Stuntman

Since Stuntman was developed by the creators of the popular Driver series, expectations for this game are sky high.

Stuntman puts you behind the wheel as a stunt driver in six films that lovingly knock off classics ranging from 007 to Indiana Jones to the Dukes of Hazzard. The best label for the gameplay is a cocktail that blends Pilotwings with Gran Turismo?s license tests: Hurtling along preset paths, you must guide a vehicle through a precise series of jumps, swerves, and other hair-raising maneuvers. The requirements for success are unforgiving and demanding; if you lag behind even slightly or deviate from the path in the smallest way, it?s stunt over, and you have to start again from the beginning (apparently, the directors of these films don?t edit).

As a result, this game is truly very hard, and the absence of difficulty levels or even checkpoints means no mercy for less-hardcore gamers looking for a break. Basically, Stuntman is about being perfect?and incessantly repeating a stunt until, at long last, you get it exactly right. Adding to the frustration, the game?s physics sometimes feel wrong: Your car will often wreck in goofy, weird ways; fences that break in some places are impenetrable barriers in others; and the like.

If all that doesn?t turn you off, bump the Fun Factor up to 4.0 because Stuntman deserves major props for its unique concept and thrilling stunts. The buzz of jumping a car over a moving train, whipping it past exploding gas stations, and then burning nitro to soar over a river just can?t be denied. When you complete all the stunts for a film, you?re rewarded with the trailer, which is a series of cinematics spliced with the stunts you performed?and that?s just way cool. The game also supplies an awesome stunt constructor, which lets you create the craziest set of ramps, barriers, and obstacles you can conjure up, then attempt to survive it in the cars you?ve unlocked.

Instead of that mode, though, what Stuntman badly needs is a practice mode where you could take your time and master the stunts. After all, don?t real-life stuntman get to practice?or at least get a peek at a map?before the cameras roll? In the absence of those aids, your frustration will rapidly boil over as you struggle more to learn than to execute. In a delicious bit of irony, at one point a cinematic tells you that supercomputers have been used to model the precise speed you should hit a jump?but that speed is never revealed to you!

If you?re the sort who likes to crack a tough nut, Stuntman has a pair cast in titanium. It?s definitely not for everyone, but for the right gamer who can tolerate its flaws and appreciate its rigorous challenges, it?s gold. If that?s not you, rent it for a quick spin and check out its cool Driver 3 trailer.

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