Sugar Mess - Let’s Play Jolly Battle [Review]
Sugar Mess - Let’s Play Jolly Battle is a VR first-person shooter and puzzle game. It was developed and published by Jollyco. The game starts on a good note as a rail shooter, though the level is a bit long. But that’s because not every level is the same. There are a few puzzles and bosses mixed in. In my opinion, the puzzles are a weak point and feel a bit unnecessary because they don’t even utilize the fact that the game is in VR. You just hit buttons to make cupcakes line up and then the level ends.
The rail shooting part isn’t done well and makes you feel motion sick, even those well-versed in VR who don’t usually get sick. I also find the reloading extremely awkward, you have to pick up a ball floating in front of you and put it in the gun. The ball is also off to the side slightly so you don’t see it when aiming. It would have benefited from reloading like other VR games. They could have done something like; putting the gun to your hip, shaking the gun, grabbing ammo from your hip to then put in the gun. There were so many other ways they could have done the reload that have been utilized in other games.
I think the game shines with the boss fight. There are some frustrating moments, you can’t move from the spot you’re in so there are some attacks that you have to take because it’s too difficult to prevent. But the boss was fun and stressful. You have to shoot boxes on conveyors to stop the robot from getting ammo and health. At the same time, you have to bombard the boss’s weak spots and its attacks. If the reloading wasn’t so awkward this boss would feel more fair.
Sugar Mess is a decent VR game, there’s a few different game modes that change up what would have been monotonous gameplay. The main game is centered around being a first-person shooter, sometimes you’re stationary, and other times you’re moving in a cart. The puzzles are a bit of a low point but there’s a solution button to skip them. Even with the motion sickness. The game is currently purchasable on PlayStation 5 VR and a demo is available on Steam.
