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After wowing PlayStation owners with Driver and Driver 2, the folks at Reflections dropped off the gaming charts. It wasn't long before news came out that they were working on a title that would put you, the gamer, inside the helmet of a stuntman. It sounded like a damn good idea for a videogame from the offset, and it’s just been released in the US, so we were keen to find out how the premise looked on PS2.
It's hard not to be impressed by the exploits of many stunt drivers, who jump motorcycles off buildings, slam cars into flaming wrecks, and generally seem to have a pretty good time doing it – even though most of their work these days appears deadly serious. Stuntman, the game, is now available in the US, and you can execute plenty of impressive vehicular stunts of your own without having to face the perils that real-life stunt driving holds. However, there are problems with the game, specifically in its style of execution, which takes it some way to being a souped up version of Simon Says.
In Stuntman, the main mode of play is career. You take the roll of an experienced driver who goes from movie to movie executing the whims and fantasies of each director you work for. On each set you execute a few different scenes, then, once completed, you move on to work on your next movie.
Each movie's scenes tend to be similar in terms of feel and scenario. For instance, there's a gritty mobster movie that takes place in England, so most of the scenes involve driving European inspired cars - no real manufacturers here, strictly imaginary cars - through various areas in London. Another movie, a "The Dukes of Hazard" inspired piece, puts you in the American South flying down dirt roads while dodging chickens and the law. There are six movies in total, most playing homage to some movie type or another, like John Woo-style action flicks or James Bond espionage movies – all the big blockbusters in which you would expect to see some great driving action.
After each movie is complete and your scenes completed successfully, clips from your driving are woven into the film's trailer, which you can watch and enjoy the fruits of your labour. This normally consists of about five seconds worth of fruit for what was probably a day's worth of work and frustration. Although if you were a stunt driver for real, this experience is probably something you’d have to get used to. You are [Wait for the Fall Guy/Lee Majors moment, readers… – Ed.] – only there to "make Eastwood look so fine!" after all.
Driving through each scene in Stuntman always involves the same process. You get a very brief description from the stuntman about what's going to happen in the scene. You're then suddenly dropped into the driver's seat of some vehicle - could be a car; could be a snowmobile - and the movie director starts yelling instructions at you. "Follow that van!" he might shout, or "Accelerate!" So, you do as you're told, hope for the best and before long he'll yell out the next instruction, which could be anything from passing a car on the left to hitting a ramp and jumping through an open box-car on a moving train.
The thing is, you never know just what you’re really supposed to be doing until about two seconds before you have to do it, and unless you happen to be positioned correctly, chances are you're going to make a mistake, and then it's a big "Cut!" hollered from the director and you have to sit there and painfully wait for the scene to reload so you can try it again. Load times honestly aren't that bad, but with more time to prepare before the stunt, success would be found much sooner.
That's how each and every scene goes. The basic trick is to figure out all the instructions and memorise them. At that point you begin to have a chance to make it through the stunt in one piece. But, there's still a great chance for mistakes, as many of the stunts are rather difficult to execute anyway. The somewhat frustrating part is that each scene, after completion, lasts about two minutes, yet takes an hour or so to complete, and while you feel a great sense of accomplishment in finishing each scene, watching the brief replays may make you ponder, "I spent an hour toiling at the controller for this!?"
There are other modes of play available that may interest drive ‘em up fanatics more than career mode. There’s a range of games - essentially Gran Turismo-style challenges - that must be completed. Things like running through an obstacle course within a certain time, or completing a few laps around the London set. They certainly aren't easy, but tend to be somewhat enjoyable, if only because the director isn't hollering in your ear! Then there's the stunt constructor mode, which gives you a giant dirt arena floor to play with. As you complete more movies, you earn pieces that you can use in your constructor to create giant stunts, like ramps, busses, and flaming hoops. This is great for a while and the vehicular mayhem is spot on, but it does get old, fast.
Graphically, Stuntman has a drab, colourless look to it, very similar to the dark presentation used in the Driver titles, but the textures are clean and the landscapes are very detailed. Car models are also detailed, and are fully deformable to the point where body panels fall right off. The game's framerate tends to be solid, but when things get busy on-screen the game can slow noticeably, which can make a tricky level even harder to execute.
