Wuppo Review (Xbox One)

INTRODUCTION

Playing Wuppo has been a fun experience filled with a nice challenge level. In this title, the player takes control of a curious creature named “Wum” during its difficult task of finding a new and welcoming home. It is hard to describe what exactly Wum resembles other than a white blob-shape character. The good news is that you are not the only odd character in this world. The game introduces other interesting communities of creatures and monsters that become part of the journey. In addition, to the fun gameplay, which is definitely the ultimate goal of the game, you will also enjoy a very attractive art style and a well-selected soundtrack.

Besides that, the player will also be able to make use of a large array of items that will help Wum stay strong along the entire journey. These items play an important role in the gameplay and can be used for many different purposes. That includes puzzle pieces, health-replenishing food, and collectible items used that allow easier access to other locations in the game. All of these elements blend really well into the story-driven adventure.

Wuppo was developed by Knuist & Perzik and SOEDESCO Publishing and is available for Xbox One for $19.99

STORY

The beginning of the story is set at a hotel, where you are introduced to a very lazy character part of a curious race of creatures called Wums. This little white-ball creature quickly gets in trouble with the hotel’s management team after dripping ice cream all over the place. This huge sticky mess results in getting Wum kicked out of the hotel and having nowhere to go. After being literally thrown off the balcony, Wum has no choice but to begin a very long journey to find a new home.

The adventure takes place in a large variety of environments that go from underground cities to treetop communities. As part of the story, you will learn that all of the strange creatures in the game belong to a certain social group or race. However, things were not always peaceful around here. The main conflict in the game is based on an important war that took place in the past. It is important to understand how each community of creatures interact with each other and how the war affected the species lifestyle.

With that being said, keep in mind that communities traits are connected to specific natural elements, which sort of not only define their personal characteristics but also skills. For example, Blussers have an aquatic background and are very helpful and friendly. Besides Blussers, you will encounter Splenkhakkers, the rock-based characters. They can use their unique ability to harvest a special material to build up structures. On the other hand, some of them have no special abilities, but are extremely smart and make use of a large variety of elements and tools to put inventions together.

Although this combination of communities seems to make up a peaceful world, players should be ready to face other aggressive monsters, part of the Fnakker group. They will be responsible for giving you a long-lasting headache as they do not agree on sharing the world with anyone else.Basically, Fnakkers had been defeated in this epic war fought against the joined forces of Wums, Blussers and Splenkhakkers. As a result of the battle, each community of creatures adapted to live in a different area of the world.  

GAMEPLAY

Wuppo’s gameplay can become very dynamic as you will find yourself not only in multiple combat situations but also exploring and collecting valuable items and bouncing over platforms. I know that by reading this review and all of the specific elements that make up Wum's adventure, the gameplay may sound more complex than what it is. However, despite the tough challenges available in the hard mode of the game, there is a great balance between the story depth and the player experience in the adventure.

The storytelling component in Wuppo is easily recognized by the solid amount of dialogues, which are usually simple, quick and pretty enjoyable to follow. During its home exploration, Wum is able to directly speak to other creatures and learn more about the world. It will also count with other friendly faces to get useful gameplay tips and buy extremely helpful items. The in-game purchasable content includes a different set of weapons, power-ups and other rare artifacts used to complete puzzles.

Similarly to other game mechanics, using a weapon is very simple, as they will most likely remain equipped to your character at all times. As the player moves on, they will have additional opportunities to customize and upgrade current inventory tools. This gameplay element has been one of my favorite features and allowed me to add incredible functionalities to items. For example, when visiting the in-game store, Wum is able to boost its weapon’s rate of fire or even alter the color of ammunition.

As I mentioned earlier, the game is not very hard to play when in normal mode. However, if you are looking for the extra challenge, there is always an option to increase its difficulty by accessing the game settings. However, considering the nature of the game, puzzles and challenges are not very hard to finish. In fact, they are very enjoyable to complete and will probably make you want to repeat a few tasks just for the fun of it.  

Overall, I found no major complaints about the gameplay and story development. The only negative aspect that I found in Wuppo was a slight difficulty in keeping track of your character during battles, as fighting scenes and environments can become a little chaotic in a few moments. To clarify this issue, keep in mind that Wuppo players will always join an adventure completely filled with colors and a bunch of characters that have a similar body shape for the most part. Because of that, it is not hard to lose track of Wum in the middle of a battle, especially if you decide to you certain weapons such as the “gum gum balls”. I also noticed very few unexpected spikes in the gameplay that made me question myself which difficulty level I had selected. The good news is that this is not a consistent issue, as most of the adventure offers a good array of challenges that do not require too much effort to complete.

AUDIO AND GRAPHICS

The first thing I noticed in Wuppo when I started playing the game was its attractive design. The colors and artwork truly resemble images from a storybook. It is really enjoyable to jump from scene to scene and meet new characters along the way. Besides that, you will see a great balance of vibrant environments and fluid movements during most of the gameplay. The images are so pleasant to the eyes that I caught myself slowing myself down and not skipping dialogues so that I could stare at the environments a little longer.

The audio features beautifully match the game design with a good soundtrack choice that simply reflects a lovely interaction between characters and their communities. It is also nice to mention that Wuppo brings sudden changes on the background music in moments when you are about to interact or approach other characters. This simple detail adds an even better experience and it makes the players really feel like they are inside the game's story all the time.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I can agree that Wuppo brings a fun adventure in a bright and colorful environment. There is a creative selection of species and monster that engage in a deep story and cute dialogues. One of my favorite aspects of the game structure is the ability to select and use a fantastic set of items in different situations.

On the other hand, because of the high number of colors (which are stunning) and similar shapes, you can easily have trouble locating the exact position of your character, while combats. Despite this negative point and the sudden spikes of difficulty during boss battles, there is not really much to criticize about. Wum turned out to be a very expressive character full of energy.