We have a unique review today; I’ll be reviewing some PC hardware, something that I haven’t been able to do in years (Mac guy). Today I’m going to be talking about and reviewing the Antec High Current Gamer 520W power supply unit. If you want to see several pictures of it, check out the unboxing post I did early today.

The unit itself is actually a nice unit. For those of you that have messed around with power supplies, you know how simple these are to install but how much of a problem they are if you don’t have one that is strong enough. The install was simple, 4 screws, just like every other PSU out there. The next part of the install was obvious, hooking everything up to it. The HCG-520M has one of the less clutter/cable management types of system where all the cables detach from the PSU itself so you only have to use what you need. This type of system here is really what you want because you only have cables in your case that you need. It takes any excess out which then helps with opening things up for a better air flow inside your PC, and let us not forget just how much better it also looks. You don’t really want a rat nest inside your case. I did have a small problem with the cable management system though, but that’s really because it’s only a 520W unit, it only comes with one set of the PCI-E cables. Most likely you won’t need more than this, especially if you only need 520W’s, but it would have been nice for one more.

After the install I fired up my personal gaming PC; you can see its specs here (I have a few other things installed as well, like another HDD, USB hubs, and several USB powered devices). It stared up without problems. I wasn’t quite sure if the HCG-520M would have enough power to keep everything going but I had 0 hiccups. Alright, now that that’s done, how about if I overclock it a little bit. Again, not a problem. So I figured I’d put max my PC out with some benchmark tests, surely this would really draw some major watts. And yet again, not an issue, nothing. The PSU itself was cool to the touch. Not bad, not bad at all.

Antec’s HCG-520M really surprised me. I really didn’t think it would have enough juice it in to power everything under a long load. What sucks even more is that I spent around $140 on my Corsair CMPSU-750HX which I love but I could have went ahead and picked up the HCG-520M for about $50 cheaper as Energy sells it for $90.

Steve’s Final Thoughts: The Antec HCG-520M is a really nice PSU that’s made for the budget gaming PC. It’s affordable, and yet, has all the perks of the more expensive PSU: high continuous power (520W), a really nice cable management system, and the Antec name backing it. If you’re in the market for a budget PSU, you’ll be lucky to get such a great bang for your buck then what the HCG-520M is offering.

Here’s all of the official specs:

• 520 watts of Continuous Power
• 80 PLUS® Bronze certified — up to 87% efficient
• High Current Hybrid Cable Management — special 10-pin and 5-pin modular connectors for High Current rail
• Quiet 135 mm Double Ball Bearing cooling fan
• Stealth Wires: all wires darkened for minimal visibility in chassis
• All Japanese brand capacitors for reliability
• Thermal Manager: an advanced low voltage fan control for optimal heat & noise management
• Up to 90% power available on +12V rail
• ATX12V version 2.32 and EPS12V version 2.92 compliant
• Heavy-duty protection circuitry on all rails prevents damage from a variety of dangers:
• AQ5 — Antec Quality 5 year limited warranty on parts and labor
• MTBF: 100,000 hrs

Side Note: If you’re in the market for a CPU cooler, check out Antec’s KÜHLER H₂O 620. I bought that for my PC when I built to keep my Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core cool. Even with me overclocking my i5-2500k, it’s cooler then it running normal with the stock cooler. The other two great things about the KÜHLER H₂O 620 is its price because you can get it for only about $55, and the fact that it’s zero maintenance. You install it, it works, nothing else to do with its liquid cooling system. Ever.

Here are a bunch of pictures I took of Antec’s High Current Gamer M, 520W power supply. You can read all about the specs of it here. There will be a review out on Platform Nation later on today with my thoughts on it. I’ll even see if it can handle my beast of a PC! Hope you enjoy the pictures and very soon the review will be up.

Gina Carano’s fighting experience, coupled with Soderbergh’s direction, creates a visceral string of fight scenes that would be right at home besides any Hong Kong Kung Fu flick or any of the Bourne movies. On  top of that, you’re also treated to a sound-scape that seems like it’s made up of actual fight sounds rather than the over produced folly work that you’ve heard in dozens of movies before this. Even the objects in the environment that are used as weapons don’t seem like props make to break on impact but are actual real world items that act the way they should. One of Haywire’s greatest achievements is creating a world that may play host to over the top action but is governed by a gritty realism seldom seen in other movies in the spy action genre.

