Stuntman Appreciation Thread\Stuntman: Ignition Hype-up

JamesDM

Stuntman
...is a mission-based driving game made by Atari(Test Drive) and Reflections(Driver). Released on June 23, 2002 the game made a decent splash in the then bustling driving scene only to come up short later on when sales started to dwindle earlier then expected.
As you progress through the world of Stuntman you start as a small time stuntman doing pretty basic stunts for a london crime/comedy film. Other locations include an asian crime movie in which you drive a tuk-tuk and a sports car. A Dukes of Hazzard style movie where you drive a muscle car, A conspiracy thriller where you drive a snowmobile, A desert adventure movie where you drive a jeep and a James Bond style movie where you drive another sports car.(A lot of the films have several cars, I'm just listing the ones I recall.)
As you do better throughout the game you unlock new cars and items such as ramps and destructible items like crates and barrels for the stuntman arena, a stunt park arena. There are also driver challenges such as speed tests, precision tests and daredevil challenges.

Excerpt from the fact sheet:
Have you got what it takes? In the world of stunt driving, fear is failure. One slip and your Hollywood dreams are over. The higher you climb, the higher the stakes. Grip the wheel, hit the gas, chase the glory.

Features:

• Explosive Film Set Action - Stunt drive in six famous movie locations.
• Two Game Modes - Career and arcade (stunt arena) mode.
• Test Vehicles to Destruction - Smash up a large variety of vehicles, ranging from Tuk-Tuks to snowmobiles, Jeeps to high-performance sports cars.
• Replay Mode - Replay the action as a slick, fast-paced movie trailer.
• Available on Playstation 2 and Game Boy Advance

I suspect this game is an in-spirit "remake" of the game Stuntman for the 2600.

Screens:






I found this game in the far corner of my bookshelf and decided to give it another run through, playing it got me thinking... why don't I hear about this game anymore. While it can be downright frustrating at times I think its a very good mission-based driving game that is well above the driver games around its time. Anyone else enjoy this game as well... or am I just crazy and in bad taste? Also, this is my first OP hopefully it went well.

Stuntman: Ignition
Platform: PSP, PS2, PS3 and XBOX 360
Developers: THQ and Paradigm Entertainment

Release Date:
US: August 14, 2007
Europe: September 28, 2007

Plunge into the adrenaline-fueled role of a Hollywood stunt driver in Stuntman: Ignition, and master the most breathtaking, death-defying vehicle-based stunts ever filmed. As the newest stuntman in Hollywood, you must rise to stardom by combining reckless maneuvering with perfect execution to unlock big-budget blockbusters and lucrative commercial deals. Create movie-magic in 6 uniquely-themed films on 36 different stunt runs with over 25 vehicles, or take the action online to challenge rival stuntman in the ultimate backlot showdown.

"Whereas the first game gave you a handful of maneuvers to perform in each scene, with each stunt requiring painstaking precision, Stuntman: Ignition's scenes are bigger, a little more open and much more forgiving. Rather than having to nail a few stunts, you're given a number of opportunities to perform a bevy of death-defying tricks for each scene." -Chris Roper- IGN

2 Film Environments Announced:
Aftershock: An escape from the elements movie with lava flows and earthquakes, featuring 4 vehicles; a sports car, a truck, a police car and a dirtbike.
Overdrive: An undercover police movie with alot of tight alleys and hilly streets, featuring 2 vehicles; a 1960's muscle car and an exotic sports car.

Excerpt from IGN article:

Spoiler:

"Two films from the game were on show, Aftershock and Overdrive. Aftershock is a volcano themed level with lava hazards and explosions erupting from the ground at every turn. Overdrive has the aura of a classic '70s chase scene, requiring players to race through the streets of a city modeled after San Francisco in classic cars. Both featured their share of jumps, skids, and other directed stunts to keep the player on his or her toes.

Each film had three unique runs that had their own set car for you to use. For the career mode, you'll be required to use specific cars for each movie or commercial. For the multiplayer online mode or any courses you've created yourself using the editor you'll be able to choose whichever rides you've unlocked to use.

The directed stunts aren't the only way to get points in this new Stuntman. In fact, the entire point system has been reworked to be more forgiving and free. This go around, players are allowed five mistakes before the director calls a close to the action. Making a flawless run may just be as difficult as the last Stuntman, but you won't immediately be cut out of the action for a single fault. Instead, you'll just get a lower rating at the end and less of a bonus. Still, failure came often to us on our first few tries which only highlighted another new feature. Load screens between failed runs are nonexistent, removing one more element that adds to frustration levels." Erik Brudvig-IGN

Screenshots:

Spoiler:

Transporter

Wow.

I only RENTED this little treasure and I can still recall clearly my screams of pain whenever a random bump in a random part of the road threw me off JUST enough to fall off the edge of the train.

What sucked about this game was...well...the WHOLE game was like that. Oh hey sorry we forgot to render this wall 6 feet out instead of 5, but be careful because it's still 6.

jclast

The loading times. Oh, God the loading times.
They were horrible. And long. And they happened all the time. Because the game demanded too precise of control for its own good.

Also, it took fucking forever to load and it had to load constantly.

Did I mention that loading times were long and constant? Because they were.

japan

I think I still own this, but I'm not sure. I have vague memories of horrible, horrible frustration. If I do still have it, I'm fairly sure the only reason I haven't traded it in is sheer bloody-mindedness.

jclast

japan wrote: »

I think I still own this, but I'm not sure. I have vague memories of horrible, horrible frustration. If I do still have it, I'm fairly sure the only reason I haven't traded it in is sheer bloody-mindedness.

