Get sucked into the ridiculous new title from Aussie devs, Samurai Punk, in our JUSTICE SUCKS: Tactical Vacuum Action review!

Founded in 2014, Melbourne-based Samurai Punk (or “Spunk” as they call themselves) have developed over 6 games designed for many platforms including mobile, PC, Console and even AR. Their mantra of weird and wacky games shows they mean business from shooting bugs, to flying as a bird or even screen cheating your way to victory.

He’s cute when he’s sleeping.

One of their bloodier games features a Robo vac murdering intruders and then promptly cleaning up the mess. Roombo: First Blood was released in early 2019 on all platforms and has since transformed into a sequel like no other. Justice Sucks was released last year in all its bloody glory! So, does a killer robo vac game clean up? Or does it have to go back on charge? Find out in our JUSTICE SUCKS: Tactical Vacuum Action review!

JUSTICE SUCKS: Tactical Vacuum Action Review – Story

Picking up from exactly where the previous game ended, Dusty’s family arrives back home from Christmas vacation. Dusty’s exploits from the first game, which was guarding your families’ valuables from robbers, has gained the unwanted attention of the big CEO boss from the robovac company. Dusty is labelled defective as his job was to let the robbers steal everything so the family would buy security from Family Corp with the CEO, Dale profiting from everyone’s stolen items.

Now that’s a corpo building alright, Choom!

This turns into a full-blown raid, where your family is taken hostage and Dusty is thrown into the TV by the new Robopal 9000 causing some serious damage. Here is where the real adventure begins, as Dustys’ conscience is transported into the digital world of Television.

Everyone has a Sexy McClean inside of them!

It is in this virtual world where you meet Dustys’ alter ego, Sexy McClean. He acts as your guide through numerous stages as you unlock skills and learn how to defeat enemies. All so you can escape to the real world and rescue your family. Bizarre does not cut it for this one-of-a-kind adventure that even features a Mortal Kombat inspired final boss fight.

Now that’s a bad, bad robot…

JUSTICE SUCKS: Tactical Vacuum Action Review – Gameplay

If you played the first game, Roombo First Blood, then the basics are the same. You can move, suck up blood, bodies, and objects to throw, plus execute traps in the form of every day furniture or items. Justice Sucks turns the dial up to 11 with how much varied the gameplay is. Firstly, you have 8 stages with numerous tasks or missions to do on each one.

After the story is complete almost all worlds have up to 9 missions on each

The story is only contained in the first mission, however to advance to the next area you must power up Dusty by completing some additional missions. This also nets you with more health/ stamina every time you level (or power) up. These missions can also unlock different perks and abilities for you to test out and experiment with.

You can change this at the start of every mission

As you complete certain tasks in these missions you will no doubt come face to face with many enemies trying to stand in your way. In order to dispose of them you can lure them into traps that you set off, causing all kinds of bloody messes. From ovens exploding, rogue robots, falling fans, spinning knives, electrical outlets or even toilets blasting into pieces. After creating this mess, you do have to clean it up in most missions which adds to your total score of the level.

There is also a setting to change the gore to rainbows and candy for the kids

There is even a specific cleaning mission where you have to clean everything in the time limit but the best part about it is the addictive “Clean up this mess” song that plays the whole time. Regarding scores, this is a great way to give excellent replayability to each level. Your time, method of killing, and cleanliness percentage all adds up to your score for that level. With nearly 50 levels in Justice Sucks, I dare say you have a lot of robo vacuuming to do.

Even the S rank design screams 90s

JUSTICE SUCKS: Tactical Vacuum Action Review – Visuals

As a small indie studio, Samurai Punk doesn’t have the resources like some AAA studios but that doesn’t stop them from creating a very smooth-running game that has a quirky and fantastic art style.

First time I’ve been scared of a segway.

It is noticeably upgraded from the first game, with Dusty’s movements, abilities and actions performing in quick succession feeling as smooth as clean carpet. Whilst the human 3D models lacked a little bit of realism, they add to the overall peculiar feel of this game.

Justice Sucks Review – Audio

One of the best parts of this game is the main theme song. It’s absolutely addictive, catchy and has a real 90s nostalgic feel to it. What is even better, ‘Galaxies’ was written and performed by local artist, Monster Mansion, for Justice Sucks specifically. See what you think below but it will live in my head rent-free for a good while.

What Else? – Side Quests, Post-Game, Trophies

Upon completing the main story, a whole new bunch of levels open to you on previous worlds. There is even a continuing story that sees Dusty go to space and may or may not tease a threequel. There is plenty still to unlock and even try to get your high score on the worldwide leaderboard.

So much to do, so little time to suck.

Aside from that there are of course the trophies and achievements which are all relatively straightforward but will probably have you going back and forth between certain missions to try and nab them all. The good thing about the trophy/achievement list is that you don’t have to complete every single level. Just enough to unlock all abilities, so if you want a reasonably fun and quick Platinum, definitely check this out.

Each level also has a map to show enemies, blood to clean or mission objectives

JUSTICE SUCKS: Tactical Vacuum Action Review – Conclusion

Justice Sucks: Tactical Vacuum Action is more than just a sequel to a small 2-hour indie game. This contains around 6-7 hours of story alone with numerous levels to go back and complete. Whilst the narrative may be simple it does so in the weirdest and most wonderful way possible, with puns, silly jokes and all the blood-filled action your robo heart could desire.

I hope we see Sexy McClean again!

Why should you play it?

• Weird and wacky story different to anything
• Fun puzzle action-styled levels with various skills
• Reasonably short story with almost unlimited replayability

Why Shouldn’t you play it?

• You hate robovacs
• Sucking up bodies doesn’t sit well with you
• No in-depth story or meaningful message (Not sure why you would want that anyway)

A review code was kindly provided by the team at Samurai Punk for our JUSTICE SUCKS: Tactical Vacuum Action review. If you enjoyed this review, find out about one of their other wonderfully ridiculous games in our PAX Aus 2023 Indie Game Wrap-Up and jump on the Qualbert Discord to chat with us about their upcoming releases!