Unfortunately, the high points of the action put the rest of the movie in stark contrast; as a predictable story and nonsensical plot points bog down what could be a fantastic spy Action Spy movie. Haywire has a talented cast of actors that includes; Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, and Antonio Banderas, yet poor editing and writing ruin whatever traction their performances may gain. As much as I love Gina Carano’s intensity as an action star, the movie relies on her acting ability to carry the movie but there is very little life to be found in her performance outside of the action.

Rich’s Recommended Viewing: Opening Weekend – At The Theater – Rent It – Watch It On Cable –Stay Away! – 3/5

While 3 out of 5 may seem like a harsh review score, I can confidently say Haywire’s action is worth catching while it’s still in the theaters. It is a big dumb action movie that’s anchored by the strength of Gina Carano’s chemistry as an action star and I’m sure with time her performances will get stronger with each new project the studios are smart enough to throw her way.

In the early days of graphical computer games, adventure games reigned supreme.  Led by companies like Sierra, gamers were allowed to explore worlds using their keyboard to type commands like Open Door, Push Rock, or Ifnkovhgroghprm.  These graphical adventure games eventually started utilizing a new device called a mouse (yes, there was a time when computers were mouseless), and doing away with the keyboard entirely.  Metal Dead picks up the genre at this time, and is a mouse-driven graphical adventure game that would be right at home in the mid to late 1980s.  Metal Dead is not afraid to pay homage to their predecessors either, and many of the best jokes in the game are derived from material from other games and movies.

There’s not much I can say about the story that won’t take away from why you’d buy the game, so I’ll keep it simple.  Zombies are attacking, and you need to find out why.  Most of the story takes place in a medical facility, and you and your heavy metal rock buddy tackle the mystery one floor at a time.  Literally; the progression is broken up by restricting access to the various floors until you’ve performed various tasks via the point and click interface.  Fortunately, the icon you move around highlights when hovering over an item that can be interacted with (though most are merely for substance, very few actually progress the story).  Descriptive and often witty feedback is given, depending on what you try to do to these various objects, and was one of the charming things about these types of games that I’m glad was captured in Metal Dead.

Your character can carry a bit of inventory (that is often used with objects in the environment to progress, and sometimes can be combined with other inventory items), but most of your interaction will be via the hand or mouth icon to do or speak to things respectively.  You’ll have access to an in-game hint system as well, which is very well done.  There is also the option to save and load your game, but if you’ve got 3 hours to kill, you won’t need it (I never died while playing, and only saved once when I had to leave the game).  Information is delivered solely through on-screen text, and there is a decent (but oft repeating) MIDI soundtrack that plays throughout.

One of the most charming aspects of graphical adventure games was the subtle ways that the developers injected humor into the game, and Metal Dead does a great job of leveraging that humor in often ridiculous ways. The humor stays pretty consistent (read: good) throughout the game (you’ll probably need a diverse gaming background to pick up all the references).  As I mentioned earlier, the hint system is well done, and is also rather witty.  The interface feels spot-on with the classics, and never gets in your way of enjoying the game.  The graphics, while simplistic, are effective in delivering the content in a particular style, and there are some advanced effects utilized occasionally.  The dialog is very well written for the most part (a little lengthy at times), and is very entertaining.

Of course, the limitations of these types of games are present as well.  For one, there is a fair amount of backtracking done in the game.  While the various floors of the building aren’t exactly robust (there’s usually 2-3 rooms per floor), it can be a mental chore when you realize that the item you just got needs to be used in a place near the beginning, and then brought back to where you currently are.  The dialog, while excellently written, is painfully delivered in an all-text format with a font that is just non-standard enough to frustrate the reader a bit (and some of the colors are difficult to read).  The game is very wordy with everything from minor interactions to major dialog, and the limitations of the visual text mean that you’ll be sitting through extensive text reading sessions (or clicking a ton to advance the story along).  Classic games of this genre got around this limitation by using text boxes that could display entire paragraphs at once; such a feature would have been useful in this game.  The game is pretty short if you’ve played these types of games before; I completed it in a little under 3 hours, but I did miss 4 achievements (there are 13 total) in my playthrough, so I clearly didn’t see everything there was in the game.  Finally, there wasn’t enough variety in what you did; there were very few actual puzzles in the game.  Most of the time is spent trying to figure out what item in your inventory is going to advance you to the next part of the game.  There are no consequences for dialog choices, and as a result you find yourself just floating along with the story, rather than being actively engaged with it.  Let me click into a horde of zombies and die.  Don’t worry, I’ll keep playing!

