Ride Rage Repeat
Stuntman: Ignition is a special type of game. A type of game that I feel has been priced out of the current gaming landscape. A game made by a development studio, not an indie title. It’s not a groundbreaking, cinematic, genre-defining game; it’s just a great idea, executed well, and provides a great deal of fun.
Stuntman: Ignition, the sequel to Stuntman released on the PlayStation 2, is a game where you take on the role of a stunt driver performing dangerous vehicular stunts for fictional movies. The premise of the game is just fantastic, but I am almost more impressed by its execution.
The game commits hard to the concept. There are six different fictional movies, each one having a strong theme that follows real-life movie franchises like James Bond, Bullitt, and even Batman. The stunt coordinator gives you a great explanation for each level, and the films’ director comments on your performance. Not only that, but for each movie, you can unlock a fictional movie trailer once you have hit a certain level of completion. It’s these little touches which compound to create some great immersion, and you feel like the development team had a lot of fun with the concept.
Each movie has six different levels, each being a scene from the movie where you have to perform stunts in succession, such as driving between two cars without hitting them, performing jumps, and landing in areas, driving on two wheels, drifting around corners, etc.
There are also some extra levels dedicated to TV adverts and stunt shows where you might drive a bike through a ring of fire.
It is a tough, rage-inducing game at times, but that never stops it being fun. You might need to put it down for a bit, but you’ll want to come back. You are really looking for a perfect run. Each level is rated out of five stars, and to get the best rating, you need to essentially perform a combo, where for your entire run, you manage to perform a stunt within a short window of the previous stunt. This requires you to think outside the box and add extra stunts on top of what the level already wants you to do.
I think of this game as a great game for people who like driving games but are perhaps a bit tired of racing games.
Sadly this was the last in the Stuntman series of games after THQ had taken it over. The development studio closed down about a year after release and no further titles have been made.
It runs pretty well on the PlayStation 3. The load times can initially be a bit slow, but once the level is loaded you can restart in a few seconds, which enables you to keep retrying to perfect your run without too much frustration of waiting for loading. The graphics are really good for the time too.
This game can be purchased extremely cheaply. I can pick up a copy from a second-hand shop near me for £2 at today’s prices. It is hard to say no at that price.