Donuts’n’Justice Review

Donuts ‘N’ Justice is a fast-paced 2D horizontal shoot-’em-up wherein you take the role of one of two Super Cops in the 1980s to defend their city against gangs, violence and corruption. It is a side-scrolling shooter in which you go up against loads of different criminals.
You can play 2 characters called Mick Riggs or Nick Gordon if you choose the single-player mode. You can also play co-op with a friend so that both Riggs and Gordon can take down the criminals together.
The gameplay is simple enough. You simply shoot at bad guys as you move along the screen to the right. Every now and again there will be some enemies shooting at you from behind on the left side of the screen. Controls are unique and different to most side scrollers but I must admit simple: X to shoot left, A to shoot right, you can also pick up grenades throughout the level and throw them with B depending on what way you are facing.

Talking of pick-ups during the level, you always start each level with a simple pistol but you can pick up a variety of different guns to give yourself an edge as you are killing enemies, like a machine gun or shotgun. You can also get a bullet proof vest to protect yourself for a short amount of time or donuts to gain health, but the best one is a power up spray which makes your shots super powerful and pretty much one hit kills.

It’s a funny touch with it being donuts giving you some health back, as we know how much the police have been associated with donuts, after all they are very yummy! I love me a vanilla filled one if I had to pick.

You will have to move around to avoid getting shot but with the amount of donuts and vests that get dropped throughout the level I didn’t really struggle and I think I only had to restart a level once and that was because I got run over by a train.

There is no save point throughout a given level. Dying will force you to restart the level.
This title is very short. There are only a few stages and each ends with a boss fight. I was able to complete the game within an hour.

While the gameplay is challenging, even on the easiest difficulty level, the brief nature of the stages makes it feel like there is limited replay value. What is fun throughout the game is the ability to pick up cash from dead criminals to buy creative hats in the shop. Some hats are simply for aesthetics whereas other hats provide special powers like an automatic bullet proof vest and the ability to keep civilians alive even if you shoot them.

You will also unlock a new “Boss Rush” mode once you have completed the game. This is short and sweet and not too taxing, it what it is, just fighting the bosses you faced during the story mode, but no achievements are attached to this mode.

Audio is your classic 8bit audio and didn’t really stand out as amazing for me. You do get funny screams when people die but you soon drown that out after the first couple. It had so much potential and they could have added so many more stages to make it enjoyable but it was over far too quickly.

Conclusion

Donuts ‘n’ Justice is a retro game with a decent retro look and feel. Local co-op is a nice touch. There’s limited replay value due to only a few stages in the game. I think it is good for achievement hunters as you will be able to knock this title out in less than an hour but it’s one you will probably play and forget quickly.

This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox One console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.