Art of Balance Review

[Zera]

A Very Balanced Game...

Intro: For some game developers, creating fun is as simple as a physics engine, some blocks, and putting those blocks in the right place. Developer Shin'en took this to the literal extreme with Art of Balance, a highly rated WiiWare puzzle game that was ported to the 3DS, and later the Wii U. This review is for the Wii U version.

https://d3esbfg30x759i.cloudfront.net/ss/WVW69i26eBQBy8E8lc

(By the way, I discovered Art of Balance by driving backwards on a shortcut in Fast Racing Neo, another Shin'en game. Such clever advertising!)

Presentation: For this version of Art of Balance, Shin'nen completely revamped the graphics. The realistic and detailed environments are complemented by a catchy soundtrack, and the game has a calm atmosphere that's perfect for puzzle solving.

http://images.nintendolife.com/news/2014/02/exclusive_shinen_multimedia_bringing_art_of_balance_to_the_wii_u_eshop/large.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrwlwzzecq4

Gameplay: The core mechanics of Art of Balance are simple - pick up blocks, position them, rotate them in 45-degree increments, and release them. Your goal in each level is to stack all available blocks on a stone base without letting any touch the bowl of water below. After placing the final block, a 3-second timer starts. If your stack doesn't collapse - or finish collapsing - in that time, you win! Solving levels requires thinking about what order to stack the blocks in and how to stack them, as well as the precision to actually do it.

For a game like this, the physics engine is extremely important. Thankfully, the physics are realistic, smooth, and consistent, and most levels have more than one viable solution for the clever stacker. Each level has 4-7 blocks, but you can only select the first 3 from the right side. The shapes and types of unavailable blocks are shown in outlines, so you can plan ahead as necessary.

You can place blocks with the control stick, the touchscreen, or a Wii Remote, and all three methods work great. With Wii Remotes, each mode can have up to five players, so this is a good game for families and groups of friends.

Arcade mode is the main attraction, with 200 levels spread across 8 worlds (25 per world). Each world has a unique lounge environment and music, and most focus on a specific mechanic. The levels are presented through nonlinear world maps of increasing difficulty. In addition to the standard levels, each world has 3-5 challenge levels with special conditions - a minimum height requirement, a time limit, or an unstable base.

http://boo.digitalchumps.com/images/artofbalance/level_selection.jpg

World A uses only regular blocks. Also, it's really easy!
World B uses weight blocks that break if 3 blocks are placed on top of them.
World C uses timer blocks that break after a timer, which is activated by placing a block on top.
World D combines blocks from Worlds A-C for tougher challenges.
World E uses scale bases, which move up and down depending on the weight on each side
World F uses gravity blocks, which reverse gravity when released.
World G uses fire blocks, which break if they touch each other.
World H combines mechanics from Worlds A-G for tougher challenges.

The world selection screen shows the time spent and retries used in each world, and with this I determined that the Arcade mode is roughly five hours long. The only caveat is that without scores, times, or online leaderboards, there’s no replay incentive for this mode.

…Which is why, in a stroke of genius, Shi’nen invented Endurance mode – it has all the things I just mentioned. This mode throws the 166 non-challenge levels at you at random, and you solve as many as you can with only three lives to earn a high score, which is sent to an online leaderboard.

As you play a level, you earn -
- 50 points for every block released.
- 100 points for every block broken.
After clearing the level, you earn -
- 100 points for every life remaining.
- 10 points for every second left (out of a minute).
These two bonuses are affected by a difficulty multiplier from x1 to x8 for Worlds A to H.

Unlike Arcade mode, this mode tests your overall mastery of the game – you can’t just be good at one level, you have to be good at ALL of them. This, in turn, encourages you to go back to Arcade mode to practice the levels that gave you trouble until you can solve them consistently. The scoring system and random levels make Endurance quite addictive, and ironically, much more arcade-like than Arcade mode.

There are also 13 Awards, or achievements.

01. Solve 10 levels
02. Solve a level in World B or higher in under 30 seconds
03. Solve all challenges
04. Solve a complete world
05. Solve four worlds
06. Solve 50 levels
07. Solve 100 levels
08. Solve 150 levels
09. Solve 5 levels in a row in Endurance game mode
10. Solve 10 levels in a row in Endurance game mode
11. Solve 20 levels in a row in Endurance game mode
12. Get a score of 100,000 in Endurance game mode
13. Solve all worlds

Personally, I don’t count 1-11, as they’re just stepping stones for the last two.

Award 12 is by far the hardest to earn – even after stacking thousands of blocks, my best Endurance score is about 60,000. In fact, less than 40 people have over 100,000 points. This award alone drastically increases the length of the game.

Tower Tumble is a Jenga-like multiplayer mode. Players take turns stacking blocks, and whoever makes the tower tumble loses the round while everyone else gets a point. This mode is fun because it's the only one where it’s useful to stack badly on purpose. The random block shapes and types, and random base, ensure that no two rounds are exactly the same.

Swift Stacker is a split-screen mode where two players or teams try to solve the same puzzle as fast as possible. Whoever solves it first earns a point. You can also play this mode online with friends. There’s also random matchmaking, but you may be waiting HOURS because the servers are barren and devoid of life. I guess that’s the price of playing a game two years after its release.

Flaws?: The cursor for moving blocks with the control stick is a bit slow. Without a button or option to increase the cursor speed, you’re better off using the touchscreen or a Wii Remote for Endurance and Swift Stacker.

Although block outlines indicate block types, they do NOT indicate fire blocks. I’m not sure if this was an oversight, or if the levels were designed with this in mind, but these are the only levels that don’t give you all the information from the start.

The difficulty multiplier for Endurance doesn't always reflect the difficulty. For example, B6.4 is as hard as H2.1, but H2.1 earns four times as many points simply because it's from World H. I also feel the multiplier affects your score slightly too much, so levels from Worlds A and B straddle a fine line between "Yay, free points!" and "Boo, waste of time!".

Conclusion: Art of Balance is a surprisingly fun physics-based block-stacking puzzle-game. The production values are top-notch, and the large amount of levels and local multiplayer options make it an great puzzle game to enjoy alone or with friends. For what you get, the price feels just right. Highly recommended, unless you hate puzzle games for some reason.

9/10 (Awesome!)

By the way, I should mention that each version of Art of Balance is unique. For your convenience, I took an extra effort to fully break down the features of each game.

Art of Balance – WiiWare (Feb 15, 2010)
100 levels
Arcade Mode (1-2 players)
Swift Stacker (2 players)
Cost: $8
Art of Balance TOUCH! – 3DS eShop (Jun 7, 2012)
200 levels
Arcade Mode (1 player)
Endurance Mode (1 player, system leaderboard)
13 Awards
Portability
Cost: $7
Art of Balance – Wii U eShop (Oct 9, 2014)
200 levels
Arcade Mode (1-5 players)
Endurance Mode (1-5 players, online leaderboard)
Tower Tumble (2-5 players)
Swift Stacker (2-5 players, 2 players online)
13 Awards
HD graphics
Cost: $9

The Wii U version is the best overall, but if you have no interest in multiplayer OR the online leaderboard for Endurance mode, you may prefer the 3DS version for its portability and cheaper price. There are demos for both as well.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Zera

[Suspect]

How do you make so much, out of a game that would seem so little?