Last year's Trials HD took Excitebike's time-tested brand of 2D motorbiking and modernised it with physics, stunts and lots of clever new modes.
Joe Danger
For: Playstation 3 via Playstation Network
From: Hello Games
Rating: Everyone (mild cartoon violence)
Price: $US15
The only problem? After a few reasonably challenging batches of tracks, it grew oppressively hard, obeying the harsh laws of physics to a spirit-crushing degree.
That's a problem Joe Danger, which adopts the same perspective and general controls, does not have.
Like Trials, Joe Danger prefers its tracks be stunt playgrounds instead of straightforward motorbike races.
But Joe Danger ventures a step further by playing almost like a platformer, challenging players to manoeuvre past obstacles, rack up stunt scores and complete the same track different ways to fulfil completely disparate objectives.
That adds up to a surprisingly fulfilling single-player mode, and because Joe Danger is equipped with a terrifically responsive control scheme that respects but doesn't worship physics, it's well-equipped to challenge players' different ways without ever undermining its own fun.
The vibrant, cartoony exterior perfectly complements the increasingly crazy tracks, a threadbare story does just enough to make Joe a thoroughly likeable character, and players who want more can create their own tracks and trade them with other players whose PSN IDs they know.
About the only thing that doesn't impress is Joe Danger's multiplayer mode (local only, two players), which is limited to straightforward races.
But the game's persistent leaderboard support provides some consolation by letting players constantly challenge their PSN friends' highest stunt scores on every track.
