[tab:Review]
To be a stuntman, you must be brave and talented. “Danger” should be your middle name, or your last name in the case of Joe Danger. Since his first game, he has been scouted to show off his skills on the big screen. And boy, has he been busy.
For those who are unfamiliar with the games, Joe Danger is a stuntman who negotiates obstacles on his motorbike, in a more cartoon style version of Trials HD. Using physics and tricks, you must control him through various assault courses to the finish line in the fastest time possible and reach objectives on the way.
Since his motorbike stunt driving in the first game, Joe has now managed to expand his skills to other vehicles, including skis, mine carts, jetpacks and even unicycles. All of this helps him to pull of the best stunts he can for scenes in the movies he is filming, such as The Temple of Boom, Dr. Snow, Jetpack to the Future, Joe-Rassic Park and Total Freefall to name just a few.
Yeah, this is about as awesome as it looks.
With all of these new vehicles, you may think there is more fun to be had than the first game, although this is not always the case. Each vehicle controls differently, and once you seem to have mastered one of them in a level, you move on to another level and usually a completely different vehicle. For example, when using a mine cart you are on rails and therefore less manoeuvrable, but when you use the jetpack you have the freedom to move in any direction with more accuracy and explore levels much more thoroughly. This, of course makes the jetpack levels far easier than the others. Usually, you have unlimited time to complete objectives such as finding all collectables in a level, or hitting all targets, but they are no less enjoyable and can be a nice break between frustrating parts. Some levels, albeit not many, you’ll also use more than one vehicle, which makes the transition between controls even more difficult.
As I have mentioned, there are a number of objectives in levels beyond just reaching the end. These consist of a main objective – such as surviving the level or stopping missiles – and a differing number of minor objectives, like collecting things or finishing the level in a certain time. Some levels also reward you with outfits if you complete all objectives in one run and earn a Pro Star, which can be harder than it first appears, especially if you have time constraints.
There is a lot of play in the main chunk of the game dedicated to movie scenes, primarily through trying to achieve 100% completion. On top of this, there are also deleted scenes to work through that help you to refine your skills even further. Some of these are a requirement in order to progress through the game completely, but are very similar in style to the main levels.
You can also, like the first game, play local multiplayer with up to four people. In these levels you must try and be the player with the most tokens at the end of the race, which you gain from your place in the race, and how many health tokens you can keep hold of. These seem quite fun, but are very short.
There is also a level editor available, where you can create your own tracks and upload them so that others can play them. You can find lots of levels created by others too. Similarly, there are levels available in the game where you must edit them in order to complete them, by moving objects out of the way, or moving them to your advantage.
Justice has been served.
In this edition of Joe Danger 2: The Movie available on PSN, you get a free downloadable package called “Team Nasty Tours.” These are levels that were originally designed for the first Joe Danger game, but thought to be too difficult. They require a lot more skill, and I would recommend these only after much practice with the other levels. They solely use the motorbike and give you the chance to refine your skills on this vehicle. It looks like in the future there may be more downloadable content available for the game, so this may be something to keep an eye on.
I have encountered a couple of issues in this game that may be worth noting, although they are not game breaking. The first is the loading times. When in a level there are no loading times to worry about, for example if a trick goes badly, and you need to restart the section. When you are first loading a stage though, it seems to take forever. I know that it seems like a little thing to worry about, but if you are impatient like myself, it may be something to keep in mind. Another thing is that the game has crashed a couple of times. This has happened in the online levels section and the downloadable content part of the game, and it just seems to freeze when it is trying to access the information. Like I said, it isn’t a serious issue, but it can be annoying.
Joe Danger 2: The Movie is a fun game to play. However, even with the change in scenery for each level, and the use of different vehicles, it can become quite repetitive over time. Much like the first game, some levels can be extremely frustrating if you want to complete every available objective. But if you enjoyed the first game, then you will likely enjoy this one. Just don’t expect a lot of difference between them. Even with a few niggles with the controls, it is thoroughly entertaining, and there are hours and hours of play available for your money.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
[tab:Screenshots]
[tab:END]
