"Cause I'm the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine" -Fall Guy
Remember the Fall Guy? It was a TV show about a stunt man that I used to watch when I was just a tot. I never had any aspirations to become a stunt man when I was older. I just appreciated the entertainment value of cars flipping, crashing, and blowing up! It took a long time for someone to realize that entertainment value and apply it to a video game, but now Infogrames has capitalized on the idea and made something special. I mean sure, there have been a couple of stunt driving games, but nothing that can come close to touching Stuntman where you actually have a career making films.
Stuntman, at its heart, is a story based driving game from the makers of Driver. The idea is that you're a rookie stunt driver, and you perform the stunts to the specs laid out by the movie director as you work your way through your career. There are six films to complete as well as some part time stunt shows that you perform in during off time. There are multiple stunts scenes per movie and each scene is quite long unto itself.
The director will give you a brief overview of the stunt at hand, and he calls out constant instructions during the scene to make sure that it's handled perfectly. A typical scene may have you driving through boxes in an alley, peeling off 180 handbrake turns, jumping over obstacles, and weaving through traffic. Each particular stunt within a scene is marked a success or failure, and you get paid on accuracy of the scene once it's over (if you make it all the way through). Completing the scenes at higher percentage levels earns cars and ramps and obstacles that can be used in the stunt creation mode.
Easily the most gratifying portion of the game is when you've completed all the scenes for the movie and a trailer is put together for your viewing pleasure. These movie trailers are comprised of some real high quality FMV scenes mixed in with the actual driving stunts that you prepared. The result is amazing and well worth the time you invest pulling of the stunts perfectly. Equally as rewarding are the full replays of each stunt scene that you can view and save after completion. These replays are taken from what would be the actual movie camera angles if you were to watch them in a film. They show the cop cars you avoided when you pulled the 180 handbrake turns, and you see the dramatic angles of high intensity moves like jumping between two moving trains.
The only drawbacks from this otherwise stellar title are the twitchy handling and the potential redundancy. Both are probably a matter of preference, but I really feel like the handling could have been made a little friendlier. Speedier and lighter cars are very difficult to maintain full control over, and this can become frustrating when you are asked to do precise movements like swerving between two oncoming cars while traveling 90 MPH. Perhaps this was the designers' intention when creating the game because it does add a bit of adrenaline rush to the stunts, but in an environment where time counts and one mistake can mean starting the scene all over again, I think it's excessive. As far as redundancy goes, you will see the same basic maneuvers asked of you in each and every movie. Granted the outcome (trailers) is different, but the method to get there is still the same.
The graphics feel a little dated, but they are still appropriate for the PS2. The fully interactive environments are a very nice addition and almost a necessity for many of the stunts you'll perform. The cars and landscape is all nicely modeled, but it's just missing that WOW factor seen in some other recent titles. Bonus points are given for the amazing FMV + gameplay trailers and the full replays of each scene.
The sound is actually quite good, which I rarely find myself saying in a review. Usually it's just there, and I need it to be more special than that. In Stuntman, there are background music themes that go along with each flick. In "Whoopin' and a Hollerin'" (Dukes of Hazard rip), you'll be delightfully entertained by appropriate hillbilly banjo tunes. The director is always voicing his instructions on how to complete his scene, and I only wish that he said a few different lines for the situations. By the time I complete a scene I had his speech memorized.
There's a lot to do in Stuntman beyond the career mode, like stunt creation and skills challenges. There's more than enough replayability to warrant a purchase. The only things to be wary of are the control and the repetitiveness. You may do the beginning 5 stunts in a scene 30 times before you finally pass the stage, and even then you may want to go back for 100% accuracy. I'm very pleased with the overall product and have spent many hours perfecting my stunts. If it's in your nature to do the same, then don't hesitate to pick up this entrepreneurial driving game.
