
<MAP NAME="boxmap-p8"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="14, 200, 103, 207" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/thearmchairem-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x240.gif" width="120" height="240" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p8" alt="Shop at Amazon.com">	Platform Playstation 2 Genre Driving/Action Publisher Atari Developer Reflections Interactive ESRB T (Teen) Released June 26, 2002

- Stockpiles of innovation - Realistic vehicle physics and damage - Varied levels

- Immensely hard - Perennial load times - Choppy pace

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Stuntman

Score: 4.6/10

Ever wonder how it is to be a stuntman? Barrelling at tops speed over hills just to make it past that little gap on two wheels that seems impossible? You would perform gravity defying stunts and land without a scratch. The stuntmen don't get mentioned in trailers or given any recognition but they have a fun job. Stuntman puts you in the driver seat as a movie stuntman. Unfortunately that seat is damn uncomfortable.

Stuntman's main feature is the career mode. You start off as a smalltime stuntman earning pocket change from budget films but then rise to earn big money from blockbuster movies. Each level progresses rather linearly by driving around and following the director’s directions. A few twists are added in to make things more interesting including a unique stunt for every level. When you finish the level you can watch a cool cinematic of your stunts with a movie like effect derived by using angles, lighting and pace. You can also win various interactive objects to use in Stunt Constructor, Stuntman's version of Create-a-Park.

Before I go on any further, I'm going to talk about Stuntman's biggest drawback. The loading times. Before you tell me that loading times can't affect how good a game really is, tell it to me after you find out that the loading times number at nearly a 2:1 ratio of gameplay. The director screams out directions at you during the driving. The route you follow is very defined and diminutive. If you slightly deviate from that route you will fail the mission. When you retry you will have to sit for thirty seconds while it loads. Also it runs on a tough time limit so even slightly liberal use of the handbrake will result in failure. Missions tend to be repetitive, as you basically have to make every mistake possible to pass. By then you'll have played for about eight minutes and waited for fifteen. At this point you will have memorized every pixel on the loading screen.

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Stuntman's visuals are average. They're just norm. It won't make you drool and it won't make you shake your head in disgust. It has some nice visual effects like dust on dirt roads and plenty of interactive objects (You can smash them with your car). The cars have realistic damage done to them depending on what you collide with. You can even lose a tire and drive on the rims. However, damaging your car too copiously will result in immediate failure of the mission.

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The controls are a little sensitive and will take a little bit getting used to. Unfortunately the long load times make the little bit a rather long period of time. The sensitivity can be a bitch in cramped areas as you end up colliding with the walls often. Turning can be a hassle as usually you miss the turn by an inch and hit the adjoining wall.

The sound can get really bad because the director yells out directions every two seconds. To top things off, his voice can get really annoying. 'Take a left' gets repeated so many times that muting it seems inevitable, but you can't because you would fail otherwise. In someway that is a good thing.

Today the game industry demands for innovation. Stuntman provides plenty of it but the gameplay was lost in the midst of it. The game proves that innovation can't make a game great by itself. I just wish that Stuntman was more of a game where you drive from Point A to Point B doing crazy stunts by using well placed objects. You could give a rating on style, time etc. It would have made this game exponentially more fun. If they make a sequel, there's plenty of room for improvement. Firstly they have to eradicate the loading times. And my advice? Don't bother even renting this. Go outside or pick up another game. You'll feel much happier afterwards. Trust me.

-Stefan Shetty

(June 20, 2003)