Joe Danger Review – Excitebike on Steroids!
British developers Hello Games’ first release is Joe Danger, a lighthearted old-school stunt motorcycle game and something completely new. Each level offer multiple challenges, making them impossible to complete during the first run and relies on a difficult and deep gameplay to keep you busy for hours.
Joe Danger is an aging motorcycle stuntman who returns to claim the Master of Disaster title for his own. It’s up to you to help him remember how to perform his amazing stunts, but it’s made easy with simple controls. This game just feels good to play. It’s your job to take Joe through several tours, all the while amazing the crowd with insane stunts and racing through strange courses.
Joe Danger is not just a stunt racing game, it’s also similar to a platformer in the way each level is laid out. Hidden areas and items are scattered throughout each course and racing to the finish line on every level will leave a large amount of gameplay left untouched. Every stage has multiple objectives that grant stars upon completion and these stars unlock additional levels. This gives each level a large amount of freedom in which to complete it. Even if you get stuck on a challenge, moving on to a different level may give you enough time to recuperate and try again. The game is made where you don’t have to complete every challenge to progress the story, so you’re not forced to repeat every challenge over and over again.
The control scheme is simple, With controls for balance, speed, tricks, crouching, jumping, and boost. Using your boost allows you to launch yourself off of ramps, over ledges, or through bowling pins. The controls are very sharp and precise. No matter how difficult the game will get, the controls make the game feel like its nothing but fair at all times.
Another feature in Joe Danger is the amazing course editor introduced in the tutorial of the single-player mode. This offers many levels a unique puzzle element because you have to create your own course to complete challenges. This feature in the single-player campaign is not often used, but it works quite well when it is. Some of these levels require you moving objects around, while others require you to find the right object to use for the task. Multi-player mode allows two player to race against each other in split-screen races.
It’s not just the big things that make Joe Danger an enjoyable game to play. Comic-book style visuals, cheering crowds, and the obscure 1980’s cartoon references in the level’s titles add significantly to the game’s charm. Joe’s personality also plays a large part in this, with cheers, grins and waves as he performs stunts. Although the lack of sharing any user-created courses and limited multi-player keep Joe Danger from reaching its full potential, the single-player campaign is remarkable. This game feels like it was created by a full-fledged company when it was actually the first project of four guys. This game is one of the most full-featured and polished games available for consoles today.