Tym’s take: Metal Dead does a lot of things right with delivering a classic graphical adventure game.  For those with an itch to relive the glory days of gaming (albeit on a smaller scale), you’d be wise to pick this up.  The funny, well written story is worth going through; I just wish the way it was presented was different. At $5, I have a hard time saying you won’t get a decent return on investment, as long as you understand the limitations that this type of game brings with it.  It’s missing just enough features to prevent me from recommending it to everyone, but seeing as this is the first of a series of these types of games from Walk Thru Walls, I think they’re on the right track.

+ Funny dialog and interactive elements that pay homage to the genre

+ Efficient interface

- Excessive dialog is difficult to follow due to the way it is presented

- Short game that is somewhat artificially extended with backtracking

- Lack of puzzle variety

Final Score: 5/10

The origins of Scarygirl began with a line of stories and illustrations by Nathan Jurevicius and it is on its way to a wider audience with help from Square Enix with Tik Games’ new downloadable game. Scarygirl is a platformer that brings Jurevicius’ lush cartoon world to life with graphics that are vivid and work as a fantastic backdrop to the game. Couple that with the large cast of characters that Jurevicius created with and you have a fully realized world that is a joy to explore.

Scarygirl plays is a lot like other action platformers out there but its art-style is what that sets Scarygirl apart from the competition. The game is split up into 7 worlds with about 3 separate levels for each one that houses a variety of environments and enemies to overcome. Between the levels you’re treated to barebones story beats that are sometimes animated using Nathan’s artwork. Each of the enemies has its own movement pattern that mixes up the gameplay as well as unique attacks that are tricky to avoid and counter. Along with regular enemies, Scarygirl also has screen filling bosses that are challenging and frustrating all at once.

To fight off the menagerie of baddies, Scarygirl is equipped with her octopus arm that acts like a whip as well as a way to extend jumps through gliding as you twirl it like a propeller. You’re also given a rage based frenzy attack that the player can activate once their meter is filled. You’ll also able to upgrade your attacks by utilizing the stores which are strewn throughout the worlds. Along with upgrading your attacks you’ll also be able to unlock new combos that use that combine light and heavy attacks to create brand new attack patterns to utilize against the bad guys.

One major plus for Scarygirl is just how fun it is to explore the world that Nathan Jurevicius and Tik Games worked together to create.  Add to that, the ability to share in co-op sessions with friends through local drop in/drop out multiplayer, and you have a fun little experience for only $10. Playing through the game also offers a challenging adventure that can reward players that have the patience with an experience that constantly strives to keep players on their toes through its ever-changing gameplay.

That difficulty is one of Scarygirl’s greatest strengths but it can also be one of its biggest weaknesses as the difficulty curve can ramp up suddenly and be quite unforgiving. I’m fine with taking up a challenge but Scarygirl’s controls can sometimes be unresponsive and be the major source of the game’s difficulty. I found myself repeatedly dying due to situations that were created by that unresponsiveness and it took every fiber of my gaming being to get me back on that controller and try again. Add to that, the poor checkpoint system, and you have a game that will consistently have you back tracking through areas you’ve already gone through in an effort to avoid a cheap attack that occurred seconds prior.

I can honestly say that I started off really liking Scarygirl, but that like quickly led to a frustrating love/hate relationship that was difficult to maintain. Without a doubt, Scarygirl is oozing with cuteness, ingenuity, and gorgeous art but its difficulty and unresponsive controls are a blemish on what is a beautiful foundation. Scarygirl definitely provides an experience that can be enjoyable if you give it a chance but make sure you’re prepared for a challenge before taking a dive into this game’s waters.

+Adorable art style
+Huge variety of enemies and environments
-Unresponsive controls
-Awkward difficulty curve

Final Score: 6 out of 10

Title: Mega Man Vol. 1: Let The Games Begin
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: Ian Flynn
Artist: Patrick Spaziante
Inkers: Patrick Spaziante, Rick Bryant, Gary Martin
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: John Workman
Release Date: 9/7/2011
Price: $11.95

The super fighting robot Mega Man is back in a brand new, American-produced, comic series. While the Blue Bomber may have thrived in various Japanese stories and animated series, he’s largely been absent from the American scene when it comes to greater fleshing out of the character. Given how Capcom’s almost turned their back on the hero when it comes to games (not included directly in Marvel VS. Capcom 3, the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe), the launch of a successful comic book series comes as a surprise. Given that Archie, and in recent years, writer Ian Flynn have continued to make a certain other blue video game character a long-running facet of comic book stores, does the opening arc of Mega Man prove his worth in the distant year of 200X?

