What is it?
In Wheel World you play as a person called Kat who finds herself in possession of a magic, soul-transporting bicycle-spirit. However, the spirit has lost its bicycle parts and can no longer do its job, and it’s up to the player to ride around an open world – a world in which people really care about bicycles – to find parts, upgrade the bike, compete in races and raise your REP, which you will need to advance and even save the world. You could think of it as a more chill Forza Horizon but with bicycles and a weird but fun story. The game is played in third person and visually the game uses a cel shaded style à la games like Sable and Rollerdrome, or indeed Mœbius.
Is it player-friendly?
There are no difficulty settings and few options overall. The difficulty and stress levels are quite low for most of the game, but not for all of the game. The controls are simple and the bicycle is easy to control. The menus and map are fine and there’s a fast travel option. The size of the game world is decent and it won’t be overly time-consuming to finish the game. There is no rewind function like in some racing games, but restarting a race is done quickly.
Is it any good?
Wheel World is a game of two halves, or two thirds and one third depending on where you spend most of your time. The first part is all about exploring a beautiful world, reaching new parts, racing when you feel like it (and not needing to worry too much about winning the races), upgrading your bicycle, and so on. Very pleasant! However, later in the game you will be transported to another world, a dark, industrial, polluted, urban realm. The environments become more drab and samey and there will be more focus on races, and these are now much harder and you will need to win them. Also, when every millisecond counts you will start to notice, and maybe even be infuriated by, your bicycle getting stuck in other bicycles, preventing you from turning, or making you crash into objects. The shift from lightheartedness to comparatively hardcore could have been smoother, if it needed to be there at all.
The music consists of electro and electropop which may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it does suit the game. Sometimes there’s no music and you hear just wheels on gravel and nature sounds.
Despite some shortcomings Wheel World is still a good game – almost very good. Pedalling around the (first) world, exploring and chilling, is a delight.
Peter Öberg
A review copy was provided.