Published by THQ
Developed by Paradigm Entertainment
By Alexander B. Huls
Even if Stuntman: Ignition accomplishes nothing else, it has succeeded in letting me learn something about myself. Though I’ve always known I’ve had a perfectionist streak in me, Stuntman has shown me that my perfectionism can lead to a dangerously time-consuming stubbornness and unwillingness to settle for anything less than what I think is the best I can do. More on that in a moment.
As a film nerd, Stuntman: Ignition is right up my alley. The ability to play a game where I’m the stunt driver behind awesome big-budget blockbuster-level stunt extravaganzas is about as alluring to me as self-aggrandizement is to Kayne West. The game breaks down into six movies heavily “inspired” by everything from Dante’s Peak to The Dukes of Hazzard to Batman Begins. Each movie features six different scenes (often featuring different vehicles) which require your stuntman prowess to help realize complex, orchestrated stunts in one take. Your director wants you to perform very particular stunts (which are indicated visually and announced out loud for you) and you’re only allowed five mistakes. Those stunts can involve basic things like skidding, 180-degree turns, driving off ramps, overtaking vehicles, driving through stuff, as well as more complex stunts like driving your car into the air and vertically flipping it 360 degrees or tilting it on its side and driving it that way. While all this is going on you have things exploding all around you, traffic barreling towards you (sometimes because of the explosions), and all sorts of mayhem and destruction.
So how do you win? Basically you earn points by completing the stunts, but if you only do that you won’t get very far in the five-star rating system. To earn maximum points you have to string together stunts, not unlike the way you would in Tony Hawk games. The more stunts you can combine, the higher your score from the combo bonus. If you can manage to string an entire level, then you get the coveted five stars.
Here is where we start getting into trouble. I’ll fully admit, I don’t consider myself a great gamer. I don’t have the bizarre talent of people who can play Guitar Hero or Counterstrike with their eyes closed. Stringing together an entire level, even if just driving close to objects (wall, trash cans, other cars, etc.) or skidding can help you string, is pretty much near impossible for me. I did it on one level, and it was one of the easiest ones to do so (I was driving a super slow money transport truck), and I didn’t even know I had done it until I got a medal and five-star award for it. I’m lucky if I get four stars on some of the levels. Many reviewers have complained that the five strike rule makes the game difficult. I had no problem with that, so much as the combo-stringing. The game doesn’t really reward you for hitting your stunt marks. It rewards you for doing so when you have a good combo run going.
This is where my stubbornness emerged. Don’t get me wrong, the game is fun, especially when you get to watch your Instant Replays which make the scene you shot look like a real movie, and you get the chance to see yourself in action, and watch cool things happen in the background that you missed while you were paying attention to gameplay. However, the game requires a Buddhist monk’s amount of patience, and indulgence of trial and error. You will most likely play and fail each level three times before you more or less have memorized what you need to do and where you need to go. Even then, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to pull it all off. So you’ll play, and play, and play. And then you’ll complete the level, but perhaps only with two stars. Then, if you’re anything like me, you’ll decided that you can do better, that you can get those four stars, and you’ll restart, and restart, and restart, until a few hours have gone by, and the next thing you know you wake up on your couch cuddling your controller and drooling on your shirt. Then you’ll restart again. If you’re still at all like me, eventually you’ll get to the point where you will have to give up and face the fact that you’re not good enough to do it, more for the sake of your sanity and social life than for your wounded pride.
After all that it might sound strange that I hope for a sequel, but I do, if only for the reason that Paradigm will tinker with some of the issues and make the higher stars a little easier to access. I’m all for a challenging gaming experience, but there is a very thin line between challenging and frustrating, and unfortunately Stuntman: Ignition crosses that line enough to undermine the appeal of its concept. But at least it may provide you with an existentially illuminating experience.