Begin Spoilers

For long-time readers of Sonic the Hedgehog, artist Patrick Spaziante stands out; he’s done some of the most action-packed issues early in the run (look at Mecha Madness, with a Sonic-turned-evil laying waste to his home) to regular covers later on, “Spaz”‘s style has largely stood out above the others who might just draw a “talking animals book”. Good art is not a sign of a good book, as many issues with an incredible cover might actually belay a horrid plot inside; the only thing that stands out from the Sonic/Image Universe crossover is a sketch Spaz did of The Maxx and Amy Rose.

Thankfully, Flynn continues to prove his prowess. It’d be all too easy to go one way or another with Mega Man; the book could be too happy and cheerful, as the wide-eyed sprites might lead one to believe, or it could be dark and ominous, what with the concepts of free will and programming inherent in the franchise, especially down the road. The best path taken, and the one Flynn seems to have, is to take the Astro Boy route that so commonly is referenced. A robot with the mind and soul of a child, but the body of a weapon of mass destruction, has to take its toll on its psyche… if you even consider it to have one.

Let The Games Begin features Mega Man’s origin and first fight with the initial six Robot Masters. Later issues bring in the ‘bots from Megaman Powered Up. The external fight is for the kids and, honestly, those who just enjoy action. The internal fight, that of Mega Man straddling the road between unlikely hero and Death.exe, destroyer of robots.

End of Spoilers

This trade collects the first four issues of Mega Man. While it’s thankfully in a full-size format (unlike many digests that Archie produces, including some of the Sonic the Hedgehog collections), a minimal amount of extras (cover art gallery, character bios, and one page of sketches) and it’s higher price of $11.99 for four issues leaves a little bit to be desired. If the four issues are sold out for you, it’s worth the price of admittance; Mega Man looks to be one of the bigger sleeper hits of the comic book industry. Get past the concept that so many comic books based on video games are just simple cash-ins, look at the legacy that Flynn, Spaziante, and Archie have created with Sonic, and dive in headfirst into a book that can be enjoyed by both adults and kids.

Rating: 8/10

City and civilization building games has always been a genre I’ve been drawn to since the very first time I picked up a mouse to play SimCity back in the day. Warlock – Master Of The Arcane is one of the first in this style of game to meld both the strategic warfare and society building found in other civilization games with a high fantasy veneer. It seems like a no brainer when you think about it, but the folks over at Paradox Interactive have created one of the first games to combine the genre with a setting that is fantastical in every possible way. Platform Nation was lucky enough to get a build of Warlock – Master Of The Arcane, and we put this fantasy civilization game through its paces to see how it shapes up against its contemporary counterparts.

As soon as I started up Warlock – Master Of The Arcane I was reminded of the countless hours I have put into the Civilization series. For the first time though, I’m not choosing between long forgotten rulers or civilizations, but rather between a large cast of fantasy-based societies. Each faction has its own theme which encompasses aesthetics, weaknesses, and strengths and dictates what kind of troops you’ll be making for your army. Your leader will have preset strengths and weaknesses but you will also have the ability to customize your own leader’s looks and abilities if you so choose. The races included within the game will range from an undead horde, to a barbarian Orc tribe, along with some human factions to fill out the roster.

When it comes to the actual gameplay, there are a lot of similarities with Civilization 4′s UI melded with the streamlining that Civilization V underwent. The refinements that Paradox Interactive have done to the formula eliminates some of the bloat found in the other games and adds some much-needed customization to your empire’s layout. Instead of automated workers that help your city’s expansion, you’re given the ability to choose what buildings to build, and where they’re laid out within your city. Your goal is to defeat all of your competition through brute force in an effort to become the top Warlock in all the land. Warfare in Warlock – Master Of The Arcane consists of building troops that will range from land, sea, air, ranged, melee, and even includes the summoning of beasts. All of this adds to screen filling wars that will have you moving your army across the world as you demolish everything in your path. Wars are won in the same rock – scissors – paper format found in other games in the genre, with upgrading your troops still being the key to supreme victory. Your choice in leader also plays a factor in your battles as their innate weaknesses, strength, and abilities will help lead you to victory or your eventual demise.

This preliminary build of Warlock: Master Of The Arcane shows great promise on what the final product will be, and already is a joy to play. I can already see a game that satisfies the itch left by Civilization games beginning to emerge; but one that doesn’t force players to devote multiple hours to each match you set up. Also, the RPG elements that Paradox has added to the civilization building helps add an extra level of depth to the gameplay that will give you a reason to continue playing the game past the first couple of hours. Without a doubt, lovers of strategy games, civilization games, and the fantasy genre should keep their eyes out for Warlock: Master Of The Arcane when it is released later this year.

