Review: Sugar Mess – Let’s Play Jolly Battle
From what I had seen of Sugar Mess it seemed more for the younger generation, not really an arcade shooter suitable for all ages. I thought I would give the game a chance to impress me as an older gamer, but is really suitable for old gamers or is the only real fun from the game going to be for kids?
Release Date: May 25th 2024
Developer: JollyCo
Publisher: JollyCo
Price: US $20.99 / CAN $27.99 / €24,99 / £19.99
Reviewed On: PlayStation VR2
* Access Provided For Review *
Sugar Kingdom Under Attack!
You will be following the story of the Sugar Prince as he tries to unravel who is this mysterious enemy which is attacking his kingdom. Which is told via the interactive story book which will have you turning the pages by pulling a tab on the side the book. With the story and the way it is told, it becomes quite clear from the get go that this game is aimed more at the younger audience – not really for all ages.
Needs Some Extra Ingredients
Despite being known as an arcade shooter, the team at JollyCo add more than just wave shooting action, as levels will see you solving puzzles, ride a cart along a path as you shoot enemies, test out your rhythm skills, and take on some bosses along the way. Outside of the story in the garage you will also find an arcade machine mini-game where you will be collecting candles while avoiding enemies to try and set a higher score.
Unfortunately for the old gamer like myself the game wont be a challenge, the overall difficulty of the game again makes me feel its aimed at a younger audience only. The gameplay is very simple, you take a gun with starting with a pistol and being able to buy two others. However, I found I just ending up sticking to the first gun, as the double handed weapons seemed to drift – not sure if there is some sort of occlusion that causes it. The enemies were quite easy to take down and I managing to take their projectiles out at the same time with no real concern, the puzzles lacked any real challenge, I am not sure about the rhythm elements but it just didn’t seem to go with the music (despite this didn’t cause any issues on a difficulty point of view). The only things that could be a challenge at first was some of the boss fights, but as soon as you get their attacks down they go down quite easily.
This is where one of main issues came in, although the game does handle each element well and its all been well designed (if you excuse the rhythm section not really matching the music), there are other games out that do each element better. Which made me feel team should have really concentrated on one element and mastered that and tried something new to that genre, because everything that attempted seems like I was back in the early days of VR.
I think the game could really do with leaderboards or introducing difficulty levels to make it more of a challenge, because I feel it needs something to extend its longevity – as I got through what is on offer at the moment in less than one and half hours. Personally, I feel once you remove the progression of unlocking the next part of the story, even a younger audience might struggle to want to return.
Bright and Bold Candy
One thing you will notice as soon as you get in the game, is it looks great. With the OLED displays in the PSVR2 making the bright and bold design of Sugar Kingdom really pop inside the HMD. This allows the details in the cartoon world, the textures, the candy enemies and vibrant colors bring this fairy tale world to life, in away you would expect.
Mixing this with the upbeat music, the cartoon noises of the not only the enemies but also the weapons, which fits perfectly with what you are taking in with the visuals. The only thing I think it missed was the narrator style voice reading out the story as you change the pages in the book – rather than forcing the player to read it.
Not to sound like a broken record, but with the visuals and audio design, and how the brightly colored worlds mix with the cartoon look, once again it really makes me feel like this was designed with kids in mind over the fun for all ages description.
Comfort
The Verdict
I would describe Sugar Mess – Let’s Play Jolly Battle as a causal game which is aimed at the younger audience, because as an older game there was just zero challenge in the game. Where every element of the gameplay has been designed and implemented well, it feels like you are stepping back to the early days of VR – and unfortunately they are other titles that do each element better. If you have children I would say Sugar Mess will offer some challenge and potentially entertain them for a little while, but if you are thinking of getting the game as an adult, this will be very short lived title in your library.