Regina Z Bearington's Sticky Situation - Review

On this day, April 2nd, the first day of Spring, I successfully sucked up sweet maple syrup through a swirly straw before sailing off the edge of a serious waterfall, the tsunami of syrup soaring off the edge after me.

It was glorious. And best of all, this time it only took me four attempts to beat it.

Regina Z Bearington's Sticky Situation by Team Electrified Fooling Machine is just that sort of game. It ties into TOJam 9's theme of "After You" quite literally, but in a unique way. Not only do you have to escape the titan tsunami of syrup, but you have to balance that with slurping as much of it as possible, without being swept up in the stickiness and suffocating. So instead of your usual button-mashing runner, you have to use your head in order to keep the queen of bears afloat.

When I first encountered this game at TOJam last year, I was hard-pressed to get to the end of the level, the syrup overtaking me literally at every turn. But I was determined, so I pressed on, with countless failures until finally I had the satisfaction of success. My note from last year states "sufficiently difficult but attainable". I feel that sums up the game fairly well. That little note was what kept me going earlier today, when poor Regina drowned the first three times.


CONCEPT: 5/5
CONTROLS: 4/5 - I wish there were another button with some kind of speed power up or something... Also a point is lost because 1 button isn't really "controls" but rather "control".
STORY: 3/5 - It would have been a 2, however the "facts" from a bear-centric "wiki" that appear upon game overs are creative and fun, and add to the flavour of this game.
ART: 5/5 - Last year, I said "4 or 5", and I'm feeling generous today because it's FINALLY WARM outside! Plus, it's super cute!
SOUND: 5/5 - Regina's frustrated sounds and burps are extremely cute, and warrant giggling. The theme music is almost like someone humming with a mouth full, too. Thematic!
QUIRKINESS: 2/5 - It's not the quirkiest of games.
ENJOYABILITY: 3.5/5 - It's the type of game that will frustrate you into playing until you beat it, if you're competitive like me. After you've done so, with only one level, you don't have much reason to keep playing except to surpass your highscore. It's fun, but not something to play for hours on end.

FINAL SCORE: 25.5 GOATS!

While navigating the winding river can be treacherous, it's also delicious. I had Regina drink 164L of syrup. See if you can beat me, and feel free to let the developers know what you think!

@atamize
@_arnulfo
@EmilyClaireAfan
@RainVillain