Trine 2 is the sequel to the popular PC/PSN game Trine from a couple of years ago. For those who really enjoyed playing Trine, this game builds on that, but multiplies the fun by adding plenty more puzzle dynamics and character abilities that let you progress through the game in your own way.

Let me begin by mentioning the basics of Trine 2. The mysterious Trine pays a visit to your three characters and joins them together in an adventure. Now these aren’t just ordinary characters, as each of them have unique and special abilities that can help you in certain parts of levels. The Warrior of the game, known as Pontius, is the tough guy in the group, mainly used for smashing in rocks, and sometimes even smashing in the face of a goblin. Then you have the athletic Zoya, equipped with a bow and a grapple hook, she is the main character you will use to swing around and navigate the levels. And finally you have Amadeus, the most important part of the team, he can create objects from nothing, whether they are boxes or planks they can be a huge help at getting around the place. Now, you can switch between these characters at any point in the game, but each one has a health bar, so if you die as Zoya, swinging around the environment won’t be as easy and you’ll have to make use of Amadeus’s magical ability to make your way around.

A great example would be a room that has the floor covered with spikes, there’s nothing to grab onto apart from a thin piece of wood swinging from the roof on the opposite side, but unfortunately Zoya’s grapple hook can’t reach it. That’s when Amadeus can be a huge help and create a plank for Zoya to walk across the spikes and be able to grapple up to the ledge. I’m not going to lie and say that the warrior is a great character, although he can be a great character at times, he is also pretty useless when it comes to navigating the environment, and as I really don’t care for the combat in Trine 2 as it’s pretty repetitive apart from the bosses at the end of the levels. I found myself switching to the warrior character less and less as I made my way through the game.

The game has plenty of levels; after grabbing all the collectables needed to upgrade your characters, I reached the end of the first chapter after about an hour, which is a great sign, since the game has several chapters. Once I had finally started spending my skill points on the upgrades, Amadeus gained the ability to summon four different boxes at the same time, which was a huge improvement over the starting ability of just one. As your characters’ skills and abilities start improving, so will the difficulty of the puzzles. I went into Trine 2 under the impression that it wasn’t going to be a difficult game, and about 3 chapters in, I hit the difficulty barrier where each puzzle would be taking me around 10-15 minutes just to figure out which character needed to do what, where and when.

Throughout all the tough puzzles, the breathtaking graphics and environments within Trine 2 would always catch my eye. The lightning effects are unbelievable and the character animations and art stand out in such a unique and deep world. Whether you are in the forest or in a cave, a little beam of light or a drop of water look pristine and pretty darn beautiful. The music in the game adds an ambiance to the environment and this is accompanied by the occasional piece of voice acting.

Trine 2 really does have some great moments. Some of the puzzles and the boss battles really stand out and require you to use the skills you’ve picked up over the course of the game. Although I do feel like the fighting sections in the game are pretty pointless. Every so often when a group of goblins comes out it’s as simple as switching to the warrior and hitting them down. I would have been happy with none of this fighting and just boss battles. The puzzles are enough to keep me busy without having to mess around doing repetitive battles.

Online co-op is great feature in Trine 2 too. You can join up to two people online, with each of them controlling either Amadeus, Zoya or Pontius. While this is a fun feature and great way to play through the story, I would recommend doing it with a friend, as online people tend to find it much more fun to impale themselves on the spikes and not actually solve the puzzle.

Some days I found myself enjoying and flying through the puzzles, and some days I was going completely insane trying to figure out how to get up to the next ledge. This creative and varied level designs makes Trine 2 a game you should check out. The characters themselves are great to control and to make your way through the gorgeous environments in the game is a good enough reward for buying the game.

• Great looking levels
• Fun while still difficult puzzles
• Characters with an extremely wide variety of abilities and upgrades
• Giant fire-breathing snake, enough said.

Final Score: 9 out of 10

This year had a lot of big releases for Xbox 360 – and we narrowed it down to just the top three. We played all the games, and it was a hard job; trust me, you wouldn’t want to do it. Oh you would?.. well then… Incidentally, we still did this not-so-hard job, and here is what we came up with:

Top 3 Xbox 360 Games of The Year

3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

After a brief departure to the Cold War-era in Black Ops, Call of Duty has returned to our favorite time: today. Modern Warfare 3 combines a high-action single-player campaign with a multiplayer that’s been expanded, even after all these iterations. The new engine improvements bring 60fps gameplay and the fastest response times of any console shooter – delivering the perfected competitive shooter. The new Call of Duty:Elite service, which had a rough launch, adds another layer of depth to the stat-tracking madness.