It might also be because when I traded mine I think EB only gave me $1. It was worth it though to get that shit out of my house.

LewieP

file under "how the hell did they get that running on a GBA" along with Kill.Switch and TH: DJ

WildSpoon

Maybe im crazy too then... because I LOVED this game. I can't wait for the 360 version coming up to hit.

jclast

WildSpoon wrote: »

Maybe im crazy too then... because I LOVED this game. I can't wait for the 360 version coming up to hit.

I'm came off a little caustic up there, and I'm sorry. But I know why I'm bitter. It's because I love the concept, and I liked the levels, and I especially liked that they pieced together a movie trailer using your runs through the levels.

It just was too touchy for me. I know they're trying to make me feel like a real stunt driver, but sometimes it would be nice to actually finish a level after attempting it 30 times. And to further punish me for failing a level it took forever to reload the level. It was just so much more frustrating than it should have been, but I'll definitely take a look at the 360 version now that I know about it.

JamesDM

Added Stuntman: Ignition info to the OP...

Cantido

Needs moar Kurt Russel

Nocren

I liked the idea, loved the insider info about doing the stunts, BUT THE FUCKING LOAD TIMES.

Was stuntman 1 ever released on Xbox? Cause if it was, I need to run an experiment...

bruin

Any idea when Ignition comes out? It looks pretty rad.

Neva

I really liked this game because the directory told me what I needed to do a second before I needed to do it, and sometimes later. Often times I will be taking a corner, only to have the director yell at me to run into some boxes on the other side of the road. It looked pretty damn silly in the replay. Also not telling you have buttons did the special stuff that you needed at the very end of the level was pretty cool. Just had to keep doing the level over and over, loading and loading, til I accidentally hit the right button at the right time.

Gorilla Salad

Cantido wrote: »

Needs moar Kurt Russel

I'm going to name my Stuntman Mike, and I'm going to love him, and pet him, and make him ram innocent women off the road and then kill them.

Bob Sapp

Beating Stuntman is one of my greatest gaming accomplishments. My patience must know no bounds.

The game itself was great, I thought. The loading, however...

Looking forward to seeing if the sequel is as good. What's the release date?

JamesDM

Release date is US: August 14, 2007 and Europe: September 28, 2007, and I updated the OP with some new info.

ArugulaZ

I thought Reflections was sold off to Ubisoft last year. Shouldn't all of their properties have gone with them?

(Fun fact: Reflections developed Shadow of the Beast for Psygnosis back in the 1980's!)

Torso Boy

So if this game isn't as fuck-impossible as Stuntman, I will be very very into this.

JamesDM

ArugulaZ wrote: »

I thought Reflections was sold off to Ubisoft last year. Shouldn't all of their properties have gone with them?

(Fun fact: Reflections developed Shadow of the Beast for Psygnosis back in the 1980's!)

Paradigm Entertainment is a sub-division of Atari, I guess the Stuntman IP belonged to Atari and not Reflections.

LaPuzza

Stuntman was very hard but not unfairly so. The driving physics were such that you could properly do what you needed to do with enough skill, but it certanly took a lot of practice to put together that perfect run.

When I play Stuntman, all I can think about is that if another Driver game came out with those physics, where YOU COULD NOT GET OUT OF THE CAR, it would immediately be in the running for my favorite game of this generation.

ArcticMonkey

jclast wrote: »

The loading times. Oh, God the loading times.
They were horrible. And long. And they happened all the time. Because the game demanded too precise of control for its own good.

Also, it took fucking forever to load and it had to load constantly.

Did I mention that loading times were long and constant? Because they were.

Someone beat me to it. Out of every single game I have ever played this one annoyed me the most with it's loading times.

Blakout

I loved Stuntman, only rented it though. I got to the last movie before I had to return it. I just watched videos of Ignition on YouTube, looks great, and the OP says they fixed the load times so I'll be picking it up.

FatBaby

For some reason... while I really loved the first Stuntman, the only thing I can really remember about it is how I would set up a wall of cars in the stunt arena, then I would go as fast as I could and run into to them and see how much of a frame rate drop I could get.

Yeah I don't know either. Really looking forward to this though.

cwapfobrains

LewieP wrote: »

file under "how the hell did they get that running on a GBA" along with Kill.Switch and TH: DJ

And Wing Commander: Prophesy, which i've been meaning to find a copy of.

Houk

i absolutely loved the core idea behind the game, but as others have mentioned, it had sooo many needlessly aggravating problems. if they can polish this up and get rid of that extra BS, im on this like a fat man on a ham sandwich.

TubularLuggage

LewieP wrote: »

file under "how the hell did they get that running on a GBA" along with Kill.Switch and TH: DJ

Holy shit, this is on the GBA?
Developers officially have no excuse to make bad looking games on the DS now.

I'll probably check out Ignition when I get my 360.

Santa Claustrophobia

jclast wrote: »

The loading times. Oh, God the loading times.
They were horrible. And long. And they happened all the time. Because the game demanded too precise of control for its own good.

Also, it took fucking forever to load and it had to load constantly.

Did I mention that loading times were long and constant? Because they were.

If you have something to say, next time be more specific..

I will also keep a wary eye on this. I enjoyed the game well enough and getting 100% was certainly an accomplishment. Despite the loading times and the tetchy controls, the thing I hated most was not knowing the specifics of the upcoming stunt until the director shouts "TURN LEFT!" or something. No stuntman in his right mind would attempt any of these without blocking them out first.

I'm hoping they include something more than just a flyby to solve that problem. Oh, and fix the load times and controls.