Back to the world of flatness we go! Developed by Alawar Premium, Wall World has new DLC that includes a deeper storyline and a wealth of weapons. Will these additions enhance the overall game, or will it fall flat like the side of a wall?
Unfortunately, not a whole lot of content has been added to continue playing past the base game. The story is sparse. What is received as a story are quick, ambiguous chitterings of dialog and digital diary logs left by people of the past. Conversations are typically left as a cliffhanger, implying that there’s something bigger afoot. If the story pacing moved quicker, then these chats could actually serve some importance, but since there’s so little to actually talk about, they’re typically pretty dull. The leftover diary entries leave you scratching your head as to whether they could be important. After attempting to decipher the meaning behind unique diary entry, with a desire to push forward with the gameplay, I stopped reading the diaries after a while.
In terms of gameplay, more weapons and bosses were added, but because of the new content the pacing slows down. Different from the base game, you can only travel up the wall, making the process you take with each play-through relatively the same. The tunnels within the wall vary, but they’re always a combination of three different rock types, where two of them take so long to drill through they’re not worth attempting. Perhaps my impatience is due to my powerful buildout progress from the previous game, but Deep Threat forces grind on you so badly it can be difficult to keep playing.
The frustrating parts are the gameplay mechanics. The gameplay pacing is pitted against the player, not for them. When you finally feel powerful with your equipment and abilities, a giant swarm of enemies ruins your day. This scenario happens frequently. While there are new weapons to aid you in exploring the mines, there are few to protect you from the onslaught of enemies. An abundance of special weapons are found within the mines, but appear randomly outside of your control. Since these special weapons are deep within the mines, it’ll require you to fight through two to three waves to obtain it, draining your health in the process.
Musically and artistically, Deep Threat has improved moderately compared to the base game. Some ambient tracks are weaved into the musical score, so as not to bore you with the same two-track loop. More effort is notable within the world art, where the home base has a parallax 3D effect, and the weather alters with each play-through. The menus interfere with gameplay, however, and fail to even show on some upgrades, while a handful of updated enemies, as well as the big boss, are waiting to challenge you.
In summary: Tedious gameplay that makes the new content drag on, poor UI and button handling, and flimsy storytelling make for lackluster updated content.
Jordan played Wall World: Deep Threat on PC with a review key.