Audio in the game is decent, with passable engine noises and plenty of crash and smash sound effects. The voice acting is also good, except for the director, who you'll want to drive over by the end of the first movie! Also, the game definitely needs more music tracks, as anyone who tries to finish the driving games section will be forced to listen to the same song over and over again.
In general, this is a great idea for a game that has some annoying little flaws in its execution. After playing this, you may wonder if the life of a stuntman is really all that much fun. Sure, watching car chases is exciting for movie-goers, but the scripted nature of stunt driving means that once translated into a game, it feels more like routine rather than a chance to shine.
Of course we all know that in real life, this scripted and highly accurate process needs to be in place for safety and production reasons. And that stuntmen are there to make sure big Hollywood stars look fantastic on the big-screen, while they hang in the back row with a box of popcorn nursing their broken ribs. But, that aside, if you’re not used to having a director instruct you on your driving line, and would rather choose it for yourself you may not be impressed with the "make a single wrong turn and it's game over" premise. Now where did we leave that flaming hoop, the car park’s empty again…
It's hard not to be impressed by the exploits of many stunt drivers, who jump motorcycles off buildings, slam cars into flaming wrecks, and generally seem to have a pretty good time doing it – even though most of their work these days appears deadly serious. Stuntman, the game, is now available in the US, and you can execute plenty of impressive vehicular stunts of your own without having to face the perils that real-life stunt driving holds. However, there are problems with the game, specifically in its style of execution, which takes it some way to being a souped up version of Simon Says.
In Stuntman, the main mode of play is career. You take the roll of an experienced driver who goes from movie to movie executing the whims and fantasies of each director you work for. On each set you execute a few different scenes, then, once completed, you move on to work on your next movie.
Each movie's scenes tend to be similar in terms of feel and scenario. For instance, there's a gritty mobster movie that takes place in England, so most of the scenes involve driving European inspired cars - no real manufacturers here, strictly imaginary cars - through various areas in London. Another movie, a "The Dukes of Hazard" inspired piece, puts you in the American South flying down dirt roads while dodging chickens and the law. There are six movies in total, most playing homage to some movie type or another, like John Woo-style action flicks or James Bond espionage movies – all the big blockbusters in which you would expect to see some great driving action.
After each movie is complete and your scenes completed successfully, clips from your driving are woven into the film's trailer, which you can watch and enjoy the fruits of your labour. This normally consists of about five seconds worth of fruit for what was probably a day's worth of work and frustration. Although if you were a stunt driver for real, this experience is probably something you’d have to get used to. You are [Wait for the Fall Guy/Lee Majors moment, readers… – Ed.] – only there to "make Eastwood look so fine!" after all.
Driving through each scene in Stuntman always involves the same process. You get a very brief description from the stuntman about what's going to happen in the scene. You're then suddenly dropped into the driver's seat of some vehicle - could be a car; could be a snowmobile - and the movie director starts yelling instructions at you. "Follow that van!" he might shout, or "Accelerate!" So, you do as you're told, hope for the best and before long he'll yell out the next instruction, which could be anything from passing a car on the left to hitting a ramp and jumping through an open box-car on a moving train.
The thing is, you never know just what you’re really supposed to be doing until about two seconds before you have to do it, and unless you happen to be positioned correctly, chances are you're going to make a mistake, and then it's a big "Cut!" hollered from the director and you have to sit there and painfully wait for the scene to reload so you can try it again. Load times honestly aren't that bad, but with more time to prepare before the stunt, success would be found much sooner.
That's how each and every scene goes. The basic trick is to figure out all the instructions and memorise them. At that point you begin to have a chance to make it through the stunt in one piece. But, there's still a great chance for mistakes, as many of the stunts are rather difficult to execute anyway. The somewhat frustrating part is that each scene, after completion, lasts about two minutes, yet takes an hour or so to complete, and while you feel a great sense of accomplishment in finishing each scene, watching the brief replays may make you ponder, "I spent an hour toiling at the controller for this!?"
