Gumball in Trick – or – Treat Land is another new Game Boy Color game. Joining the likes of Infinity, Wicked Plague, and Dragonhym, Gumball in Trick or Treat Land is an ambitious homebrew title with production standards that exceed those of many official titles from big studios. The game is a turn-based role-playing game inspired by titles such as Earthbound and Undertale. Read on for a review of Gumball in Trick-or-Treat Land. The game code was provided, and the game is being reviewed on the Game Boy Color using an Everdrive X7.
The game is developed by Exquisute Laundry Pet LLC. This is the first game from them that I’ve come across. The game is published by Mega Cat Studios, who have done many games recently, including AVGN 8 – Bit, Echoes of the Unread (still in development), and the recent God of War: Sons of Sparta.
Style and Presentation
The game doesn’t lack imagination, and some of the scenarios that the player character finds themselves in sound like they have been dreamed up by an Alice in Wonderland character after they’ve drank too much herbal tea. You play as a piece of candy. The world this object inhabits is full of symbolically aware pieces of fruit and other food items. The abstract imagination of the writers and developers isn’t limited by the Game Boy Color’s graphics. The simplicity of the graphics means it can be easier to portray abstract, trippy scenes than if they had the power of a PS2 or Xbox 360 to play with.
Once you choose the kind of candy that you want to play as, your character is launched from a sweet dispenser, and you begin to explore a wacky world from a top-down perspective. Exploration is Zelda-like, although the game shifts to turn-based battles when your character finds himself in trouble. The style of the battles could be compared to Earthbound. Characters and environments are simple, but the world is colorful, and this helps the player to appreciate the abstractness of the game world.
Story and worldbuilding
Every character that the player comes across has a lot to say; the Halloween theme is expressed through pumpkin characters, spooky trees, and a world that feels more alive than most story-driven modern games. The locations echo real-world locations. There’s a school, a cafe, a library, a jewelers and each location is rich with characters that have one problem or another. The world is quite big, and countless houses contain interesting characters.
Even the menus and submenus have quirky features. They are designed to look like school notebooks. The font looks like handwriting. It’s a cool way to express the charm of the game world. Locations such as Inkyblinky Woods and Flagrant Fields are inhabited by talking pumpkins. There is even a mayor who resides over the nice folk that inhabit the game world.
Graphics, sound, and gameplay
When the player reaches a dangerous area, there are usually signs in one form or another that will tell the player to get ready for a few turn-based battles. The battles are fun and could be described as a cross between Earthbound and Pokemon. Exploration is another key element of gameplay. You as the piece of hard candy that you are, often find yourself having to take on enemy after enemy, but generally the difficulty isnt too high, and there is a reward of access to new areas after a few difficult battles.
The school area is full of students, teachers, and fun scenarios. You can tell a lot of love has been put into the development of Gumball in Trick-or-Treat Land, even though it is a weird game. If you want to invest in this title it has a lot to offer, and I can imagine that you’d be swept away into its crazy world of talking pumpkins and sentient sugary sweets. Another positive is that not once did I not know what to do or have tasks that stumped me in a ‘where do I go now’ kind of way. So, this game isn’t a ‘what do I do now nad where do I go’ kind of game. That has got to be a positive.
Conclusion
Overall Gumball in Trick-Or-Treat Land is a turn based role playing game in the style of the SNES classic Earthbound, that charms and entertains in equal measure. A big empasis is put on exploration and there are secrets and hidden items around every corner. Mega Cat Studios and Exquisite Laundry Pet have combined to create an ambitious Game Boy game, that is up there with recent great homebrew efforts such as Dragonhym and Infinity. If you like your role playing games, and you like your explorative adventure games this one comes highly recommneded. The style might be a bit too weird for some, and the game is creepy, but in a saturday morning cartoon kind of way. It is a great game, with a good sense of progression and good writing. Gumball in Trick-Or-Treat Land is another hit for the Game Boy’s homebrew catalogue. Happy gaming.
8/10
BongoBongo123 is an avid Zelda fan who also likes the odd game of Smash. His interests in gaming are broad but he loves a good Metroidvania or action RPGs.
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