Stuntman: Ignition

Jettoki:
I have to admit, I've never been much a fan of games about cars. The last serious car racing game I played on a console was Top Gear 2 for the SNES, and as far as I'm concerned, the genre climaxed in 1992. Don't get me wrong - I've played more Mario Kart DS than I care to admit. But ever since the end of the 16-bit era, I've sneered at titles like Need for Speed and Driver. They remind me of flashy, testosterone-laden Hollywood blockbusters; no substance or character to speak of. So much the worse if they aren't even racing games.

So when I first heard of Stuntman: Ignition, I was imagining something along the lines of Twisted Metal. Snarky announcers, gratuitous explosions, ridiculously over-the-top specular reflections - like professional wrestling, but with cars instead of spandex. The kind of game I would never go near except by some glancing coincidence. But Vespyr happened to be a QA Tester for the game, and she encouraged me to give it a try. So I did - grudgingly.

As it turns out, my imagination wasn't far off the mark. Explosions and lens flare abound. Unfortunately, much to my (chagrined) surprise, I not only enjoyed the game, but I became semi-obsessed with it, playing levels over and over in the pursuit of more points and a 5-star rating. How could this happen to me?

For starters, it's hard not to be immediately smitten by Stuntman's fantastic production values. The visuals are stunning, and the environments are curiously immersive, with lots of attention to detail. But the real draw here is the copious amount of action. From the moment each level begins to its spectacular finale, you will be dodging bullets, explosions, gun trucks, falling structures, and a plethora of other obstacles you would expect to encounter in any brainless action film. The missions vary from disaster sequences to car chases inspired by spy movies, and each is even more bombastic than the last.

Were these scenarios meant to be taken seriously, the game would probably draw a lot of derision, but because it's all taking place on a movie set, it's easy to overlook the glaring impossibility of the mission designs. The director's sarcastic commentary ensures that it all feels very tongue-in-cheek, but at the same time, the game does a great job of making you feel like you're working in Hollywood.

The biggest nitpick I have with Stuntman is the difficulty of certain parts of the missions. Some sequences of tricks require unnatural timing, and making the slightest mistake can completely derail your chances of finishing the mission. As it is, the game will let you miss about five tricks before you fail the mission, but too often if you miss one trick, you'll be so disoriented that you have to start over. It would be nice if some of the tricks were optional, so players could bypass the more extreme sections in exchange for a lower score. Then again, the game has a high replay value, so maybe there's something to be said for the sense of accomplishment you get from perfectly executing every trick in a mission.

In the end, I don't think Stuntman is quite compelling enough to topple my phobia of the genre, but it certainly is a refreshing change from all the bland street racing games that have taken over in the last five years. "Innovation" is a word that gets tossed around far too much nowadays, but I've got to hand it to THQ/Paradigm - this game really took me by surprise.

Vespyr:
When I was hired at THQ as a tester, I had no idea what type of game I would be testing. I had hoped that I would have the chance to play some games that were outside of my favorite genres (RPGs, adventure, and rhythm games). While the game I tested from 9 to 5 was a kid’s adventure game, I was fortunate enough to test two other games in overtime, one of which was Stuntman: Ignition.

I was assigned to play Stuntman near the end of the testing cycle, so I got to see a near-complete version of the game. I tested both PS2 and 360 versions. I have to admit that there was a remarkable improvement in 360 quality; the difference in processing power was part of what sold me on the 360.

Before testing, I had little experience with driving games. I had thought that they were mainly something for guys who liked to drive fast. As I dislike driving in real life, I had no real motivation to play most driving games. The only exception was Crash Team Racing, a game that I actually finished. I really enjoyed the cute style and the forgiving nature of the game. There were no harsh penalties for losing and the game was relatively easy.

I had no idea what I was getting into with Stuntman. When I discovered that it was a driving game, I was disappointed, knowing that the hours may quickly feel long. Fortunately, I was wrong. Stuntman turned out to be a fun experience, even if I never mastered it.

One of the best features of Stuntman is how the goals are different from other driving games. Instead of focusing on a straight, boring track, the track is full of obstacles to hit, fire to ignite your car, and cars to drive over, run into, or narrowly miss. A good stunt driver would execute all the stunts. While time was an important factor, the focus was shifted from the overall time of the race to the timing of the stunts. This got my adrenaline pumping – I was hoping I’d make the narrow gap between two cars and hit the spot just as the explosions went off. This shift in focus from two minutes to two seconds in the future gives the game a unique sense of urgency that makes it more exciting than most of the games that I’ve played.

When you test a game, it’s no surprise that you often play the same parts over and over. The nature of Stuntman was perfect for this type of gameplay, where you play over and over to memorize the course and truly master each level. I didn’t improve as much as I’d have hoped after hours of playing this game, but many of my experiences were in the multiplayer levels. Multiplayer driving was a fantastic way to end a long day of testing. I got to play with some of my coworkers from the children’s game team and we had a blast stealing each other’s points. The time flew by when we got to talk and laugh and fight for the top scores.

The biggest drawback to Stuntman was probably the repetition. Some scenes can be incredibly frustrating. For example, missing one stunt can turn your car around and make you lose due to the lead car racing on without you. The five or so missed stunts allowed seems generous to the experienced player, but it really helped me get past some moves I just couldn't do, like the reverse 180. However, it won’t help much when you’re near an area with several triggered events that can give you three red strikes in a row if you get slowed down by missing one stunt. Just like Jettoki, I found that this is probably the biggest point of aggravation.

In the end, Stuntman has the potential to make you feel like a star. Yes, it can be repetitive, but like any movie, you have to do several takes, and when you do something well, it can be really rewarding.