There are other modes of play available that may interest drive ‘em up fanatics more than career mode. There’s a range of games - essentially Gran Turismo-style challenges - that must be completed. Things like running through an obstacle course within a certain time, or completing a few laps around the London set. They certainly aren't easy, but tend to be somewhat enjoyable, if only because the director isn't hollering in your ear! Then there's the stunt constructor mode, which gives you a giant dirt arena floor to play with. As you complete more movies, you earn pieces that you can use in your constructor to create giant stunts, like ramps, busses, and flaming hoops. This is great for a while and the vehicular mayhem is spot on, but it does get old, fast.
Graphically, Stuntman has a drab, colourless look to it, very similar to the dark presentation used in the Driver titles, but the textures are clean and the landscapes are very detailed. Car models are also detailed, and are fully deformable to the point where body panels fall right off. The game's framerate tends to be solid, but when things get busy on-screen the game can slow noticeably, which can make a tricky level even harder to execute.
Audio in the game is decent, with passable engine noises and plenty of crash and smash sound effects. The voice acting is also good, except for the director, who you'll want to drive over by the end of the first movie! Also, the game definitely needs more music tracks, as anyone who tries to finish the driving games section will be forced to listen to the same song over and over again.
In general, this is a great idea for a game that has some annoying little flaws in its execution. After playing this, you may wonder if the life of a stuntman is really all that much fun. Sure, watching car chases is exciting for movie-goers, but the scripted nature of stunt driving means that once translated into a game, it feels more like routine rather than a chance to shine.
Of course we all know that in real life, this scripted and highly accurate process needs to be in place for safety and production reasons. And that stuntmen are there to make sure big Hollywood stars look fantastic on the big-screen, while they hang in the back row with a box of popcorn nursing their broken ribs. But, that aside, if you’re not used to having a director instruct you on your driving line, and would rather choose it for yourself you may not be impressed with the "make a single wrong turn and it's game over" premise. Now where did we leave that flaming hoop, the car park’s empty again…
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the hardest one i think is the second live twice one but i havent got to the last level
Anyway, Stuntman is a very good game indeed.
Rented it out a couple of weeks back, got up to the "Hunted by Microlites" stunt. 100% in all of em so far.
I'll buy it sooner or later, hope the last few stunts will take me a while. Wookie you've completed it haven't you? how long will the last few stunts take me?
Rented it out a couple of weeks back, got up to the "Hunted by Microlites" stunt. 100% in all of em so far.
I'll buy it sooner or later, hope the last few stunts will take me a while. Wookie you've completed it haven't you? how long will the last few stunts take me?
Wookiee's Useful Tip #732:
If you want someone to read an article on another website, just post the link.
Wookiee's Useful Tip #733:
If you must copy & paste, post the link as well and give credit to the other site. That way, it's clear to people that you aren't trying to cheat SR out of a game.
If you want someone to read an article on another website, just post the link.
Wookiee's Useful Tip #733:
If you must copy & paste, post the link as well and give credit to the other site. That way, it's clear to people that you aren't trying to cheat SR out of a game.
Suuuuure
:-D
:-D
WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
> I mean, the line "[Wait for the Fall Guy/Lee Majors moment,
> readers… – Ed.]" is a *bit* of a giveaway.
lol! I hadn`t noticed that! Brilliant! Are you sure this isn`t a regular in disguise trying to make fun of this forum or something? I mean, its just so amazingly blatant it could only be a joke.
> I mean, the line "[Wait for the Fall Guy/Lee Majors moment,
> readers… – Ed.]" is a *bit* of a giveaway.
lol! I hadn`t noticed that! Brilliant! Are you sure this isn`t a regular in disguise trying to make fun of this forum or something? I mean, its just so amazingly blatant it could only be a joke.
Self confeesed - I did it - I have no defence - guilty as charged.
Flanders wrote:
> * I copy and pasted that from his terminator thread ;) *
SR! We have another cheat! Ban 'im!
;-p
> * I copy and pasted that from his terminator thread ;) *
SR! We have another cheat! Ban 'im!
;-p
Pah - stoopid kidz !
* I copy and pasted that from his terminator thread ;) *
* I copy and pasted that from his terminator thread ;) *
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