Stuntman: Ignition

Review from Carl, Carl and Carl - Thursday, 15 November 2007 @ 4:28pm

Gaming confession: I’m not big on difficulty. I am not the kind of gamer who finds playing through God of War 2 on the “God” difficulty level a rewarding and challenging experience. Devil May Cry 3 wasn’t my cup of tea, Ghosts and Goblins just aint my thang, y’dig? I used to be the kind of person who chooses the “Easy” setting of games, only recently adapting the “Medium” as game standard, finding the actual progression through the game to be the best experience, rather than making a game more difficult to complete (God, how I wish Final Fantasy X had an easy mode!).

Gaming Confession Number 2: I have had previous experience with the original Stuntman, released in 2002 by Reflections Interactive. For those unfamiliar with the first Stuntman game, consider yourselves lucky. Playing through the original Stuntman was the videogame equivalent of being in a hostage situation, lying half dead and on fire in a ditch while a seven foot terrorist beat you across the face with a sack full of broken glass and firing a handgun point blank at your genitals as his machete-wielding midget sidekick broke each of your fingers off and stuffed them into your own eye sockets. Rather unpleasant.

However, with THQ ‘s acquirement of the rights to the franchise in 2006, Stuntman: Ignition toes the line of difficulty much more carefully than its predecessor, whilst providing an expanded experience and a greater accessibility for gamers who found the original to be harder than Matt at a Milla Jovovich film festival.




Stuntman: Ignition starts you out (just as the original did) as a newbie stuntman, raring to make it big in the stunt industry. Adopting and evolving the structure of the original, players will work their way through six films, each bearing startling resemblances to existing movie franchises: Aftershock (Dante's Peak and Volcano), Whoopin and a Hollerin' II (Duke’s Of Hazzard), Strike Force Omega (Mad Max/Steven Segal style action movie), Overdrive (Starsky & Hutch), Never Kill Me Again (James Bond), and Night Avenger (Batman). When compared to the original Stuntman, Paradigm has successfully toned down the difficulty through the introduction of a “strike bar”, allowing the player to make up to five errors in a run, earning a strike for each missed stunt.

The main single player campaign is of a decent length, with the six films each containing six stunt sequences, all of which run between one to three minutes. Every sequence is rated out of five stars, with unlockables providing the motivation to achieve a perfect run. While each sequence can be successfully completed with up to five errors, those looking to achieve a five star rating must be able to not only successfully execute every required stunt in a sequence, but string those stunts together through performing smaller stunts such as powersliding, close calls with nearby objects, and getting air. Considering that the combo breaks if no stunt is done within 2-3 seconds of the previous one, getting a perfect rating provides an interesting challenge for those wanting the maximum out of their game. For those who aren’t rabid perfectionists, though, it isn’t necessary.

Thankfully, this is not the only option to choose within the game, with Paradigm including other optional opportunity to show off your stunt prowess. Players can choose to be employed in Odd Jobs (such as starring in an advertisement or performing in a stunt show) or Quick Fix (requiring you to perform smaller, shorter stunt sequences for the films you work on). The Arena mode from the original Stuntman has been expanded, both sating the players possible urge to create their own stunt sequences and providing a handful of bonus ‘stunt challenges’ (creating your own stunt run to incorporate specific stunts, further unlockables being the bait). These modes provide a nice distraction from the linear progression of the main missions, and pad out the game to include more content than the original had to offer.




Paradigm has also included a handful of multiplayer modes, including Stunt Tourney (Beat your opponent’s score in a movie mission), Backlot Race (A conventional racing mode with stunts adding to your nitro supply) and Backlot Battle (Complete required stunts whilst building up a bigger score than your opponent). Again, these are just a basic distraction from the main missions, but it’s a pleasing inclusion within the game. You may not be interested, but it’s there if you want to.

When examining the Stuntman style, the unique series usually has gamers split down the middle. Exclusively covering the “stunt genre”, Stuntman is your only option if accurately portraying the performance of stunts is your go. However, even within the new and improved Stuntman: Ignition, you’re going to be restarting. A lot. A real lot. The enjoyment any gamer will get out of this game strictly depends on his patience and determination to conquer the various stunts. Some gamers might find it tedious and repetitive; others may lose themselves in the challenging gameplay, eager to score that perfect run. It’s up to the individual really, though anyone would prefer it to the controller-snapping original.

Whilst Stuntman: Ignition is a thoroughly enjoyable and unique game, there are some criticisms to be made. Reviewing this on the Playstation 2, the graphics, while showing a decent amount of detail in the vehicles, backgrounds and effects, are nothing to write home about. It certainly shows how old the PS2 has become. Because of the constant repetition, the director’s voice over commands become increasingly grating, and you may find yourself shouting at the television before long. One on my criticisms from the original Stuntman was that there wasn’t much variety in vehicles and though Stuntman: Ignition has definitely expanded the choice in vehicle, it’s still disappointing to see that there are no water based vehicles (or missions) or anything resembling a snowboard (heresy!).




I’m hopping on my soapbox a bit in these final paragraphs, with two suggestions for Paradigm.

Suggestion Number 1: If Stuntman 3 is going to be made, how about you let the player edit his replays, similar to skate.? Just allow for a few effects, perhaps the option of changing camera angles, or maybe playing with speed? It would definitely personalise each gamers run, and would make anyone a little prouder of their achievements.

Suggestion Number 2: I know that the series has the whole “vehicle” aspects of stunts down pat, but how about hopping out of the vehicle and doing some on-foot missions? Old school leaping from tall buildings style stunts? There is certainly a whole world of different feats out there that could look just as cool as any vehicle based run. What I’m suggesting may seem a bit naive and ungrateful, and believe me when I say that I’m a big fan of the Stuntman series to date, but when looking at the possibilities, it just seems a waste to ignore the non vehicle aspects of a stuntman’s profession.

But, I digress. Stuntman: Ignition is a unique and challenging game, a definite improvement from the original, and a title many gamers would jump a row of buses to get their hands on.

CUT!

Summary

Assuming that the player can get past the regular repetitive gameplay and occasional spike of frustration, Stuntman: Ignition mercifully improves upon the original and succeeds in presenting a thoroughly exciting and challenging adventure.

Pros

Challenging string-combo system, decreased difficulty and forgiving “strikes” system, exciting and varied stunts.

Cons

Graphics aren’t much to rave about, those damned director commands get old quick, the continued cold shoulder towards the non vehicle aspects of a stuntman’s job