Danger Mouse: The Danger Games Switch Review by SwitchWatch
Developer: 9th Impact
Publisher: 9th Impact
Release Date: Out Now
Price as of Article: $4.99 USD, £4.99 GBP
Game code provided by 9th Impact for review
You’re the world’s greatest secret agent: Danger Mouse and you’re starring in Quark’s latest reality TV show – The Danger Games – with a host of familiar faces like: Penfold, Count Duckula, and Jeopardy Mouse just to name a few. Your mission is to run, dodge, shoot and jump your way through multiple locations to reach the finish line.
The gameplay is rather addictive in this little racer. After the title screen you are greeted with a small introduction and get to pick a randomised silly name for yourself. Then you’re thrown into a tutorial to learn the basic controls, and then it’s on to the main menu. The options are: Cards, Play, Secret Agency, and the Shop, and there are also sub menu’s located at the bottom of the screen, these are: Daily Missions, Achievements, Options, and Online Leaderboards.
Let’s start off by saying this was previously a mobile title, which is apparent from the very beginning. The game does have micro transactions which can be located in the shop, however you can earn crum pounds during gameplay, so if you don’t want to spend real money you don’t have to.
Full deck!
There 35 different cards to unlock with 3 rarities and each can be leveled up with multiple copies of the same card. What that means is once you’ve unlocked a new card that will be your main one that you will use in the game, and everytime you get duplicates you can use it to level up the previous one. Each time you level up your cards it will cost crum pounds which you can get by completing races and achievements, as well as daily missions.
You can also trade in pies for crum pounds in the shop menu if you’re running low. Pies are the second form of currency in Danger Games.
There are two ways to get more pies: you either purchase them with real money or, you can get them by completing achievements or daily missions.
Like I said before you don’t have to spend any real money… but it is an option.
Out of the 35 cards there are 14 characters to choice from and 21 gadgets, which are items you take into races with you. Each card has different stats and by leveling them up you increase the cards’ abilities.
Rank Up!
In the Play option there are 6 race tracks to play, some will be locked at the beginning untill you have gotten a higher rank. Collecting enough stars in races and upgrading cards will net you more stars, and once you’ve hit a threshold, you will level up and new stuff will become available. With each successful level you rank up more stars are required to hit the next rank and so on.
Let’s Race!
The race tracks are all pretty unique. Most are taking place in London, each having their unique obstacles to tend with such as killer hotdog monsters, cars, puzzle sections, as well as a number of challengers that you will have overcome to make it to the finish line.
You have an option to play online with cross-play with other users on Android and Switch, and it’s completely seamless and I love how easy it is to get into a game.
There’s also a single race mode and online duo with another player which is a great feature.
The game also supports up 4 players using joy-cons, and there’s a practice mode too.
Items Galore!
So once pick your course you’re taken to the character select screen. Each character has their own unique stats and some will have their own unique items that only they can use. For the most part though, all cards you’ve unlock will be available to all characters.
You also pick a max of 3 items or gadgets that you can take with you. These will appear on the race track, and each one does something different, like the rocket boots that will give you the ability to fly over obstacles, or the ability to shrink enemies in your way with the shrink ray for example.
When a race begins you select 4 emotes: happy, sad, angry or meh. These add little expressions to use before each race and after it.
How to play?
The controls are super simple, you’re always running forward so there’s no need to adjust your speed, all you need to do is dodge with either the direction pad or left analog stick. You jump with the A button and slide under hazards with the B button. There is also a boost meter that fills up over time that you use by pressing the Y button, and lastly you use your items with the X button.
Now and again challengers will appear on the race track, certain button prompts may be required.
Android version!
The game is aimed at a younger audience as the game was originally on the Android Play Store, and its reviews were all positive. I downloaded the Android version and the two games are almost identical apart from controls set-up. I can’t deny there’s a certain “one more go feeling” to this game, even though I am not the target audience I have enjoyed the races and seamless online play, and had a few laughs in local multiplayer which is just a nice bonus.
Nostalgia
I used to watch Danger Mouse when I was a kid, so having a game on my Switch makes me nostalgic. For me it bring’s back fond memories of my childhood, especially seeing Count Duckula as a playable character, which is another cartoon I used to watch when I was little.
He’s undergone some changes to how I remembered him though… but I haven’t unlocked him yet in the Switch version.
Wanna be a secret agent?
There’s a secret agency you can join and move up through the ranks to see who is the top agent!
After you join one you can find information about your selected agency, you can also request cards from others that you may not have yet. Also you can send messages to others within your agency, and challenge them to races which is pretty cool. With each successful race you net, stars which will go to your chosen agency’s total, the agency will then move up or down in rank depending on the total stars accumulated by the whole team.
In-game currency!
Like I said there is a shop in the game, here you can buy cards of the day with your in-game currency, or you can buy card packs again. These packs range from 4 rarities and cost from anywhere between 200, 600, 2000, and 5000 crum pounds. I must stress that you can collect this currency by just playing game.
I’ve bought a few packs with the in-game currency, so it is possible to achieve.
Another option is that you trade in pies for crum pounds, again you can unlock pies by completing achievements and daily challenges. For example, you trade in 40 pies for 1000 crum pounds. Max limit is 500 pies for a whopping 25000 crums.
Real world money!
Now this is were real money gets involved. If you want to buy pies you can get anywhere from 100 to 1000 pies, and prices range from £3.99 to £25.99.
Just be aware that the pie option does require real world money.
<script async src=”//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js”></script><!– –><ins class=”adsbygoogle”<!– –> style=”display:block; text-align:center;”<!– –> data-ad-layout=”in-article”<!– –> data-ad-format=”fluid”<!– –> data-ad-client=”ca-pub-5661714653949151″<!– –> data-ad-slot=”5669732186″></ins><!– –><script><!– –> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<!– –></script>The music has that Danger Mouse feel to it. I don’t watch cartoons nowadays so I can’t say if it’s the same, but there are lots of tunes to listen to and they are all decent. There are also voice clips to the different characters which is a nice addition, though some voice clips from royal guards repeat often, which can be a little annoying during races.
The game’s visuals look ok, but this definitely isn’t pushing the limits of the Switch’s hardware. However all characters look like they should, and race tracks are decent too. It looks more like a Wii game if anything, but it does its job fine.
The performance is decent too, though I did find a little bug. When flying, my character would remain in the air for a few seconds longer when he was approaching a challenger area. But other than that everything ran fine.
The game supports online cross-play and online leaderboards, as well as screenshots and video capture which isn’t bad for a mere £4.99!
I can’t deny that for £4.99 there is a lot on offer here. The seamless cross-play, online leaderboards, daily challenges, achievements, local play for up to 4 players, 35 cards to unlock and level up, and community ranking system. It is a lot of bang for your buck!
Pros
35 cards to unlock and level-up
Nostalgic roster
Online cross-play
Local play for up to 4 players
Cons
Microtransactions
Wish there were more characters
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