Reviewed: September 7, 2007
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
THQ

Developer
Paradigm Entertainment

Released: August 28, 2007
Genre: Racing
Players: 1-4

8
9
9
8
8.8

Supported Features:

Hooper wasn’t the biggest, brightest, or best movie in what was to become a long line of 70’s and 80’s Burt and Sally flicks, but it did have some killer action sequences and actually dived into the world of stuntmen (and a jukebox) headfirst. In fact, you’ll probably find a few similar action sequences from that movie being re-envisioned in THQ’s latest release, Stuntman: Ignition. The classics gags never die…they just get bigger and better.

Ignition is the sequel to the 2002 original action game done by Atari and Reflections. Now under the guiding hands of the designers at Paradigm (SpyHunter, Terminator 3) next-gen gamers can get a taste of what many of us veteran gamers had to endure five years ago. Thankfully, the repetitious gameplay is not nearly as annoying as it was in 2002 and the entire concept has been given some nice new tweaks to create a challenging and enjoyable experience.

There are six films in Stuntman: Ignition starting with the disaster flick, Aftershock, then you move on to Whoopin’ and Hollerin’ 2, a Dukes of Hazzard knockoff and sequel to a movie from the original Stuntman game. As you rise through the ranks of stuntman stardom you’ll perform in Strike Force Omega, a military action thriller, race around San Francisco in Overdrive, a classic spin on those old 80’s cop movies, and double for a James Bond knockoff in Never Kill Me Again. Your career achieves critical mass in Night Avenger, one of the biggest productions in movie history, at least as far as this game is concerned.

Each movie is divided into six segments where you will perform an action sequence that might last 2-4 minutes and include a dozen or more signature stunts as well as up to 50-100 filler stunts. You’ll be graded on how many of these stunts you can perform as well as how many you can consecutively string together. You are only allowed to miss five key stunts before the director calls for a reshoot. The best stuntmen will string the entire sequence for a perfect 5-star rating.

Despite the variety of work real-life stuntmen do, in Ignition your focus is on driving, whether it be cars, motorcycles, or even a prototype hovercraft. This means your stunts are limited to actions like drifting, jumping, tipping on two wheels, riding a wheeling, and the occasional use of a context-sensitive action button that usually blows something up. These stunts are mixed up and creatively spread through elaborate movie sequences that are as much fun to watch in replays as they are to perform.

Between (or even during) the filming of these movies you can head to the backlot to practice any of the core stunts like doing a reverse 180 or driving on two wheels. These practice sessions are integrated right into the career, but you can also access them from the menu. Additionally, you can moonlight doing some Odd Jobs filming commercials or going on tour with the local stunt show. These are much more difficult stunt strings since you are not allowed to make a single mistake.

Outside of the career mode you have Constructor mode where you are given a few key stunts you must pull off as well as an assortment of props. You are free to position and rotate these props around the arena in order to create, and then execute your own custom stunt string in order to achieve the target score. You’ll also need to work in those director stunts as well. It's basically a big puzzle game with stunts.

Quick Fix was one of my favorite modes. You get to do stunts in select portions of the scenery from the movies in career mode. In Freestyle mode you get to do whatever you want, whenever and wherever you want. Just try to string the entire sequence. In Directed mode, the director will be calling out a few key stunts, and you’ll need to fill in the gaps with anything else you have up your sleeve. These Quick Fix sequences are much shorter and less demanding than the ones in the actual films, but you also only get three strikes.

There is also a fun and challenging multiplayer components for Live and local gaming. Stunt Tourney is a party mode where up to eight players pass around a single controller and compete for the high score in a series of six missions. You also have Backlot Battle where you compete online by performing stunts and completing laps. You can even steal your opponents stunt string by ramming into him. And finally, you have Backlot Race where it’s all about speed and nitro and not so much the stunts, although it’s the stunts that fuel your nitrous.

