Joe Danger Special Edition – Review (XBLA)
Joe Danger’s presence has been with us for a year now but up until Tuesday only PS3 owners have been able to enjoy everything that Joe had to offer.
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Likes
- Fluid control system
- Well designed tracks
- The Lab is a great addition
- Sandbox provides endless possibilities
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Dislikes
- A little confusing at first
With the news that Joe Danger was coming to the 360 a few months back, as a Special Edition a lot of people were shocked. Hello Games had decided to unleash game design nirvana on both major formats for all to enjoy. Little did we know at the time that Hello Games had actually ran out of money last year, releasing a somewhat incomplete game onto the PS3, but Xbox 360 owners were about to see Hello Games’ full vision of Joe Danger come to life for a price point of 1200 MSP.
So what is so special about Joe Danger you ask? Well, this comes down to two things really. One is that well designed games that plays to the great influences of games past will always find their way to the top and two, Joe Danger, underneath that gloriously addictive gameplay, is a story of David vs Goliath, quality over substance and a delightful narrative of how a small studio, through passion, love and dedication can produce what could be the digital game of the year, proving what we already know. It’s not about how much money you have to throw at a game, it is how you utilise the money you have to make the game you envisioned.
So, I am going to assume that you have never played the game on PS3 before and let you know that the game is all about the most determined stuntman ever. After being at the top of his game many years ago Joe Danger had an accident that threatened to stop him from walking again. Cue, the dramatic comeback and spending the next few hours navigating Joe over well designed side scrolling tracks to collect a variety of stars that enable you to advance through the tracks. Ramps, barrels, ledges amongst other items are all there to provide enough obstacles for you to either trick off of or to slow you down on those all important combo runs, tricking your heart out using the left and right bumpers, that will put you on global leaderboards so you can see where you stand amongst the rest of the community.
When you first start out the game can seem a little confusing. Your initial reaction is to speed run and collect as many stars as possible along the way, completely forgetting the finer points of Joe Danger SE as they are not explained clearly enough. The plus side, however, is that the control system and the very essence of the easy learning curve will make you forget about such minor foibles and open up the joy that was found in titles from the 90′s and earlier, like Excitebike, Kickstart etc.
It’s only when you complete the first few courses and find out that you need to spend stars on unlocking new courses that you realise you need replay each course to gather the major star collections in order to progress. It is this point, when you return to each course and start to hone in Joe Danger’s finer points of it’s well crafted gameplay and understand how deep, but yet thoroughly enjoyable each level is.
The collection is stars is very necessary to progress and sometimes can become an obsession due to the way that these stars are gained. Whether is be searching for hidden yellow stars, collecting all of the purple stars on the course, collecting the DANGER letters, beating the track in a certain time or collecting all of the bonus coins there is a lot of variety that will keep you coming back to attempt each track time and time again. To add to the variety too each course is laid out on various tracks which you can move onto in various intersections by a quick press of the D-pad.
To add to an already stellar single player experience is The Lab, a section of the game for purists rather than a casual run. As with each course on the single player, difficulty levels start to build up throughout the game and timing starts to become essential towards the latter part of the game. The Lab, takes this ethic to the max from stage 1 in a series of well presented short runs that require the right button presses at the right time to be able to complete the tracks in as quickest time as possible, whilst learning new skills and techniques to take into the single player experience.
Pro medals are also dotted throughout the game which will unlock various items and characters along the way, introducing a new way to play the game which also encourages you to explore various routes to find that perfect run. Split screen multiplayer is also available for you and a friend to compete head to head in and mimic some of the competitions against Team Nasty from the single player events. Last but not least, when you think that you’ve exhausted all of the possibilities within the game itself you will find in the menus the Sandbox, where you can design and share a course you’ve created with your friends, a feature that although seems a staple part of games like this nowadays but provides longevity beyond the games’ asking price.
Overall, Joe Danger SE is a testament to what I have always believed for years. That David can take on Goliath and win on a limited budget. All that it takes is some people with passion, design flare and an understanding of what makes games great. From the happy and vibrant colour palette to the big grin on Joe Danger’s face, even when he gets hurt, to the design of the courses and the wanton need to go and revisit each track time and time again to combo the whole track and rack a ludicrous score for the leaderboard, Joe Danger just sucks you right in and never lets you go.
Admittedly, Joe Danger has turned up late to the 2011 party but is has proved in a very short space of time how a game can be designed to incorporate the fun factors of the golden era whilst engaging the consumer in something very rare in today’s society of rebranding franchises. Joe Danger appears on the surface to be a racer at heart but peel away a few layers and understand the title more you will find a platformer amongst other genres in there too. Joe Danger will see the year out in style and provides the perfect title to steal our Digital Title of the year award.
