Official Score
Overall - 30%
30%
Dare Course’s broken physics and bad camera deserve a big red ball to the head. Traversing its obstacle courses proves to be a royal pain and is, put simply, no laughing matter.
The glory days of Wipeout and MXC are all but a distant memory, but Gamenesis is keeping their spirit alive with their obstacle course-based title Dare Course. Unfortunately, the physics and gameplay could use some serious work.
Dare Course Review
In Dare Course, players take control of a generic, low poly dude that can be customized to the player’s liking. With a decent amount of options for his head, torso, legs, and feet, it’s easy to make him stand out. The option to create your own threads would have gone a long way, but what is here is serviceable enough.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the gameplay. The action is done with the WASD keys, the spacebar to jump, and the Shift key to slide. The lack of controller support and its analog sticks make traversing Dare Course’s 3D landscapes an exercise in patience, and the lack of camera control makes things that much more difficult. The camera is not fixed either – it will often move at the most inopportune moments, leaving characters in the dust.
This extends to its physics as well. Players of Dare Course will have to navigate trampolines, giant red rods, cannonballs, and other hazards as quickly as possible, but the controls are just not up to the task. For one, the momentum from each jump cannot be adjusted much mid-air. Players will fly through the skies at the slightest press of the space bar, and course correcting is wishful thinking. The game absolutely requires pinpoint precision, so to not have control over the main character’s flight trajectory is major flaw. There are often times that players will have to time jumps and rolls, making things that much more difficult. There are checkpoints and health, sure, but repeating the same sections multiple times due to the sloppy controls is incredibly frustrating.
In order to unlock everything this game has to offer, players must collect stars earned from completing each level. By completing the level in a set amount of time, collecting all of the flags, or collecting all of the medals, players can earn up to three stars each go around. It is next to impossible to get everything in one go, especially with branching paths. It would be fine if this was optional, but forcing players to collect a bunch of baubles is draining and feels like busywork.
It should be worth noting that not all of the content is available right now in the game, with an entire third of the title due to come out soon. Most of the game’s content can be unlocked in around an hour, so this is not one title that will keep you playing for weeks to come.
Dare Course’s broken physics and bad camera deserve a big red ball to the head. Traversing its obstacle courses proves to be a royal pain and is, put simply, no laughing matter.
