Stuntman Ignition

"Just like a real Stuntman can be, this game is broken in many places"

Stuntman Ignition is a game that I never thought would come out. The first game really didn't do well and despite being an original idea it was too challenging for its own good. So when this sequel was announced I was still interested and did hope they fixed the problems the original had

You're an up and coming stuntman. You start off on a disaster film and make your way up to a bond-esq film. It doesn't really have a main plot but each film has some absurd plot that would even embarrass a B movie script writer. It's still amusing though.

The graphics in this game are actually not too bad. The locations look pretty good and it's easy to make out what the objects are. Vehicles look good and take damage. The game uses yellow indicators to show where a stunt is and what type it is. This is nice and all but the color combined with the games graphics spells disaster because there were too many times where I couldn't make out what a symbol was. Otherwise the game looks good.

Sound in the game really did nothing for me. The sound effects are right and everything does sound like it would if you were running by a stream of lava or side swiping a vehicle. The game really didn't offer any music that I noticed in the single player but there is a rock soundtrack running during the on-line portion of the game. After completing each movie you unlock a trailer for it. This feature cheesy voice overs and music.

The game has an easy control setup. Steer with the left analog stick. R trigger is gas, L trigger is reverse and B is hand brake. You use the Y button to perform actions on specific markers. Problem is the vehicles themselves feel very loose and way too floaty. Causes problems when you're trying to perfect a run.

The idea behind stunt man is to follow the path that the director sets up for you. For example you will need to drive down the road, go between two cars, slide to the right and scrape another vehicle on the right side while over taking the next vehicle without hitting it. From there you may need to ramp into a sign and land on a marker to complete the stunts section.

It sounds complex but it really isn't. You have different types of stunts to do but what I laid out is a pretty basic guide line. You'll fail the objectives many times due to randomness with what the director wants at times but as soon as you know you'll get it on the next try.

I keep rambling on yet I haven't explained much. The game offers you five mistakes and if you make 5 of them then you are forced to start over. You also have to do the finale of each stage correctly as well. If you really get stuck you can switch it to easy mode which gets you two more mistakes but cuts your points in half.

Oh yes, points. These are actually important. Depending on your points you will get a star rating at the end of a mission. Ideally you want the 5 stars but that won't happen right away. This system is very broken though because 1 star rating might require 20,000 points while 2 star ranking might require 100,000 points which just seems a bit absurd.

Another reason this system is broken is that the only way to get a five star is to stream a scene. It sounds easier than it is but you pretty much need to keep the action going for the entire scene. This means even though the action may stop for a few seconds between that slide and the upcoming jump you need to swerve near stuff and what not to maintain an action stream. This keeps your points multiplier going super high. The problem though is that it kind of fails because it requires so many replays.

The game itself features 6 movies with 6 scenes to perform. You'll need to gain X amount of stars to unlock each new movie. I got to the movie before last and the amount of stars I needed was too many for me to even bother with.

Besides that the game offers some commercials to do that require a no miss run. There is also a constructor mode that allows you to semi-create a stunt. It sets up objectives and you need to place items to obtain those objectives within a 30 second run. A bit tough but it adds a lot to the game.

The game also features on-line play. It seems kind of dead right now and I have no clue why since the game just came out. Besides that it seemed like there was only two modes. A racing mode which was fun but it always ended up being everyone running into each other until someone got out and they always placed first. Then there is a stunt mode where each track has specific stunt spots and you need to do stunts. This is all point based and you get points for the stunts. Miss 5 and you lose all your points. Yeah, that seems unfair but what's worse is if someone hits you, you lose all your points and they get them. It works the other way around as well but it still feels really broken.

Broken seems to be the theme of this game. While it is much easier to play and finish the stunts this time around, the game itself has created new problems that just make the game feel incomplete rather than super hard like the original was. Not a great game but it's worth a rental.

Story - 6/10
Graphics - 7/10
Sound - 8/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 5/10
Replay Value - 7/10

Final Score - 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/07

Game Release: Stuntman Ignition (US, 08/28/07)