Donuts’n’Justice review for PS5/PS4, Xbox One, Switch

Platform: PS5
Also on: Xbox One, PC, PS4, Switch
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Developer: FobTi Interactive
Medium: Digital
Players: 1-2
Online: No
ESRB: T

Here?s my problem with Donuts’n’Justice: it was so short, so inconsequential, and so lacking in replay value that I barely had the time to form any kind of strong opinion on it.

I mean, to some extent that?s pretty much what I expected, seeing as we?re talking about a game published by Ratalaika, who kind of specialize in games where you can quickly and easily score a Platinum Trophy. But even by those low standards — and we?re talking about a standard that includes a game that you could Platinum simply by moving right — Donuts’n’Justice is pretty lacking in…well, pretty much everything.

For starters, it only has six short levels, so we?re not talking about one of those Ratalaika games where the Platinum pops much too early. You have to beat the game, but that should only take you half an hour — 15 minutes if you?re playing on ?Thumbsucker? difficulty.

On top of that, virtually nothing in this game is memorable, save for the very last boss fight. (I?m not going to spoil what happens there, but I will say that it takes part of the game?s name to a weirdly literal place.) Up until that point, Donuts’n’Justice is nothing more than your standard side-scrolling beat-?em-up/shoot-?em-up game, where you (and a friend, if you want), keep going right as wave after wave of bad guys tries to take you out. You dodge around the screen for a few minutes, shooting at enemies and picking up guns and donuts (the latter giving you a health boost), and then you reach the end and face down a fairly easy boss. Repeat that six times, and you?ve got your game.

Honestly, it took me more time to write this review than it did to finish Donuts’n’Justice. If you feel like spending 20 minutes with a game you?ll forget within moments of finishing it, here?s the game for that, but I don?t see why you?d want to bother.

Ratalaika Games provided us with a Donuts’n’Justice PS4/PS5 code for review purposes.

Grade: D+