Motorbike Stunt Agent Julie was developed by Mattini Games. It was released on August 17, 2011 for 80 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

What happens when you mix Trials-style gameplay with a twin-stick shooter? Motorbike Stunt Agent Julie, that’s what. Julie is a retired secret agent now working as a traveling stunt rider. When a crisis threatens the globe she is brought back into service to help take down the evil Dr. Kreutzer. The game spans 20 missions and has enough variety in both terrain and objectives to keep things fresh.

Here’s what we liked:

Trials HD with guns – Stunt Agent Julie takes the tried and true motorcycle physics game and throws gunplay into the mix. It’s not rocket science by any means, but it’s very satisfying. The triggers control the bike’s speed, the left stick its pitch, and the right stick can be aimed in any direction to fire at the enemy. It’s deceptively simple, and we love it.

Great price-to-value ratio – Sure, it’s only one player, and sure, it’s over when you beat the game. But playing through it you’ll never feel like you wasted your measly 80 MSP–in fact you’ll forgive any of the game’s shortcomings because of its charm and fun factor. There’s not a lot to it, but we kept coming back for more. We even went back and replayed some of the crazier missions just for the thrill of the action.

Engrish – Some might view this as a downfall, but the voice actors definitely don’t speak English as their primary language. We didn’t care, in fact they should be praised for putting forth the effort to bring voice acting to an indie game. Truth be told the acting really isn’t that bad. The American general sounds convincing and Julie has a lovely little accent. The gap in translation comes with the occasional misaligning of words or in the lack of contractions. Often you’ll see things like “I will” instead of “I’ll”–something that’s uncommon and stiffens the speech. Still, it’s charming, and we can’t help but enjoy it.

Here’s what we didn’t like:

Inconsistent art – From the title screen and cutscenes you’ll expect strong, XBLA-esque art during gameplay, but instead you’re greeted with Flash-quality visuals. It’s not a deal breaker, after all this is an indie game priced at only 80 MSP. But it’ll be a minor shock transitioning from pretty briefings to lower quality gameplay visuals.

Overall Motorbike Stunt Agent Julie is a lot of game for the price. Similar motorcycle games may offer 3D graphics or more courses, but none that we know of have taken to adding combat to the formula. It’s something new and refreshing added to a tired genre, and it’s enough to push any motorbike game fan over the edge.

Score: Buy It