Most of my complaints with Stuntman: Ignition come from the fact that you are given very little information about the sequences you are about to perform. The director will usually highlight the major stunts but you never know when they will show up in the sequence. It would have been extremely nice (and realistic) to have a walk/drive/fly-through of the entire level and an explanation of every major stunt you would be performing (just like they did in Hooper).

Instead, it’s 3-2-1 ACTION and you are at the mercy of the signals from the director and your own reflexes. And since most stunts feed into the next one you really have to know the entire sequence just to pass, let alone worry about filling in with your own riffs and trying to string the entire thing. Still, we should all know by now that this franchise is synonymous with repetition and learn-by-failure gameplay.

At least in Ignition, this concept is a lot more forgiving and you can move forward through the game, even when you aren’t perfect, then come back later and clean up the individual sequences. Sometimes I would only get two or three stars, and sometimes I would pull off a 5-star string and not even realize I had done it. As you earn these stars your career rank increases and new movies become available to you.

I was often reminded of the gameplay from Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace; those old laserdisc games where you had to input a certain command at a specific time. You were given flashes to indicate when to do it but there never was enough time to rely simply on reflexes. In Stuntman: Ignition you are shown yellow icons that indicate what stunt you need to do and a boundary box where it needs to be done.

These sequences are also timed, so if you take too much time doing one stunt the next icon might turn red before you get there. Then you have to worry about the choreography of all the other variables, traffic, trolleys, trucks, etc. When you are trying to thread yourself between two trains moving toward each other or slide under a moving semi trailer, you have to be right on your mark.

Thankfully, Paradigm totally nailed the control and physics of all the vehicles in Stuntman: Ignition. You’ll be driving over a dozen various cars, trucks, bikes, and even a hovercraft, and they all feel totally intuitive and realistic. The sports cars stick to the road and hug the turns while the armored car lumbers and slides across the glacial ice. The hovercraft slides all over but I suppose it would in real life too. The motorcycles are a bit twitchy but it doesn’t take long to master the drift and riding extended wheelies.

The cars aren’t the only things getting destroyed in Ignition. You’ll have plenty of chances to crash into and through numerous set pieces as well as hitting that action button to blow up trucks, buildings, and other cars. Expect lots of explosions, fire, smoke, and other pyrotechnics as is typical with most of these big budget action movies.

Once you have completed each of the six parts to each movie you will unlock a trailer for that movie. These are all quite stylish and very typical of modern movie trailers, and the game even manages to work in some of the actual replay footage from your performance, although not nearly enough in my opinion.

I do like the replay system used in Stuntman where you can save any of your replays at the end of a sequence, but your best performance is automatically saved for you. There is also something called a 5-Star Replay that you can unlock when you complete a sequence with only 4 stars. This 5-Star Replay shows you what somebody else (designer, game tester, etc.) did to get a 5-star rating on that sequence. Could be useful information.

Sound effects are standard fare including tires squealing, metal crunching, wood smashing, and engines whining. A lot of the sounds get drowned out in the soundtrack so you might want to toggle the option to only hear the music during the replays. It’s a bit more realistic that way and it will keep the music from getting as annoying as it could.

Speaking of music, each movie is scored with appropriately themed music so you have good ole boy country for Whoopin’ and Hollerin’ and classic spy music for Never Kill Me Again. The movie trailers are cut together flawlessly with great voice acting for the main characters and of course, the movie voice guy with the deep voice.

Without really trying I was able to get 23 of the 50 achievements on my first pass through career mode. Okay, I did try harder than I would have on the Quick Fix sessions and Odd Jobs, but those were fun. I’m sure I’ll go back and master all 36 sequences with perfect 5-star ratings soon, and there are quite a bit of achievement points to be earned on multiplayer and Constructor modes.

Ignition caters to the gamer who quests for perfection and values a stylish performance. In fact, you’ll start to find yourself flowing into a subconscious rhythm with this game as you learn the environments and master the art of blending in your own stunts with the required ones. It can be a very rewarding experience, and probably the closest any of us will get to becoming an actual stuntman.