Danger Mouse: The Danger Games!

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Title: Danger Mouse: The Danger Games!
Developer: 9th Impact
Publisher: 9th Impact
Website: https://9thimpact.com/9th-impact-games/danger-mouse-the-danger-games/
Genre: Action, Arcade, Party, Racing
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Audience: All, especially big kids!
Release Date: 13/09/2018
Price: £4.49 – I was very kindly offered a review code for this title.

What the Developers say

Pick up and race anytime, anywhere, against anyone on Nintendo Switch!
An epic multiplayer race battle that pits you against other players in real time
Supports up to 4 Joy-Con controllers at once
Compete against your friends (or your enemies)
Try out an endless combination of characters and equipment from the Danger Mouse TV series
Trade cards with your friends to build your race deck
Collect cards to upgrade your characters and equipment
Win trophies to claim your spot on the leaderboards
An addicting game that you won’t want to put down!

Introduction

I’ve just spent the whole morning playing Danger Mouse: The Danger Games, and I’ve only now stopped because my battery ran out. It is an entertaining, wacky, family-friendly party racing game featuring the cast of the much-loved cartoon, Danger Mouse as well as a variety of wacky and wonderful weapons and power-ups.

Before being thrown into the action, you have to choose from a randomly generated list of names, some of my favourites included; Splashy Big Bubbles, Lumpy Plastic Suds and Loopy Nut Chips. I went for Nosey Fried Wheels. Once you’ve signed up with your selected name, you’re thrown into a practice race which serves as a tutorial.

Looks and sounds

The game looks fantastic, and the characters are a faithful recreation of the original cartoons. The worlds are bright and colourful and some of the London landscapes can be seen, for example, The Shard. The sounds are pleasing and add a real feel of being in an episode of Danger Mouse as the characters repeat their catchphrases. Weapons and power-ups sound as you would expect.

Controls

The controls are straightforward to pick up, which is good considering the games’ target market.

Cards

The card area is where you will find the characters, weapons and powerups that you can add to your race deck. Each card can be upgraded, allowing you to use weapons and power-ups for longer, and upgrade each character’s stats. Upgrades cost different amounts of Crum pounds which you gain by winning races.

Play

Within the play area, you can decide whether to play online solo or with a partner. Playing solo will put you up against random players from the Switch or mobile version of the game, thanks to crossplay.

There’s also the option to play with up to 4 Joy-Cons in a split-screen, local multiplayer battle. This mode is a lot of fun when playing with friends and family. Practice mode allows you to hone your skills while collecting XP stars and Crum pounds.

Race time

The races itself are super enjoyable. Each track is full of randomly generated obstacles and enemies, each with the aim of slowing you down. The races take place in 5 different areas, each with a specific theme. You need to reach certain levels to unlock each location. At the time of writing, as a Level 5, I had unlocked the first three.

You have to move along the road, being sure to avoid the obstacles. This can be achieved by running left to right, jumping up and down and ducking underneath. Hitting obstacles will slow you down briefly, allowing your opponents to overtake.

There’s a progress bar at the top of the screen, showing you how much is left of the race, and where your opponents are. You’re also able to slow your opponents down by using a number of the wacky weapons on offer.

The special abilities, when used at the right times, can really help you out.

Within each race, an extra element of enjoyment is added with a variety of mini-games that you need to complete. Although very simple, they do add to the experience nicely.

The rewards you get all depend on your position in the race, what’s really good is that you do get rewarded if you come in 4th place. This is an excellent feature, considering lots of young children will play the game.

You gain and lose trophies depending on your position in the race.

At the end of each race, you’re given a pack of card to open. Winning the race earns you the maximum of 5 cards.

Secret Agency

The Secret Agency is where you can create your Agency or join someone else’s. Once you’ve formed an Agency or joined another, you can challenge members of the Agency to a race, request cards and send messages.

Shop

The shop is where you can purchase items using the game’s currency, Crum Pounds. You can also exchange PIES for Crum Pounds. The shop does allow you to purchase PIES with real money. Prices range from £3.99 for 100 PIES to £25.99 for 1000 PIES.

I didn’t find the need to spend any real money as playing the game rewards you with PIES and Crum Pounds.

Leaderboard

The leaderboard adds an element of competitiveness to the game and allows you to see where you rank amongst your League and the world.

Achievements

There are 48 achievements to unlock and again, each one will gain you rewards which will help you to upgrade your characters and abilities.

Daily Missions

Daily missions will encourage you to sign in a play every day. Completing each mission will give you rewards which you can then use to upgrade your characters and powerups.

Improvements

In all fairness, I couldn’t find any significant faults with this game. The only issues that I did run into were when selecting the option to play as a duo; it takes you straight to the controller select screen. However, if you change your mind, there doesn’t seem to be a way to return to the previous menu without resetting the whole game. Another issue that I ran into a couple of times was after a race if I had a card to upgrade and went straight to the card sections; I couldn’t move the cursor to choose the card that needed updating.

In Conclusion

Danger Mouse: The Danger Games is an incredibly fun game that will have you coming back, again and again. It can be played solo, or with friends and family, online and offline. This is a must play for kids and big kids. Fans of Danger Mouse will really enjoy this game, and I am sure that it will certainly make some new fans of the show. For the price of £4.49, the developers have crammed an awful lot of fun into the game. I’m off to unlock the rest of the cards and levels!

Rapid Reviews Rating

4 out of 5

You can purchase Danger Mouse: The Danger Games on the Nintendo eStore at the following link, https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Danger-Mouse-The-Danger-Games-1438755.html#Overview

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