Video gaming’s most courageous stuntman is back! Now Joe Danger is braving obstacle-laden courses to make action-filled movie parody scenes, spoofing Indiana Jones, James Bond, Jurassic Park, and more! And is it just me, or does Joe Danger remind anyone else of Super Dave? Does anyone else know who Super Dave is, or am I just aging myself again? (360 downloadable game reviewed here)

I’ve never played the original Joe Danger, so please forgive me for not pointing out any improvements or additions in the sequel. The game reminds me of a mix of Excitebike and Trials HD. Joe must make it to the end of a 2-D track, but you can switch lanes at certain points. Help Joe jump over ramps, loops, pits and other obstacles. By doing tricks in the air, you can fill Joe’s boost meter to help him go faster. Joe rides all sorts of vehicles in the game, from motorcycles to mine carts to jetpacks…even a unicycle! The settings are equally as varied with city, snow, jungle areas, and more!

Each course has side objectives, too. Not only must you finish the track, sometimes you can collect stars, spell out D-A-N-G-E-R, beat other competitors, and more! Completing side objectives earns you stars, which you can use to unlock more levels, medals, and other goodies. My only complaint is that sometimes you must use stars to progress in the main game, forcing you to go back and replay other levels to get more stars, which can be very challenging sometimes. You can also play ‘Deleted Scenes’ courses that are super tough and extra silly!

There is also a multiplayer mode where up to four racers can challenge each other on a selection of obstacle-filled tracks. Best of all, you can design your own levels in the game’s Edit mode. Then you can post them on Xbox LIVE for others to try, and download others for yourself. I really liked how they taught you how to use the Edit Mode by giving you levels to complete. My only main problem with the game is that it’s just challenging just for difficulty’s sake, and I’m not such a big fan of that. But I do appreciate the colorful graphics (it’s nice to see a non-metallic 360 game), and the classic styled gameplay. If you enjoyed Excitebike, Joe Danger 2 is definitely worth checking out.

Kid Factor:

Joe Danger 2: The Movie is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Cartoon Violence. Joe the stuntman can fall off his bike, crash, and even get caught in an explosion. But all he does is flop around like a ragdoll and then hop right back up again ready for more! So it’s no worse than Looney Tunes. Reading skill is a must for the text instructions, and even then sometimes it’s a little confusing. Younger players and less experienced gamers may get frustrated at the game’s extremely high difficulty level, too. But just as us “big kids” whiled away many an hour designing our own tracks in Excitebike, even the youngest directors will have fun making their own levels here in Edit Mode.

Tags: Game Reviews