Looking to take a short break from those large games recently released? How about some splattering, platforming action! Trouble Juice by Dietzribi is a fun little excursion with silly characters, cartoon animations, goofy backstories, and difficult choices to make (like drinking the right juice). Will you come out on top as the winner of the galactic arena or will you be splatted into a sticky substance?
Trouble Juice doesn’t feature a deep, meaningful story, just a quick explanation that you’re in some kind of game show arena where you battle monsters and must win. The story tid-bits come after you beat a run. Each character has their own reason why they need to beat the arena, and the reasons get more absurd than the next. The story in Trouble Juice sits on top of the game, adding flavor to it rather than integrating itself into the game. It would have been interesting to change the levels slightly per each character, especially to fit the different abilities each one of them has. Or maybe there was an evil corporation that you have to defeat as the final, final boss, or something equally stereotypical and ridiculous.
The gameplay in Trouble Juice is really intuitive and fluid. Aim with your mouse, move with WASD. Pretty standard. While the game doesn’t tell you exactly what buttons to press, there are multiple options for jumping and using your character’s special ability, allowing you to play in whatever way makes you the most comfortable. The whole game consists of destroying enemies while not getting hit yourself. There are no other obstacles to worry about, even the ground and sides of the screen transport you to the other side (a benefit that should be utilized). The weight of the character doesn’t feel too floaty or out of control. One of the coolest features is holding yourself in the air for a little bit while you fire downward. It makes it really easy to plan your attacks if you’re shooting from above, and you can stay in the air forever if you get the “less gravity” powerup.
The powerup mechanic in Trouble Juice is one of the most important aspects of the game (and why it has its name). Each powerup is symbolized as a container of juice that stacks upon the other powerups throughout the run. Most juice is offered by the “Juice Guy” who gives you the option to choose one powerup out of three. You can also kill the Juice Guy to get a bonus health, but lose “karma,” which is your buying power. Over time, if you keep killing Juice Guy, he’ll give you juice that gives you no effect, but if you never kill him, you get some really cool powers. The choice between getting cool powers later on versus getting a quick health immediately is an interesting dilemma that Trouble Juice reveals to you over time. What’s nice about the powerups is that their effects are easily noticeable. The bullets are actually faster, your character jumps higher, etc. While it’s exciting to get powerups, be aware that the monsters are also leveling up slowly, by either boosting their health, increasing their numbers, or increasing the chance of really difficult enemies appearing.
The biggest downside with Trouble Juice is its lack of content. The game feels like a prototype where the mechanics are all solid, but there is a sheer lack of gameplay. There are three “worlds” that you traverse through, but the only thing that changes are the looks of the platforms. There’s no special characteristic about any of the worlds, so the levels start to feel stale after a while. The mini bosses and main bosses never change, which is helpful in a learning aspect, but it would have been nice for a little variety. The difference between the characters is the one special ability that they have. Some of the abilities aren’t great, and I forget to use them because they can make the scene even more chaotic. The randomness of the juice can end up with a poor selection, while the enemies keep getting boosted, so some runs feel unfair and unbalanced. What extends the gameplay slightly in Trouble Juice is the bingo system, where you have to perform certain actions during your run to unlock more abilities and characters. Trying to complete the bingo objectives requires you to play through the entire run at least a few times, and it’s the only way to unlock more characters it seems.
Dietzribi is really good at harmonizing their own personal art style, where appendages and abdomens are dragged along by the main body, giving every creature this gooey feeling. While there aren’t many enemies, the bosses have multiple battle states that get more and more gruesome. Everything is slightly animated, so there is a lot of positive feedback when hitting enemies.
The music in Trouble Juice is alright, but I feel as if it doesn’t fit the levels as much as they should. I would think the closer you get to the end, the more intense the music would get, but it actually gets softer. The main menu music is very difficult to listen to because it sounds like someone is flipping paper right next to your ear. Sounds work well where important items alert the user as the clatter on the ground, but if you find yourself dealing out too many bullets, the game becomes a cacophony of noise.
In summary: Trouble Juice has fun and fluid gameplay with interesting randomness and powerup mechanics. The solid art style is simple, but adds the right flavoring to make it pop. The music and sounds fit the game, but need a few more tracks to make it more interesting.
Jordan played Trouble Juice on PC with a code provided by the developer.
