Danger Boat Review

Danger Boat is one of the latest offerings in the App Store that lets you run (or, in this case, steer a powerboat), endlessly while collecting coins, avoiding rockets, and using power-ups while trying beat your previous distance. Man, that all sounds vaguely familiar ...

If so, it's because that's what you do in the countless other games in the App Store that are just like this one. In fact, it's basically a vertical Jetpack Joyride, except it has more buoys and provides less fun.

It might be unfair to compare this game to a modern mobile classic like Jetpack Joyride, but it's got coins, rockets, and whacky power-ups, so what else can I do? Based on the game's merits as an individual title, it's still not worth a recommendation since the game gets so frightfully boring after just a few sessions of play. Why? Because there's very little impetus to continue playing!

You pilot a powerboat as you escape from a hideout for some unexplained reason and then set sail in a straight path in an ocean full of rocks, ramps for jumps, whirlpools, submarines that launch mines because they probably hate you, and other obstacles.

You maneuver your boat by tilting your device to left or to the right, helping guide it over waves while dodging a number of objects, both inanimate or otherwise, that wish to see you explode. Simple controls for a simple game are appreciated, but that's sadly the only aspect in which this game excels.

You'll get power-ups whenever you successfully weave in and out of sets of buoys, resulting in helpful things like lasers or a little helicopter that blasts obstacles out of your way. But the only way to unlock these sweet tools is by buying them with coins. These coins, unfortunately, are scattered about and are so few in number that it would take you forever to collect enough to unlock the more useful upgrades and boosters.

Of course, you can always skip over the work and purchase some coins in the store. Oh, joy! Another free game with in-app purchases! Yeah, we all know how I feel about those. So if you want to save yourself a lot of headaches, restarts, and streams of expletives aimed at stray missiles that sneakily put themselves in your path, you could always buy your way to success.

But there's honestly no point in paying to get ahead since there's no real incentive for you to increase your distance and unlock upgrades. Why? The game's just not that fun, to put it simply. It doesn't have the excitement of a Jetpack Joyride and doesn't even offer much with its challenges. In Jetpack Joyride, it felt like a bit of an accomplishment when you completed a mission. In Danger Boat, it just feels like you're checking something off on a really boring to-do list.

I simply cannot recommend this game when there are definitely bigger and better games out there that are also available for free. This game had a lot of potential, but it settled for mediocrity, probably in the hopes that players would think that in-app purchases would make for a better experience.

The only thing that it gets right is the control scheme. But with that said, you're better off steering clear of this game.

3.0 out of 10 arcade sushi rating