Jelly Troops gives us the ability to control a small, cute jelly army in a colorful fairy world. The game draws inspiration from Nintendo's Pikmin series: we control a bunch of slimes, send them to collect magical fruit, take over flags scattered around the map and fight a little "capture the flag" war, and we lead them as... some kind of undefined fairy wizard? Fabio and I decided to try the game, each with one family member, and we bring you this joint review!
Fabio:
"Adrian! I have a game to try, you might like it."
"What's his name?"
"Jelly Troops."
"Uuu, I love jellies, I'm sure it will be great!"
We start the game, we notice that there is no intro video or at least an attempt at a story, but it throws you directly into the main menu. "Dad, look, what about Pikmin!" The tutorial explains the basic commands and the principle of the game: find three flags and bring them to your base before your opponent does the same. It sounds pretty simple. You lead an army of slimes around the map, look for flags, collect some kind of green fruit that gives you extra slimes when you bring it back to the base, thus increasing your troops. The more you send them to complete a task, the faster they are.
Come with me giants, and we'll drag you to the enemy base. You'll have a great time there. Trust me.
"Look dad, Iron Golem!"
In order for everything not to be so simple, there are Guardians who attack as soon as you approach them and follow you until you are out of their sight. One useful strategy is to get them to follow you and then drag them to the enemy base, while they deal with them while you explore the map. The map is, frankly, monotonous and boring, and apart from the randomly generated positions of bases, fruits and flags, there is absolutely no other difference. Scattered around the map are spell books that give you certain powers: invisibility, speed, additional slimes, you can even create two guardians on the spot if you wish.
Cookies:
I agree with the team, the strategic elements are kept to a minimum, the games are very short and often come down to a race and a game of luck who will be the first to collect more units and capture the flags that are close to the base, without any major conflict.
Postands i opcija tzv. Knockout pobjede ako uspijete zauzeti glavnu zastavu iz protivničke baze, but to se u mojim mečevthere is rijewho događalo. IN nekim partijama protivnika gotovo nisam ni vidio - mape su relativne velike, pa je često isplativije ostati u svom kutku i uzeti flags nego tražiti frontalni obračun. On raspolaganju su i single player izazovi za jednog gameča koji su tu da vas bolis onuče play igru, but više sam se držao online playa. Online partije nude mogućnost levelanja i stjecanja nekog rankinga, but ne brings ništa novo.
Bigger fruit trees will give us more units, but it takes more slimes to carry it
The game is decorated with a typical cell-shading style that looks solid, but the design of the map and characters gives the impression of a mobile game. You'll be playing the same map over and over, just generated differently. Slimes are cute and cuddly, but my fairy leader looks like a placeholder. I quote my wife: "Everything is kind of generic, without real character."
Victory is mine! Again! But I don't feel that joy and happiness.
My opponent was a little less motivated to play than Adrian: "Are you seriously using me for your business purposes?" We played a couple of games in split screen, quickly gave up and went back to other games. Despite the large TV, visibility is poor and the camera is unintuitive. "We bought a huge TV and I still can't see what I'm doing." The online experience is slightly better, but after a few wins I didn't feel the need to continue. The game doesn't offer enough tactical depth or progression to keep me engaged.
Fabio:
"Dad, let's try split screen!"
Odgameli smo nekoliko partija, shvator smo da is onjbolje ne brinuti what drugi radi, already what ago ići pronaći flags i odnijeti ih u your own bazu, what ponekad malo ovisi i o sreći jer su pozicije zastava nasumično generirane. Bitka lasts par minuta, and inkoliko je u tom vremenu rezultat neriješen, igra se Sudden Death, ilitiga who prvi donese zastavu u your own bazu or makne jednu iz neprijateljske baze - pobjednik. Tu tek comes to izražaja nazovimo to taktiziranje, because možete svojim slimeovthere is napraviti zidove i sagočiti prolaz neprijatelju, ili ga nadogti sa dvije skupine trupa: dok jedna radi diversion, druga krade zastavu. Moguće je pobijediti i tako da glavnu neprijateljsku zastavu donesete u your own bazu, but to nismo nijednom napravor jer there is none smisla gube vrijeme na departure do neprijatelja a flags su vam dostupne blizu baze. Često ćete svoje slimeove poslati na krivo mjesto jer je ciljanje sa controllerthere is poprorčno šlampavo odrađeno pa ciljnik skače sa meand on metu.
Our conclusion – a cute idea, but still too simple for a longer game
Cookies:
Jelly Troops takes the basic ideas of the RTS genre and serves them up just like candy, light, fast and affordable. But just like sweets, you eat them quickly and you remain hungry. If you're a veteran of classic RTS games, especially if you grew up on Starcraft or Age of Empires games, you'll probably find this all too shallow. It seems to me that the game is aimed at younger ages, graphically and mechanically.
Fabio:
If you're a parent looking for a light-hearted game to play with the kids, Jelly Troops is an option to play a few rounds at home with the housemates (preferably as young as possible) on the big screen. But it lacks variety and content. With only one map, everything boils down to the same thing, and even more spells in the game don't make much of a difference. My eight-year-old son got bored of it after an hour, and I got bored after the second fight.
A copy of the Switch version of the game was provided by publisher Phoenixx for review purposes
