Stuntman puts you, the gamer, in the position of a lowly stunt driver who's aiming to make millions in the film stunt industry. It's your job to do the most hair-raising, gravity-defying stunts for a series of six films (starting with lowly budget movies to blockbusters) in the game's Career mode. They only get tougher as you progress, but luckily the pay doesn't as you start to earn buckets for each scene you do. You can use this money to buy new arenas or flashy cars in Arena mode. Well, that's the basics over, let's get stuck in...
The first thing that strikes you about the game are the really quite impressive visuals. One of the best attempts to push 3D on the GBA, the detail on buildings, scenery and other veichles is really quite superb. It seems to work better than the other 3D racers around for Nintendo's handheld, but there are a few problems to deal with...
Firstly, whenever your car drives exceptionally close to a wall, it seems to bend inwards and contort itself. Not very useful for those sections where seeing if you've negotiated a narrow passage without touching the sides or not. But, apart from not being able to see it well, the collision detection isn't all that bad and when it comes to jumps and crashing through objects you probably won't be let down. We do have to comment on the guy who preps you before each scene though, a polygon modelled (somewhat expressionless) man who's lips move but eyes never blink. Why is he there? Surely it's just taking up space which could have been used for another film scene or something.
The graphics support a wide variety of scenes from films too, you'll be crashing and burning from downtown city streets through snowy mountains to Egypt! This is a nice touch. It's original and welcome on the GBA after so many ports from SNES titles...
So how do the actual scenes work? Well, once in the driving seat you'll be given a route ahead of you marked by green arrows and the oppurtunity to jump, crash, turn and screech your way to the finish. But you don't just race to the checkered flag here, on the way you have to complete a series of tasks that make up the final stunt. These include jumping huge ramps, avoiding speeding trains, 90 and 180 degree hanbrake turns, crashing through a stationary collection of objects such as oil barrels, activating explosions and getting through each checkpoint before the counter reaches zero. For each of the tasks you complete successfully, a green square is added to your task bar. Fill it with at least 50% green squares and you can complete the scene without having to repeat it.
The thing is, because the game is trying to be authentic the developers have included those checkpoints to make sure you always speed through the scene. This means there is no opportunity to explore or go off the main route without quickly failing. So, once you've tried each scene enough you'll have learned all the stunts and obstacles to avoid so there's not much to come back to once you're done. A pity, but because the arena mode isn't as fulfilling as we'd like, the lifespan suffers slightly.
And the arena mode is? Well, it sounds good - you're able to purchase flashier veichles and new arenas to practise your stuntman skills with the money you earn from each film. But, in reality it's not that hard to earn enough cash and because the GBA's controls are limited compared to a home console the physical difference between each car can't really be distinguished. And the film scenes are obviously the best bit, but as I said, once they're finished the game won't last much longer.
The sounds however, are pleasing. Music is appropriately not too intrusive, not too repetitive and compliments the style of play nicely. The sound effects are even better, though. Voice overs are great as the director yells instructions at you during the scene. Sounds of wooden boxes breaking up as you bash through them and the skid of hot rubber on road surface are surprisingly realistic from what we usually get from sound on the GBA - well done in that department Atari.
My main gripe with the game is that it's too linear. There should be something more to it, perhaps a freestyle stunt mode, eh? Or some more adventurous stunts. Crashing through boxes is all very well, but we've seen it before... Even another three film scenes would have really helped the game out...
Overall, it's definately a fun title. One you should own if you're any way interested racing, stunts or a pick-up-and-play speedy game with some juicy graphics. You've probably seen the overall score by now, and I almost gave it an 8 out 10 but felt that the lifespan just took too much away from what could potentially be a very expansive game. Still, it's new and fun to play - give it a shot. CB
