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Donuts ‘N’ Justice Review

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Fast Facts

Donuts ‘N’ Justice

Developer: FobTi
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Website: https://www.fobti-interactive.com/donuts-n-justice
Genre(s): Action, Shooter, Arcade
Platform: Nintendo Switch (Also available on Xbox and PlayStation)
Age Rating: PEGI 16
Release Date: 04/06/2021
Price: £4.99

A code was provided for review purposes

Title Screen for Donuts n Justice, in an arcade style
Anything with donuts involved is a winner.

1980s Nostalgia

Ah, the 1980s. An era where computers slowly began impacting our lives. Familiar household names such as Apple and Microsoft slowly made their entrance, and mobile phones became a common item. This was the decade bringing an end to the Cold War, and the delightful game everyone loves, Pacman was released.

So what a better way to celebrate this significant era, by producing a game based on the life of a 1980’s cop and the crime and punishment they encountered. Today Rapid Reviews brings to you Donuts ‘N’ Justice, developed by one-man-band, FobTi.

Cop choice selection Screen- Mike Riggs and Nick Gordon.
Either Cop will kick some butt in the face of injustice.

Protecting the City

Back in 2016, Donuts ‘N’ Justice was released for PC. Five years later, and it has finally been released for Nintendo Switch, due to such high demand. This 1980s inspired action cop game has a simplistic manner, mainly involving simply shooting left and shooting right. Avoid the victims of the crime and aim for the enemies, which can include gang members, robbers and aliens. It’s really as simple as that. But don’t be fooled by its straightforward overview. This game takes a lot of practice, so you should be prepared for mass failure before success.

This game definitely brings its challenges and takes a lot of practice before flying through to the boss levels. I personally actually found the boss challenge, easier than the overall level! Maybe I had mastered the knack of it by those points? Thankfully, I think the developers are fully aware of the challenge within this game, as they offer a vast variety of new weapons to unlock. The machinery of choice includes grenades, machine guns and blasters.

Suitable Visuals

Being a 1980’s genre game, you don’t really want high definition graphics, as this would hinder the time era of the game. Suitably, the developers chose a pixelated style for the gameplay. This style of graphic choice is quite popular amongst the gaming world lately, with some games such as Stardew Valley, Pac Man, and Terraria, using this type and still being widely popular. It just goes to show, a game does not always need to be supported by rich graphics and pretty pictures in order to be a great platform for entertainment. I think the developers chose it perfectly for Donuts ‘N’ Justice, as with simple graphics comes simple storylines.

A screen showing the headgear shop where the player can unlock hats for  the character of choice.
Finding the perfect hat for the job.

A Bit Do-nuts

I played this game over and over again. The many failures were incredibly frustrating. At first, I thought it was just me being useless, but after reading up on other opinions, it turns out this is a common issue. Many experienced some start-up struggles of making their way through the four levels. In my opinion, the controls and layout of the game (third-person) limit the movement of your character, and the ability to explore the game. There is plenty going on in one scene. Enemies of all shapes and sizes fly across the screen, sometimes in literal senses. But that’s all there really is to this game. It’s chaotic and difficult, but at the same time, I find myself asking, was this really worth the wait?

Level one of Donuts n Justice. This time rambling motorcylists to deal with.
Chaos ensues.

Are the Donuts Worth the Battle?

Personally, I won’t be rushing to be picking this game back up. It is a unique game in that its theme is not one often covered by games. For this reason, it is a standout game. But the game lacks motivation for more playthroughs. It’s short in terms of completion time, and there is not much to it. The inability to move the camera around, see the landscape, and explore more with this game, is what brings its character down.

If you’re after a quick pick up and put down kind of game for in a car or on a journey, then it’s perfect for this! But I have played many arcade shooters, and the overall personality of this game lacks the thrill to play. There is too much going on within the gameplay itself, but not supported by what else the game could offer.

A gameplay shot of possible police vs Ninjas?
Is that some unstoppable ninjas?

Rapid Reviews Rating

2.5 out of 5

2.5

You can purchase Donuts ‘N’ Justice on the Nintendo Store here.

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