Screenshot: A Gummy's Life
Released back in 2018 on Steam,
A Gummy’s Life has garnered a “Very Positive” overall review. I don’t understand why. Reminiscent of
Gang Beasts,
A Gummy’s Life is a wacky take on fighting and party games, but it’ll take the right group of people to get enjoyment out of this one.
A Gummy’s Life is a party fighting game. It has cute cartoon gummy fighters that jiggly around as they kick, punch and grab. Your goal in each of the levels is to come out on top. Each level is different, and features novel hazards and obstacles to overcome while avoiding your enemies. There are free for all modes, and team modes, or you can play solo with bots, locally with friends, or online with friends or strangers. And that’s it, really. I mean, it could be enough, theoretically. But
A Gummy’s Life just isn’t that fun.
Screenshot: A Gummy's Life
I think part of the problem with
A Gummy’s Life is how it feels to play. There’s a certain chaotic nature to games like
Fall Guys, where your character doesn’t feel fit or capable, but
Fall Guys still manages to feel fun to play.
A Gummy’s Life isn’t really. Fighting games are best when they have tight mechanics, but
A Gummy’s Life obviously is built for hilarious chaos, but fighting just doesn’t feel fun at all. It’s also pretty basic, which is a boon in this case. Hitting an enemy enough times will knock them over, which gives you the chance to pick them up and throw them out of the arena. Throwing (and fighting) isn’t always necessary, however, as most levels have hazards that will quickly end your gummy’s life if you aren’t careful or fast enough. One of the things that makes these types of party games fun is the possibility of chaos. There is plenty of chaos in
A Gummy’s Life, and with the right group, lots of fun to be had.
The best thing about
A Gummy’s Life is its level variety. Many of these levels are essentially different mini games. One is a bumper car battle, another is a take on
Frogger, and yet another is a battle on a moving train, a game of soccer—and more. I would have liked to see these different minigames as distinct game modes with multiple levels for each mode. Instead there are Free for all, King of the Hill, Team Deathmatch and Hot Potato modes for each map. Hot potato is more like a “tag” mode with a timer that, when finished, blows up the character that was last tagged. King of the Hill mode is also a little different than expected, since it’s based around being the first to collect five marshmallows.
Screenshot: A Gummy's Life
As far as progression, there are loads of cosmetics to aim for. There are almost 20 gummies, each with a whole array of hats and glasses to choose from. It’s a bummer that you can’t unlock them through offline play, however—you can only earn them through online matchmaking.
If you’re looking for a mechanically tight game,
A Gummy’s Life isn’t it—and intentionally so. It’s a fun enough party game, but playing solo, even with bots, isn’t that fun.
A Gummy’s Life is best while played with friends, but even then, it might only entertain for an evening or two before getting old. That said, if you’re looking for a wacky party game that’s quick to pick up, you could do worse.
A Gummy's Life is available now on
PlayStation 4 and 5,
Xbox Series S|X and for
PC via Steam and
on Nintendo Switch.
A PlayStation 4 key was provided to us for this review.
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