Stuntman Review

I love to drive. One could say that I am a real road addict. Now I don't mean to say that I love to drive so much I would do something completely not me, like become a professional truck driver or something, but the feel of a powerful set of pistons and a shitload of horsepower beneath my feet makes me feel alive. Sometimes I think of myself as a racecar driver even on the road - not one of those pesky quarter mile a-holes that seem to be on every corner now days - no, I fancy myself a driver in the great races of the European Gran Turismo. Add that to my love for video games, and what you have left is a connoisseur of driving sims of the first order. So, the next victim in my driving sim addiction is Atari's new game in the infamous 'Driver' series, Stuntman.

Looking for Mitch!

The coast chopper is gaining on us!

Stuntman begins with a wonderful narrated video montage about the progression of the Stuntman from the days of early cinematography. Perhaps to save time, I should add that when they say Stuntman, they should be saying Stunt Driver, since the game is wholly about driving and not the vast and myriad world of the real stuntman. Despite being somewhat misnamed the game starts out with a bang, literally. The first opening menu has an explosive techno opening song that rocked my ass the first time I heard it. I was very impressed with both the music and the opening, which had a lot of the old school charm. Moving on, I decided to go for the first mode of the game, the Career Mode. It was then I found the first problem with the game, which I will come back to later. Stuntman has its roots in the work of the real stuntman who narrates the game, Vic Armstrong. Vic is of course one of the most legendary stuntmen in the business and he will give tips and pointers to you, the newbie stuntman.

The Career Mode begins by taking you through your stuntman career (obviously), you begin on a Movie Project called Toothless in Wapping. The way that the career mode progresses is that they first tell to you what the movie you are working on is about, then moves on to describing the first stunt. Every stunt will have this short description before it, and I suggest you watch and listen, since you will need every tip and pointer you can get. And why you ask? Because this game is hard. Really hard. Massively, insanely, absurdly difficult. The first time you try this game you will get maybe five to ten seconds in before your stunt coordinator will call your ass out for going too slow. And he will. ABOUT TEN THOUSAND TIMES. The game consists of courses filled with individual stunts to perform while driving the course. For example, the first course consists of a 180 Emergency Brake turn, knocking over boxes, overtaking cars, door hopping (crashing into an open door, ripping it off) and an abrupt stop. And trust me, this is as easy as the game gets. Timing is essential in Stuntman. Which brings us to the first problem with the game itself; there is no drive through before you begin a course. Many times you will get turned around simply because you have no idea what is coming next.

A good rule of thumb is to follow the course carefully and don't worry about having to restart a few times. Most courses you will need to drive through about a dozen times before you see the entire thing. Another rule of thumb, don't worry so much about missing one of the individual stunts, you can always come back and try again later. In the long run, it is better to finish the course if you can and move on. Some of the other fun and exciting things you get to do? Drive through intersecting trains, under falling smokestacks, nitro boosting over a broken bridge and crash through a burning shed - IN THE SAME COURSE. You get the point. Many, many times, you will get controller throwing pissed and need to walk away. My suggestion - do it, leave the game alone and try again later. Better to try ten times and come back fresh then screw up ninety four times and end up shooting your PS2 with a ten-gauge shotgun. Eventually you will muddle through the stages. After you finish the scenes for one movie, they will show you a trailer, which you don't care about, because not one of the movies I drove for in Stuntman, I would voluntarily watch. Oh well.

She's just a cosmic girl!! From another galaxy!

Don't try this at home.

The graphics and sound engine for Stuntman are very decent, the frame rates are great and there is no skipping or lag to speak of. The music is more than decent, the backgrounds are tailored to the type of movies which you are driving for. I was impressed with the controls of the game, which follow the standard driving sim type, but also make use of the force feedback on the action buttons. Or, jamming down the button is like jamming on the gas pedal. Make sure you learn which button will control which action, since the E-brake is specifically used for hard turns only, using it regularly will lead to trouble. But remember that it helps quite a bit for any hard stops you may need to make. Using authentic driving techniques is absolutely essential, since many courses are low speed at core. Getting used to the controls is easy - the game is hard.

My biggest problem with this game was the load time. The load times for this game are unreal and I got tired of waiting very quickly. The initial load times can run from 20-45 seconds, each time. And also remember that when you start a project you first see the intro, then the description, then the course. So getting to the first course can take up to five minutes, not too bad, but when you are waiting it out, it can be tiring. Of course, it wouldn't be so bad, if you didn't need to restart every course 50 times in order to get it right. Also the game contains many different cars which you are able to acquire for your course work, in the other modes, however, there is no information mode for the cars you currently have available, though each have different power, torque, etc. I found this bothersome, though I know it was only for money saving practicality that the game designers left this out.

The other modes and features of this game include the stunt course, the speed trials and the replays. So, once something is done, you are always able to go back and try it again. I recommend doing this for early stages, when you get to a new level of game mastery, because only by getting 100% stunt accuracy you unlock all the toys and cars available in the Stunt Builder mode. It is this mode where the real fun of Stuntman can come into play, since this game is not limited by height or property damage. You can jump over 20 cars stood on end if you want, go ahead, go wild, and build your own dream stunt. Also, there are several DVD quality video clips about the career of a real life stuntman, which I found interesting - but not to watch more than once. Since it is a special add in I can't detract too much from it, they are worth a watch.

So, Stuntman is a rip roaring fun game, if you get over the massive frustration level, the immense difficulty, which naturally can't be adjusted, and the load times. Other than that, this game is a pure gem. Unfortunately for me, I am unable to rate it very high because these problems did detract a lot from the fun factor of the game for me. But if you love driving sims and don't mind them being tough, then this game is all you. Good luck, and try not to get killed, but if you do, make sure the cameras were rolling.