Stuntman Ignition

"All the fun of the real thing without the threat of death"

Maybe it's an overgeneralization, but I think it's safe to say most gamers have wanted to be a stuntman at some point in their life. The idea of jumping into a fast car, smashing it through lots of stuff and flying through the air while pyrotechnics go off is certainly an appealing image. With Stuntman Ignition, THQ has allowed gamers to get as close to this profession as most of us are likely ever to come. And I've got to say that makes me a little sad, because it seems like a hell of a job.

During the course of Stuntman Ignition, you'll fill the shoes of an up and coming stuntman (shocker!) as he works for different directors while they shoot their movies. These movies spoof all sorts of Hollywood blockbusters, such as “Aftershock” which is based on the volcano disaster movies of the nineties, “Whoopin and Hollerin II” which is a blatant parody of the Dukes of Hazard (you'll even drive a Charger lookalike called the General Stewart), and “Never Kill Me Again” a Bond spoof, along with quite a few others. Naturally, each movie has its own feel and atmosphere which keeps things from becoming too boring. Each movie is also divided up into a number of stunt sequences, in which you'll have to complete a number of stunts in order to finish the set.

Obviously, given the theme of the game, stunts play a major role in the game, but you might be surprised to hear that they really aren't anything special. Some of the more common ones include passing close to objects and cars, drifting, or driving between two objects. As the game progresses some flashier moves are thrown into the mix, like banging off of other vehicles and driving off ramps and through destructible objects. Even so, the majority of the stunts are fairly common moves that most people probably do just driving around in games like Grand Theft Auto. Despite this, Ignition is anything but boring. This is mainly because each scene is filled with so many of these stunts you'll have to accomplish, almost always in rapid-fire succession. Just keeping your head straight and hitting all the stunts is enough to keep it exciting.

With that in mind, it would be fair to assume that this is a very difficult game (doubly so since the original has a reputation for being brutally hard), however the game has a couple of ways to keep it from getting too out of hand. First is that while shooting a scene, there is a voice over which calls out stunts before you reach them, which gives a heads-up on what to expect. Perhaps more helpful than that is the strike system. The strike system is basically what it sounds like – at the default difficulty setting, players are given five strikes. Missing a stunt counts as a strike and once you miss five, you have to start the scene over from the beginning.

Even with those two helpful aids in place, the game still isn't exactly easy. Many scenes require precision driving to hit certain stunts, and there are several ways to get an automatic scene reshoot regardless of how many strikes you've got (driving into lava, falling into a lake, driving out of the shot). And in later movies, the stunt sequences reach the point of insanity, requiring players to hit ridiculous lines filled with stunts, all of which require perfect car control to finish. But even at its worst, it never feels as if you're being punished. I must have tried one scene at least twenty times before getting it right, and the whole time it just felt as if I was learning the best way to go at it.

During every scene, your performance will be judged on a five star basis. Nearly everything you do accrues points, from hitting random stuff in the area to drifting around turns. Each time a stunt is performed, be it required or improvised, it is added to the multiplier thereby increasing the end value. The more points you've got at the end of the scene, the more stars you'll get. However, in order to achieve the vaunted five star rating, you must keep a stunt chain going through the entire scene. This means you can't let the points cash in, which automatically happens after two seconds without a stunt. In order to string an entire scene, every second must be spent driving like a maniac, yet it must be precise and fluid in order to hit all the required stunts.

Performance is important because you'll get rewards based on how many stars you achieve. While only a single star is required to proceed to the next scene, better performances will unlock vehicles and set pieces players can use in the arcade modes. If you're the type of person who absolutely must get everything out of a game, this adds tremendous replay value.

I've talked a lot about precision driving, which is absolutely integral to success. Much of that comes down to player skill, but the natural performance of the vehicles does play a major part. While pretty much everything you'll drive in the game feels a lot alike (even the motorcycles), you'll notice that many of the cars feel a little too bulky and unwieldy. The control is a touch off, which makes some of the scenes which require tight maneuvering harder than they need to be.

One other issue I noticed was related to the action button. Certain stunts require the player to trigger an event, such as laying a bike on its side to slide through a gap, using nitrous, or setting off pyrotechnics. The problem is that the button is not always responsive. This of course leads to an automatic failed trick.

As for the graphics, Stuntman Ignition won't win any beauty contests, but it isn't exactly ugly. Overall, there's not as much polish as many other games, and things like textures are a bit simple. However, it is no big leap of logic to assume that the graphics were done this way on purpose in order to achieve the smooth framerate when things really start to heat up. Even when explosions are going off all across the screen and things are flying through the air, the game rarely drops a single frame. Considering how much frustration that could cause in a game like this, it seems like a fair trade.

The audio works for the game, but is nothing spectacular. Music is present but is often overshadowed by both the aural chaos of explosions and other assorted lunacy as well as the stunt coordinator who shouts out upcoming stunts. On the rare occasions that you'll hear other voice acting, such as the movie introductions where the director rambles on about the project, it's actually pretty funny and well written.

THE VERDICT
At the risk of sounding too much like a movie critic, Stuntman Ignition is a nonstop thrill-ride that only gets wilder the longer you play. While the game does have a few problems, they aren't enough to take the edge off the adrenaline buzz you'll get while playing it. Overall, it makes for a great weekend rental.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/21/09

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