[h1]Introduction[/h1]
Pun-filled and bittersweet as it is, the title alone reminded me of “Ed, Edd n Eddy”. That’s an animated series from over twenty years ago, so chances are you might not even be familiar with it. Either way “jawbreakers” are a type of candy which were part of my own childhood as well, so several events from this visual novel struck home more than I’d like to admit. It also prevented me from getting bored with its otherwise predictable plot and one-dimensional characters. This is the development debut of CatComb, while the project’s being published by industry veterans Reef Entertainment. Yes, the team behind the recently succesful video game adaptation within the Terminator universe (and less stellar Rambo tie-in), is also supporting the release of a very kid-friendly visual novel that’s as far from violence as Skynet’s from “World peace”.
[h1]Story [/h1]
Humor swooped in to save the day. Don’t expect satire or social commentary though. It’s the innocent kind which at least allows actual children to enjoy Jaw Breakers & The Confection Connection without any concern for inappropriate content. Jokes and riddles manage to break the monotony of an otherwise flimsy storyline revolving around summertime vacations and exchange students pretend playing as detectives. I’ve had my share of visual novels on Steam and the one aspect which pleasantly surprised in this title right from the start, is its “carte blanche” approach towards the character you’ll be role-playing as. Sure, your point of view will be from first person perspective at all times, but you can choose either gender and name you may prefer, while NPCs shall refer to you by those terms without any issues. Far too many VNs “typecast” players instead of providing some narrative freedom through customization.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2133541693
As a hardworking beneficiary of the “International Student Summer Exchange Programme” from the United Kingdom, you’ll get to spend six weeks in the United States of America within a small community in hopes of what I presume might be more of a cultural than didactic exchange. I’m sure you figured out the story’s focus on various sweets as these are indeed featured prominently throughout the three episodes of the game. A true cultural shock for our British protagonist ensues upon noticing the titular confectionery consumed by the American “cousins across the Pond”. It’s less about the vibrantly intoxicating colors of the USFDA-approved additives and more about the absurdity of a US law banning the import of a European fan favorite: the Kinder Surprise Egg (which isn’t mentioned by name, for obvious reasons).
We’re introduced to a not-so-sleepy-town of Lemon Grove, where most citizens seem to take cooking quite seriously at least as far as the local candy’s concerned. It reaches the point of family rivalries and that’s going to affect both the storyline and the protagonist’s journey of self-discovery as he or she also befriends other characters through various tasks which seem to converge towards a final mystery. How you solve it, shall remain at your discretion. I’m calling it a simplistic storyline because in more ways than one, the illusion of choice doesn’t even allow room for interpretation, nevermind replay value. I should be grateful that we don’t have a cliffhanger conclusion at the very least. This isn’t a Telltale project yet it still leaves you wanting more. Just like candy, one-and-done is out of the question.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2136524904
[h1]Graphics[/h1]
I need to review visual novels more often, just so I could write less about Unity and UE4 while covering this interesting freeware which powers Jaw Breakers & The Confection Connection. It’s called “The Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine” and in theory, it provides the tools and infrastructure for any potential storyteller and creator of VNs. In practice, the process isn’t hassle-free and if you’re going to cut corners, the players will surely notice. What seem to be hand-drawn backgrounds, complement the alternate style of the characters and yet the visual repetition in a quick succession of NPCs cannot cancel out the feeling of “déjà vu” which sets in as the game’s Girl Scout members resemble an army of clones, for example. You can’t just focus on the main cast and leave the “extras” in a similarity that’s borderline creepy for a title which doesn’t intend to feature any elements of the horror genre. Silver lining comes in the form of flawless performance and resolution scaling.
[h1]Audio[/h1]
Quite the cardinal sin for its gaming genre, Jaw Breakers & The Confection Connection opted for the “silence of the grave” in regards to voice acting, as the soundtrack proves to be a poor substitute just by itself. Still, those few songs are linked to game locations, so we’re not stuck in an elevator loop. I was disappointed, since I’ve come to expect at least some “Engrish” in my visual novels. Bear in mind that while I prefer reading over audio books, I can’t deny the massive appeal of the latter option if the narrator’s approach and accent are more than suitable for the literature in question. Some funny voices from complete amateurs would have made the game better than having no such audio assets at all.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2136525018
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
Nothing breaks the mold here, yet it’s fully functional by visual novel standards. I always found the “auto” option to be rather slow no matter how you tweak that speed slider. So I imagine that even the most voracious readers start slowing down with age, but hopefully that is well far ahead for yours truly. In anycase, I prefer to focus less on the gameplay mechanics here and more on the content which goes beyond the narrative. There are indeed seven locations which unlock as you advance through the story, yet it’s still a masked linear progression as once you’ve had your various interactions in one place, visiting it afterwards will only greet you with something around the line: “your objective is elsewhere, not here”. Fenced freedom indeed! There will be parts in the game where you can choose the order in which you’ll interact with characters or simply skipping some of these steps, if you might have picked the option from the lower center bar. I can’t recall seeing a visual novel on Steam without those instruments, there really isn’t much which can improve the “formula”.
[h1]Verdict[/h1]
The game does bring back some nostalgia not just from Ed, Edd n Eddy but also from Rugrats. Even if you’ll play it without having experienced the aforementioned animations, I think that most visual novel fans looking for a deeply Western counterpart to the genre’s traditionally Eastern backdrops, shall find it worthy of their time. Speaking of which, that price tag’s rather underrated even if I had my share of F2P VNs. Playing Jaw Breakers didn’t drop my proverbial jaw, yet it was pretty far from a time waste. It can be finished in under two hours no matter how slowly you may read. Over the past several years I wasted that time frame on far worse stories and many of them don’t even deserve a one-liner summary, nevermind a fully featured review.
[h1]Strong Points[/h1]
+ Custom protagonist.
+ Innocently humorous.
+ Decent length in regards to its price tag.
[h1]Weak Points[/h1]
- No Steam Trading Cards or Achievements yet.
- Repetitive usage of certain assets.
- No voice acting at all.
- Simplistic storyline.
[b]Rating 60/100[/b]
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