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Sushi Ben – Review

To VR or not to VR? That’s the question. At least for some developers, while others try to get the best of both worlds. Big Brane Studios might be a good example of that second one. Their debut title, Sushi Ben, is a VR adventure game that was recently ported to PC, where it can still be played in VR mode but also has a non-VR mode for regular players to try. And while the game draws your eye in with its colorful aesthetic and jaunty music, the problems such a port poses quickly can become apparent. Story Sushi Ben takes place in a gorgeous Japanese seaside town. The player character moves there from the big city, hoping for some peace and relaxation, renting a small apartment above a local shop. But rather quickly, you find yourself pulled into a series of wacky, sometimes even supernatural adventures. It all starts at the local sushi shop where the titular Ben works. The shop is struggling to keep its head above water since the chef disappeared, and a local real estate mogul wants to buy up all of the land to turn the town into a seaside resort. The sushi shop is one of the last properties they don’t own yet, and Ben asks for your help to keep it that way. This game is very plot-forward, for lack of a better term. The story is a little silly – describing itself as an interactive anime story on the store page – but in an enjoyable way, and takes up the majority of what you’ll be doing, since Sushi Ben is essentially a walking simulator with a few mini games. Graphics This game takes all of its visual inspiration from anime too, and you can definitely tell just from the art style. The character designs especially look as if they walked right out of Shonen Jump. The graphics are colorful and blocky, with a bit of a retro style to them. Even the dialogue and cutscenes lean into the comic trope of using panels for reaction shots or transitions, complete with written onomatopoeia on screen. It gives Sushi Ben a lot of charm and makes it fun to walk around and explore the game world. Sound Similarly, the game also leans into the anime vibe with its music and sound effects. Sushi Ben seems to be a bit of a ‘form over function’ game in that it does draw you in with the graphics and music combo, while the gameplay has little substance. The game is also fully voiced in both English and Japanese, allowing you to pick the experience you prefer, and we can tell all the voice actors are giving it their all. It also has as an advantage that the dialogue-heavy cutscenes aren’t a slog to read through. Gameplay But for all the praise we gave it in the previous two segments, gameplay is where Sushi Ben undoubtedly falters. As mentioned, this adventure game was originally conceived in VR, and you can tell from both the game mechanics and how often they pop up. For most of the game, you’ll just be walking around the town, sometimes clicking on an item to interact with it or have a conversation with a person. Then, presumably to keep the player at least a little engaged, you’ll be partaking in a whole roster of mini games, from fishing to table tennis to bug catching. Most of these mini games, you’ll only do once as they’re directly tied to the story. This premise isn’t all bad, even if some people probably want their games to have a little more to do, but what really takes the cake is that every mini game is very much designed with the original VR controls in mind, and converting those controls so they work on a keyboard or even a controller has resulted in mixed success. Most of the real gameplay segments require you to do quick time events or move your cursors to specific spots on the screen, but this seems to be a little buggy at times or just poorly explained, making some of the mini games more frustrating than fun. Conclusion Sushi Ben is certainly not the worst game we’ve played recently, it might not even be the worst port. But unless you play with a VR headset on your computer, we’d recommend thinking twice before getting this game, despite the very charming graphics and music. If you do know what you’re getting into and don’t mind, however, this medium-length adventure can be a good time, and we think its uniqueness does make up for some of its faults.