Wander

4.5 Overall Score
Graphics: 7/10
Gameplay: 3/10
Sound: 9/10

Accurate nature sounds | decent to look at graphically | great concept

Alot of graphical glitches | too ambitious

Game Info

GAME NAME: Wander

DEVELOPER(S): Wander MMO

PUBLISHER(S): Wander MMO

PLATFORM(S): PlayStation 4

GENRE(S): Adventure/Simulation

RELEASE DATE(S): June 4th 2015

Wander is a very unique type of game in that it’s more about the journey and experience as opposed to story and action. It actually takes out the combat aspect of the game completely. It sounds kind of odd to entirely remove that type of mechanic from a game, but if you think about it combat really isn’t as necessary as one might think. It’s not just the lack of combat that makes Wander such an odd title, and trust me, I love strange, offbeat, not always so conventional types of games. Wander definitely falls into that category without any question.

gorgeous-non-combat-mmo-wander-coming-to-ps4-and-p_hgs4.1920

That’s honestly about as far as it goes. Don’t get me wrong, I see a ton of potential with the game. I love the idea of a what the developers seem to be going for. It just seems a little too ambitious. It’s a whole lot of just exploring and I like exploring. The game is definitely aptly named as that’s honestly all you do is wander around, for long periods of time until you find a point of interest.

The basic controls are rather self explanatory such as using the control stick to move although at times they do tend to be quite clunky. There are a few minor “pop up” prompts that explain further actions, but otherwise there’s not a whole lot of instruction about what to do. But like I said, given the nature of what you do there really shouldn’t be more even necessary. There are certain points where you need to use the touch pad on the controller, these are where I wished I had a little more than just basic explanation, which I really saw none.

For the most part the game is pretty nice to look at. It’s detailed enough that you might notice a flower or something that you recognize. There is definitely a fair amount of visual detail to this game, but at the same time, yes, it looks pretty nice but it’s not without glitch. And I noticed quite a few graphical glitches. Everything from slowly rendered backgrounds to strange cut in effects. I definitely would love to see a patch to remedy the graphical issues, could definitely help with the experience.

wander-screenshot-02-ps4-us-18nov14

I saved the best for last, not that what I said before was really bad at all. The reason I say “best” is because it really seems like this is where a lot of the focus was put to try and duplicate the types of sounds you’d possibly hear at any given time during your wanderings. And with a stereo headset, it was just phenomenal. The running water, crickets every little audible detail seemed to be there as it would out and about in the world we live in.

The Recommendation

I’m not going to say that Wander is a bad game, because it’s really not at the core of it. It WILL be a misunderstood title, guaranteed. Even with it’s issues, if you are like me and just like to see some neat things people are at least trying to do, check it out. I’m not going to say avoid it like the plague, it’s not for everyone is all. It might be up your alley though if you’re a niche gamer.

Summary

Review Date
Reviewed Item
Wander (PS4)
Author Rating
21star1stargraygraygray

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Author: Alonza Searer View all posts by
Father of two trying to teach the gaming and Jedi arts to the younglings of the future. Primarily a Nintendo Switch, Wii U, New 3DS XL and PlayStation 4 gamer with an appreciation for all games retro and modern. You can friend me on Facebook and you can also follow me on Twitter @gamerdadjedi