Justice Sucks: Tactical Vacuum Action
Justice Sucks is the kind of game that upon reading the title of the review will leave the reader with a mess load of questions. Hopefully, by the end of the review, I can leave with more answers than the remaining questions. Upon first impressions, this was what I got from Justice Sucks. Take the sucking abilities of Kirby, coupled with tactical RPGs like XCOM with an emphasis on traps like the Kagero / Deception series and you have what's basically Justice Sucks. The "Chemical X" in this equation is a level of cartoony colorful ultraviolence that would make Happy Tree Friends proud.
No, seriously, this is a very violent game and I'd almost want to put a disclaimer saying that this is not for the squeamish. I will also say that it is a huge part of the game's charm. At first, I thought players took control of a killer sentient Roomba on the loose while engaging in a killing spree. I'm glad to say that while you aren't killing civilians (directly, anyway) you are enacting Justice on evildoers by Sucking their corpses, their giblets, and their blood.
The origins of Justice Sucks began as Roombo: First Blood, both developed by Samurai Punk. The former is essentially what would become of the latter, with a fleshed-out (no pun intended) story, cutscenes, and gameplay improvements. Speaking of the story, it is as wacky as the gameplay and graphics themselves. I'll interject gameplay elements within the story and I'll also give a spoiler tag as the ending is something to experience rather than read.
Our hero is Dusty, a robot vacuum who is a coveted part of the McClean household. While you complete menial tasks for the family as expected of a vacuum, this is actually a tutorial that showcases the abilities you'll spend the next two hours using. Dusty is a small vacuum that can dash and suck up objects of various types. These objects can be used as projectiles to attack enemies as well as complete objectives. The main ability Dusty has is hacking appliances, trapping enemies, and dealing damage or causing a chain reaction.
These abilities are shown in full detail when the first actual level begins. It seems the McClean household is suspected of regular burglary and rather than a security system, there's a killer robot vacuum on the loose. Dusty can eliminate enemies by attacking them with projectiles as mentioned earlier. The various appliances can also trigger traps, some deal AoE damage, others deal massive damage, and some even apply a status ailment. A water hose that deals minuscule damage can douse an enemy, which deals double electric damage from broken appliances.
In the beginning, Dusty can only take two hits of damage before its Game Over. To recover health, Dusty can suck up the blood, giblets, and bodies of fallen enemies in a glorious grotesque manner. This also fuels the three skills that Dusty has access to, including turning invisible, leaving electric traps, turning into a moving furnace, and summoning your Stand to punch an enemy in the face, instantly killing them. More on the latter later.
After brutally murdering the burglars and saving your family, a greedy CEO from FamilyCorp notices an irregularity, kidnaps your family, and incapacitates Dusty by throwing them into a TV. Rendered unconscious, Dusty wakes up to see a beefed-up version of themselves as an AI. This AI tells Dusty that the CEO had kidnapped the family and plans to execute them. In their current state they cannot fight back, but in the TV World, going through simulations and surviving will be the key to saving the family.
The first simulated world is on a cruise ship where your simulated family is being held hostage by thugs that look straight out of the Idols group from Saints Row. As Dusty is a fragile cute little robot, the majority of the gameplay will be met under the comfort of a table or tall grass. Luckily, the AI is dumb enough on purpose so as long as you're hidden, even if you're spotted, you won't be found. A wrench is thrown when it comes to missions that give an instafail when alerted, but there are a handful of missions like that.
Most of the missions will task the player to eliminate all enemies in as short of a time as possible. You're given a rank from F (if you fail) to S+ (If you complete a mission to near perfection). Everything from the length it takes to complete a mission, to the number of enemies killed, eaten, and cleaned up are calculated. At the end of most missions, there's a bonus round where you have to clean up as much mess that you made as possible. You're not required to 100% clean up everything, but anywhere around 98% is good for an S+ which adds a bonus to your score.
There are also some missions where you're required to deliver items to a drop-off point, rescue your "family" by sucking them up and placing them at a drop-off point and break a set number of targets in a short amount of time. Most missions are variants of the same type, with difficulty increased by strategically placed enemies. The creativity when it comes to killing enemies is seemingly limitless. On the cruise ship level, you can knock enemies overboard. Later, in a nightclub, you can send enemies to a mosh pit to their death. One of the later levels allows you to knock a player off a building with several chained traps.
In many ways, it feels like the games that Home Alone should have been in the past. Imagine if the protagonist was able to dispatch his burglars in the same colorful manner Dusty does in-game. It becomes less of a question of whether can you kill enemies in a certain way but rather how can you pull it off. You can suck up a cat for example and sic the cat on an enemy as they claw them to death. The crazier the death, the more likely the player will be rewarded with an achievement.
To reach the final level, the player will need to reach level 4, which means they will need to play as many bonus missions as possible. By the time I got to the second to last level, I completed two missions from that level before I was able to earn enough to get to the final level. It doesn't require much from the player but playing these missions is encouraged as the bonus skills and traits will help clear levels far easier than rushing.
ENDING SPOILERS HERE
After completing the second to last level, which simulates a plane crash including a raid similar to something out of Modern Warfare 2, the simulation ends in a way that absolutely pissed me off. Anime fans who are familiar with Neon Genesis Evangelion and the infamous "Congratulations!" scene will know exactly what comes next. Everyone, friend and foe including your family, offer their congrats to Shinji---I mean Dusty. Following this, Dusty gets sent to the real world to save his family at the CEO's HQ.
After they reach the rooftop, the final boss is with the enemy sentient robot vacuum. Up until this point, the gameplay has been a tactical RPG using traps to defeat enemies. How does this end? Well, a fighting game of course! This is the one and only time you will engage in this type of "2D Fighter" but it caught me off guard that it took me several times to get it right. Eventually, you'll defeat the final boss, save your family, and there's your happy ending.
There are bonus levels after the ending, including bonus missions in the McClean Household and the HQ are added. These are measured as tying loose ends and giving the player the final remaining skills and traits. At least there's post-game content, although by the time I finished my playthrough according to my stats it took a little over two hours.
By the time I was finished with my playthrough, due to the nature of the game I have left with more questions than answers myself. Taking a scroll through the gallery section for the first time, I came to the conclusion that this was one of those "fun" games I've requested to play for a very long time. It's a plot that's nonsensical, filled with heaps of references, fourth-wall breaking, and tongue-in-cheek jokes to cover the two-hour gap. I was told that this was a game based on replayability and the urge to do better in my scores rose.
At the end of the day, I had a review to write otherwise I'd be here all day playing Justice Sucks. Overall, I mentioned while the game is short and the gameplay can get repetitive, the fun lies in figuring out the many ways to skin a human. The ending threw me into a loop, but once I accepted that this was a game not to be taken seriously, the sooner I accepted it. My time with Justice Sucks may have been fleeting, but it's a fun game for those who wish to vent out their frustrations in life through the perspective of a cute yet deadly robot vacuum.
Justice Sucks is now available on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation 4, Sony PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S. We played this on PC courtesy of the devs and publishers.