World Gone Sour, a new platforming game based on the Sour Patch Kids candy marketing campaign, was released this week on XBLA and PSN. Developed by Playbrains and published by Capcom Entertainment Inc., World Gone Sour allows gamers to take control of a rogue piece of Sour Patch Kids candy that has fallen to the floor during its mission to get eaten alive, presumably for the fun of it. So long as you can deal with the masochistic tendencies of these candies come to life and the overtly creepy voiceover work by Creed Bratton of the American adaptation of The Office on NBC, you’ll have a few hours of fun ahead.

The core game elements in World Gone Sour are borrowed from multitudes of classic platforming titles, but combined with its subversively dark sense of humor makes for an experience uniquely its own. Run and hop around levels while collecting stars and gummy pieces, stomping on baddies and swinging across giant gaps – all standard stuff any geek who has ever picked up a controller would have mastered. Another key element in World Gone Sour are the Sour Patch Kids themselves, which can be absorbed once found in a level to increase your size up two times over or flung as projectiles to trigger doors or knock enemies out. While you may have never played this exact title before, once you pick up World Gone Sour you’ll realize you’ve been training for this game throughout your entire gaming career.

World Gone Sour isn’t too unlike the Sour Patch Kids slogan – first it’s sweet, then it gets increasingly sour. What begins as a fun romp through a theater or dollhouse full of demented unicorns turns into a humdrum venture that starts blending from one level to the next with only minor distinctions. While the chilled embrace of Creed Bratton’s voice can take you out of the immersive world at first, you’ll find a few sections in that Creed’s voice and smarmy remarks are absent and your Sour Patch Kid feels becomes as sad as the patchwork elements used to piece the levels together. It’s a game that basically serves as an interactive commercial for candy come to life, so I didn’t walk in with many expectations that I did not mind not being met – except for one…

If you or any young gamers you know have an afternoon to burn, World Gone Sour is an excellent option at a decent price. For the ultimate experience, grab yourself a bag of Sour Patch Kids and devour their little gummy souls as you control their demise on-screen. Multiple levels of platforming fun, two player local action, and enough sugar to warrant an insulin shot- World Gone Sour is a sweet game definitely worth a playthrough or two.

World Gone Sour is now available on XBLA for 400 Microsoft Points and on PSN for $4.99.