Modern Warfare 3 hasn’t impressed just us – the game has hit $1 Billion in sales twice as fast as Black Ops. If you haven’t engaged in the door-breaching, knife-throwing, perk-picking action yet, you are certainly missing out. Read Platform Nation’s full review of Modern Warfare 3 here.

2. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

We have all wanted to fight giants and dragons, assassinate unaware townspeople, and throw mudcrabs off mountains for years, and now we can! Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls franchise has finally made a return since 2006′s Oblivion, and boy is it a welcome comeback. A revamped fighting and skill system, WAY better graphics, and even more content and quests!

If you have not played Skyrim, you are surely missing out on one of the greatest games of the year. The improvements over Oblivion are very obvious – and exploring the vast lands of Elder Scrolls lore has never been more fun. Read Platform Nation’s full review of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim here.
1.  Gears of War 3

It’s been 18 months since Jacinto was flooded in Gears of War 2, and survivors moved to Vetes to rebuild, and the Gears of War 3 stage is set. In what is an exciting end to the Gears of War trilogy, we seen the rise of the imulsion infected Lambents, and humans suffering from imulsion poisoning at Mercy, but the action doesn’t stop there.  We see some old faces we loved from the previous Gears titles, and some new faces that are a welcome addition. A lot of people didn’t care for the storyline, but give it a fair shot, because there’s a good story in what is one of the most gripping games of the Gears franchise, Gears of War 3.

If you haven’t picked up Gears of War 3 to give a play through, you should.  The multiplayer aspect of the game will surprise you, as new game modes and the Season Pass has been introduced in GoW 3 and gives you a lot bang for the buck.  For return players and fans of the Gears series, this is an excellent end to a series that some hoped would never die.  But all good things must come to an end, and Gears of War 3 did just that.  Long live the COG!

So what did you think of Platform Nation’s Top 3 Xbox 360 Games of 2011? Maybe you would have picked something different, or maybe you totally agree. Whatever the case let us know what your Top Three Xbox 360 Games of 2011 were below in the comment section.

Joe Danger was a huge hit when it released on the PSN in the middle of last year. People compared it to the classic Excitebike and the more recent Trials HD. This made the game a huge hit. With the Special Edition of Joe Danger finally hitting Xbox 360 consoles around the globe, you can finally see why the game was so addicting.

In Joe Danger, you are a motorcycle stuntman called Joe Danger, in the past he’s had some difficult times and had to step out of the spotlight after getting a pretty bad injury. Well, the game begins when Joe is all healed up and wants to get back into his old stuntman ways, although he might be a little bit rusty. This is where you come in.

As you progress through the game, you unlock more and more levels to progress Joe through his stuntman career. Each level has some unique collectables and challenges that you have to grab to be able to unlock medals once the level has completed. This begins as the simple task of grabbing coins, and later becomes varied challenges such as collecting the floating letters to spell out D-A-N-G-E-R and complete the whole level without breaking a combo.

Joe Danger is a fairly easy game. Most levels you can perfect after playing a couple of times and the game doesn’t stress you to complete levels before you can move onto the next one. If you’re good enough you can perfect all levels within several hours. If you have completed the single player, you can always give local splitscreen a try and race head-to-head against your friends, maybe even spend some time in the editor where you can build your own levels to play and upload for you friends to conquer too.

Joe Danger on XBLA has the Special Edition title as you get an extra mode called “Lab Mode” in which you play some completely new levels not in the PSN version. These levels have a unique style to them and bring some even more difficult and wild stunts for Joe to master.

I also had the chance to check out the Santa DLC for Joe Danger which is due to release in the next couple of days. While it doesn’t have any additional levels (which I wouldn’t expect so soon after the games release), it does give you the ability to control Santa on an ATV and collect presents instead of coins, what is more awesome than that?

After playing the game for a while, it was easy to see that Joe Danger is a game that I’ll be getting addicted to playing. While the basic premise and objects in the level stay the same, the sheer amount of levels and challenges complete will keep you playing Joe Danger all Christmas.

+ Plenty of levels
+ Addicting gameplay that keeps you coming back
+ Santa on an ATV
- No online multiplayer.

Final Score: 8 out of 10