The first Stuntman game is one of the most frustrating Gamestyle has ever played. It must be experienced first-hand to truly understand the pain it can cause. We're not talking mild levels of irritation here, but actual pad-throwing, head-through-television annoyance. It was only the counterbalance of sheer joy and satisfaction of perfecting its meticulously-planned stunt sequences that saved it, and that's not the way it ought to be, frankly. With a new developer at the helm (step forward, Paradigm), Stuntman has gone back to the garage for a total refit, to rekindle the joy and eliminate the frustration, and to do justice to a great idea. Fair play to Paradigm, they've almost succeeded.
The frustration is still there, but to make it less mind-numbing between restarts (which you'll still be doing a lot) there are now no loading times - it takes you back to the start of the stunt instantaneously. The stunts themselves are incredibly well-conceived and you'll often find yourself grinning from ear to ear as you crash through burning buildings and make insane jumps. It's instantly gratifying in that over-the-top Burnout style, and when you learn the more complex stunts (360 spins being a favourite) you'll really start to love it.
The movies you'll be working on are all fictitious, though heavily based on real examples and given similar names, so it doesn't take a genius to figure out which movie has been copied. From the volcanic eruption disaster movie (with nods to Volcano and err... Dante's Peak), to the obvious Bond movie rip-off (Die Another Day) and the superhero movie (Batman Begins), they get as close to their inspirations as possible without being sued. Each movie is also accompanied by some fantastic music that sets the mood perfectly for each theme.
Your job as the stuntman is to perform a series of vehicular stunts on each movie while the director yells out what to do, all in realtime. It's not a realistic depiction of the profession by any stretch, but it's definitely a more entertaining one. The narrator will describe the main stunt beforehand, but the rest is purely trial and error; when you're going at insane speeds, the stunt marker will often pop up in view so quickly that it's almost impossible to hit it first time. This was the main problem with the original game, but now you work on a 'five-strikes-and-you're-out' system, so you do have some leeway as to how many mistakes you make (further reducing downtime). One problem, though, is that some of the stunts follow on from one another, so miss one and there's a good chance you'll end up missing another three. Despite this, we still kept trying to perfect each stunt, something which can be stupidly difficult. You can get up to four stars by getting a good score, but the fifth star requires that you string the whole scene into one combo... something that we truly believe is humanly impossible in some levels.
With a variety of vehicles to be driven, it's good that each one handles well and uniquely. From the light but super fast bikes to the massive trucks which are terrible at cornering, they all have their advantages and disadvantages, although they don't all look that pretty. Graphically, Stuntman: Ignition is a bit of a let down. In addition to the lacklustre characters and vehicles, it never really feels like you're taking part in a massive movie production. Just having one character with a camera, another sat on a chair and a few light stands may have been passable on the PS2, but on a next generation console we were expecting a little more.
Speaking of a little more, Gamestyle was hoping that Stuntman: Ignition would keep us hooked for quite a while, but it didn't. There are only five movie productions to take part in, as well as a few odd jobs in adverts, so there is little variety in settings. They've tried to improve the longevity by adding an option to create your own stunt park and an extra multi-player mode, which entertains for a short while, but it's not going to distract you from other more popular online pursuits, particularly when this is only populated by about ten people - which makes finding a game an incredibly lengthy process.
There is no doubt that Stuntman: Ignition is superior to its predecessor in every way, but it still doesn't quite live up to its lofty potential. Being a virtual stuntman could be one of the best things ever; instead Paradigm have created a decent game and not the essential purchase it should be.
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