Stuntman makes it's next-gen debut, having the same great gameplay from the original, but it also means it's not for all
The main career mode is split up into 6 movies. The first is AfterShock, a clean rip off of Dante's Peak. Hell, they even had a scene when a teenager is trying to reach his grandmother! After is Whoopin' and a Hollerin' II, which is a sequel to one of the original's films that copied the Dukes of Hazzard formula. After is the Strike Omega Force movie, which i honestly don't know what it rips off. But it's still funny when a German says 'You American pig!' and the main guy shoots him and says 'Oink Oink!'. After is Overdrive, which is similar to a 70s cop film like Starsky and Hutch. Following is Never Kill Me Again, which cheaply knocks off James Bond with style, and finally Night Avenger. Batman, anyone?
Each film has about six scenes, each of which has stunts in them which you must complete. With the original, if you missed a couple of stunts you would fail immediately and have to restart. In it's sequel though, you have about 5 chances to screw up. Screw up all five chances and you fail and have to restart. A problem with the original game was that load times were really long between restarts, so it kinda go annoying. But here, they are super quick; meaning if you fail you can still restart from there. The game is still hard though as even a slight miss of a stunt and you get penalized. Also, sometimes the game doesn't register the stunt properly, so that's annoying. Still, the core gameplay mechanics are great, and the game is fun through all of it's trial-and-error and difficulties.
There's some new stuff here, like the new stunt string. Basically, when you do something dangerous, like go near a wall, a number will appear on the screen. This means that you have started a stunt string. If you can keep it going by doing dangerous things and nailing director stunts, you can earn big points. If you can get through the whole level without breaking your string (basically reach the level with your score at 0) then you get the full five star on a level. You can get up to five stars. Throughout each scene these award nominations will pop up. These are Tarus award nominations. Basically, in you can hit three director stunts in a row you get a nomination. If you can make it through the scene with a nomination, you get the award. If you get all the awards in each level you'll get an achievement. Some awards are harder to get than others.
Stuntman does make its next-gen debut, and with that come sharper visuals. It certainly looks better than its original, with great textures, solid lighting, nice car designs and a excellent explosions. The frame rate can tank at times, thanks to the amount of onscreen explosions. The explosions can also make it very hard to see at times, and that means you may screw up from time to time. Still, it makes a solid graphical showcase, and let's hope other THQ games look great, or even better, than Stuntman Ignition.
The game has a nice soundtrack that keeps in touch with the game's hysterical movie poaching vibe. It often sounds similar, or even identical, to films the game copies. The effects are nice too, with excellent explosion sounds and car engine noices. Sadly, the game is kind of drowned out by the Stunt Director, who is constantly shouting the same phrases at you. 'Under the bridge', 'Hit the sign' and 'jump the car' all get old really fast. Though he is kind of helpful for spotting stunts you may not quite see.
The game has solid multiplayer too, with two match types. One has you simply racing against each other, and the other has you trying to pull off the most stunts. The main story will take about 10 hours to complete, and you could spend more time with the Stunt Constructor mode and the multiplayer modes. Plus, there's fifty achievements to do, which could last you a weekend as you try to ignite your car, turn it over, go into a death pit thirty times or get all the Tarus awards. Shame the constructor mode is lame. The core constructing is fine, as you can make some cool stunts, but the missions that come with them suck! These missions make it so you have to place stunt objects to suit the game's stunts in the level. Shame there's no clear way to win, so you keep placing for about 10 minutes just to get it right.
Stuntman 2 is a great game for fans of the original like me. It's got the same great gameplay as the original, and the new things like multiplayer and next-gen graphics will appeal to them too. However, if you hate trial-and-error, or think if a game is really hard it's unnecessary, then this isn't the game for you. So it is a love-it-or-hate-it game, but personally I’m in the love it camp.