked out because we dirty the halls with stuff all the time. But it’s a good thing, because this way we get to explore this wonderful world. Early in the game we find this parrot (okay seriously I cannot remember the names of anything in the game jeez) and everyone says it’s annoying for making constant noises, but I found the little guy so adorable that I kept him equipped on my head all the time and it was just so cute to have my little fur ball and a parrot on top of it and it just had the cutest smile ever and I just cannot.

Okay, so we got kicked out of the wumhouse and when we return and find out that we cannot stay we have to go and find ourselves a new place of belonging. And off we go to Popocity. Okay apparently, the little wums are divided to wums and popos based on where they live. So obviously the wums live in the wumhouse and the popos live in Popocity, but they are basically the same species.

As a side note here, honestly I feel like this game fell a bit short, given the fact that you don’t really run around like an idiot for a lot of the time (which I totally did). Which, by the way, if you don’t, you’re missing out a lot of the game, so I encourage people to go run around the world of Wuppo and just explore! Release the adventurers in you and just do it!

All in all, it was a nice little story, which made me feel so happy and always kept me striving to see more and more. I swear, it’s been a while with a game where I could do like a really long session and not get bored or frustrated of it. I think my first session was about 6 or 7 hours – that’s how drawn I was.

The puzzle part of the story was fairly easy. I admit, I did cheat twice, because I got stuck, but most of the things even a stupid little individual like me can figure out. And to be honest the game didn’t really feel like a platformer or a puzzle game (which is totally a good thing), maybe because I was enjoying it so much and that doesn’t usually happen with platformers (because I suck at them) or puzzle games (because I’m stupid), but here we see a nice light mix of both. I was happy for once not to get frustrated on platforming … thank you.

Now remember when I said that the game kind of represents how the real world is working (but in a totally adorable way). Well let me explain now. Wuppo is a game filled with joyous little details and the way they are executed. Let me give you examples for better understanding.

When you go to the train station it all happens like in real life. Like, you buy a ticket then go on the platform and wait for the train. And it’s so amazing, like you have this time board where it tells you when the next train will arrive and what stops it makes and it’s all in real time. Like, it counts down the actual seconds. Let’s say for example the next train arrives in 400 seconds and you can go do whatever you want in that time, because the train will indeed arrive as scheduled. I remember I waited on the platform and as a person who hated waiting, this was so enjoyable. I really fancied seeing the other wums coming to the platform and waiting and oh god why? And you can even buy a watch to follow the time if you are not on the platform. It is the same deal with the tram in Popocity, which connects the old to central city and there is a timer which counts like 1:30 and every minute and 30 seconds or so a train actually did arrive. Holy sh*t. And then there is this … I am going to call it a theme park, which is basically a meaningless little area, where you can actually go and it feels like a real theme park. It has no real contribution to the game, beside for the player to go and have fun. But it’s like, you have your rides and you go pay for a ticket and you actually go and wait on a line … who dafuq waits on a line for a ride in a game … HELL I DO … AND I LOVE IT. It’s so colorful and happy and they sell you food and cool souvenirs and, and, and … I just cannot. Honestly, it’s not the bigger picture that makes Wuppo a great game – it’s the details. The so many little details, which fill the game with life and happy energy and it’s awesome, because I found myself enjoying every single of those useless activities and buying those useless stuff which I didn’t wear, cuz I liked to stick with the parrot. But it’s nice, okay. Like mementos that you’ve done it. I love it.

Let’s talk collectables. The game features one collectable, which are the filmstrips. Basically they are like mini movies, which are spread across the land and tell you relevant short stories (some are broken down into parts). This is a really interesting way to implement some of the lore and even be rewarded for finding them. I really enjoyed watching the films and listening to the stories behind them. Now, there are 37, I think, total filmstrips and I have to be honest, I couldn’t find them all. Like, I sincerely tried, finding them without cheating (cuz there is no guide yet), but I couldn’t. There were just some, which eluded me completely and even if I did run around like an idiot for 30 minutes in an area I know I’ve explored completely before … well, nope. And to be honest, I didn’t want to search them because you get paid for each filmstrip, more because I was interested in the content of the actual filmstrip.

Another thing, which I don’t really know if it can be called a collectable or not, is happiness. Now, happiness increases your character’s max health and the happier you are, the more HP you’ve got. You get happiness by turning in filmstrips (some, not all) and generally performing certain tasks. I didn’t find collecting happiness hard, because I kind of did everything on my own accord, like it came naturally from inside me. A few examples here, include, conversing with other wums or other creatures, listening to their tales, doing activities with them, generally nice little things you do with other creatures, which make them happy and in return it makes your wum happy and … the ultimate AND, it made me happy. There is 100 happiness, which means your max health can go to a total of 200, because you start at 100.

The third thing, which is not a collectable, but it does have a count, are bosses. There are 17 bosses in Wuppo, I did fight them all and they are relatively easy to find, if you explore everything like me. There was only one hidden boss, which I didn’t find on my own (*holy choir music* I cheeeeeeaaaateeeeed *end of holy choir music*), but other are just part of the story, which you can’t miss, or as I said, encountered if you explore the living sh*t out of the world. Boss fights in Wuppo are fun. I found them relatively easy, but each boss is unique and has its own mechanic and that is what made them fun and different and yeah I did die a bit on some bosses but I didn’t rage. I don’t think it’s possible to rage on this game … like seriously.

And speaking of bosses, let’s include combat here too. Combat is nothing that developed. Basically you just get different weapons, with which you shoot … umm, colorful gumballs. And there is this water bucket, which shoots water (it makes you like one of those other races). And the cool thing is that you can buy customization for the weapons and make them more practical or just make them look to your liking by changing the color of the gumballs for example (you can even change your wum’s color, by the way). I think the fighting was just a nice feature added into the game and I didn’t really find it boring and repetitive (even though it on theory is repetitive), but I feel the game as a whole drew me more than picking at individual flaws.

I just love how you equip stuff in this game. You can basically equip anything in your inventory and you just put it on your head … I think I died of cuteness this game a couple of times. And then different hats, make you look differently, some even put a moustache for you on … just details man, this game is filled with joyous little details. I actually love when a game pays great attention to details. It shows dedication, to the very least.

Okay, one last thing. What the heck was with the fps in this game? I mean, when I tuned up the smoothness, the game squealed that my fps is lower than 60 and there was this constant reminder on the screen even if it did run good and I had no problems with it, but I had to tune down the smoothness, just to get rid of it. I don’t know if there was an actual problem with it, but 0 smoothness didn’t really take the joy out of my game time with Wuppo.

Okay … 9/10. Go buy the game! Seriously. I think this is something everyone should enjoy, because it kind of connects with you inner child and even if you are over 30 or over 40, and enjoy gaming, I believe there is a little space for Wuppo in everyone’s hearts. So just go … now … and buy it! Oh, and buy the way, I want to shout out a special thanks to the developers of the game, not only for making me happy with Wuppo, but also for providing the DLC and OST (which you should totally check out too by the way, because the music is also great) as free content for me too. Thank you guys … peace.