Jolly Co. is well known for its candy-fueled VR games, its most popular being Sugar Rush. Now the studio is back with another sweet delight in the form of Sugar Madness for Meta Quest. Once again, 131XR has taken on the delicious challenge to review Sugar Madness, finding a game tailored to younger audiences that doesn’t particularly stand out.
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A Sweet Treat
Right from the start, it’s easy to tell that Sugar Madness – while designed as a family-friendly title – is for younger gamers. The colourful aesthetic, candy-wrapped enemies and easy gameplay mean that it’s instantly accessible and cartoonish in its violence (no blood or gore here).
What it does do, however, is lean on some older VR tropes that you don’t often see anymore, wave-based and on-rails shooting. These were the hallmarks of a lot of VR shooters ten years ago, as VR locomotion was in its infancy. Nowadays, players want the freedom to run around and explore environments, avoiding incoming attacks as they do so.
And it is this safe approach that makes Sugar Madness blander and more forgettable than you’d expect.
Sugar Madness Review
The game kicks things off as a wave-based shooter, you’re in a fixed location, and you have to kill all the ravenous, evil sweets attacking you. There is a narrative of sorts, but as 131XR notes in its Sugar Madness review, this can largely be ignored; you’re just here to shoot candy. You got a gun in one hand and a shield in the other – which is important as you can’t move – to defend yourself, as well as a bat to knock back projectiles. So you’re well kitted out.
Then there are the on-rails levels. Adding a bit more motion to the action, you’re once again blasting away at the same enemies, but this time you’re on a train. Sugar Madness then expands upon these two core gameplay systems by adding in boss battles and mini games to liven things up. These help to unlock more coins to spend in the main hub, giving you access to new weapons and upgrades.
Sugar Madness also employs the very standard video game system of stars. Each level has a maximum of three stars to unlock, the first for simply completing it, whilst the others require certain tasks to be performed. 131XR did find that these can only be unlocked individually, forcing repeated run-throughs of the same level to max out the star count.
Most notably, while Sugar Madness isn’t a bad game, offering enjoyable, cartoonish action at points. It doesn’t do anything special or have enough wide-ranging appeal.
Games for Younger VR Fans
Take one look at Meta Quest’s top-ranking games each week, and you’ll notice a trend. Firstly, most are free-to-play (F2P), but more interestingly, a lot appeal to younger gamers. Titles like UG, Animal Company and Gorilla Tag dominate, whilst a growing contingent of cheaper games maintains a younger, family-friendly element.
Shop N Stuff, I Am Cat, Gas N Cars, and more embody that playful, toybox design where VR games don’t need to be deep, just interactive. Do you have a favourite in this genre? Let us know in the comments!
