Stuntman Review

Driving the game's various vehicles is a simple-enough task. The left analog stick controls your vehicle's steering, while the right stick can be used to control its speed. You can also use the buttons on the face of the controller to operate the gas, brake, and hand brake. The shoulder buttons can be used to quickly swing the camera view around the car so that you can see your surroundings. Some of the vehicles you drive are very responsive and handle well, like a sports car, but others, like the snowmobile, are naturally harder to steer. Driving isn't all you'll do--for some of the levels you'll have to activate a roll cannon, jump from a vehicle, or fire a rocket using the shoulder buttons at the appropriate moment. At any rate, getting used to the pressure-sensitive steering, gas, and brake doesn't take long, especially since there's a built-in gauge next to the speedometer that tells you how much pressure you're applying.

The game's six different mock-movie settings are all great.

Stuntman looks great. The vehicle models used in the game are all very detailed and realistic in the way they look and move. On the other hand, the models used for pedestrians and for your driver are fairly simple and not very detailed, but they get the job done. The one nice touch about the driver is that you can see his arms work the steering wheel based on your action with the analog stick. The environments are all very different from one another and feature a ton of breakable objects, traffic, and a whole lot of little touches, like posters and road signs, that really give the scenery a lot of character. Plus the game features volumetric shadowing, which makes the lighting look realistic, since every object in the game shades everything that comes between it and the light source. But the best thing about Stuntman's look is how the game's particle effects and physics system work together to make scenery objects really look like a moving vehicle is hitting them. Smashing into objects like tables at high speeds breaks them apart and sprays individual pieces into the air quite convincingly. And with larger obstacles that you aren't necessarily supposed to hit, like other vehicles, you'll see that your vehicle will realistically take damage from the impact. The damage system is all based on the game's physics, so the faster your vehicle is traveling, the greater the damage incurred. Colliding with large objects at high speeds can even knock parts off your vehicle, such as the hood and the doors. Of note, there is a bit of slowdown that occurs from time to time when a number of things all happen on the screen at once, which doesn't necessarily affect gameplay, but it is noticeable. But Stuntman looks impressive, all in all.

The music and sound effects in Stuntman are also really well done and help set the mood for each of the movies you'll perform stunts in. Each movie has its own music, which appropriately fits the theme. For instance, the Indiana Jones-inspired The Scarab of Lost Souls levels have a stirring theme song that is a dead ringer for the real Indiana Jones theme. The sounds for the explosions, collisions, and vehicles are all good and are quite believable. The only thing that gets a bit annoying is the voice of the director as he yells instructions into your ear while you play. Most of what he says is "overtake vehicle," "smash boxes," and "pass through gap."

Stuntman can be frustrating, but it's loaded with thrills.

In the end, Stuntman is an original game that some will undoubtedly love, but others won't enjoy at all because of its trial-and-error approach and high degree of difficulty. Completing a level in the game will sometimes require you to spend upward of a couple of hours just trying to get through without messing up. It can certainly be frustrating at times, but the satisfaction of finally completing a level and seeing your incredible stunts in instant replay often makes up for having to retry the same sequence over and over again. It's unfortunate about the game's loading times, and some more information about each stunt at the beginning of each level would have been nice. But the game controls well and looks and sounds great, and the levels are interesting and very challenging. Yet since Stuntman has some frustrating elements and isn't a particularly long game, your best bet is to give it a rent and see how much you like its brand of action.