Stuntman - (Or How I Stopped Worrying And Learnt To Love The Cinder Block)

14/08/24

I’ve said it before, but I think every gamer growing up in the early 2000s had a game on the PS1 or PS2 that felt like you were the only one who ever played it. For me, one of the first games I ever owned on the PS2 was a title called Stuntman, a ridiculously challenging car game where you, well, be a stuntman. I don’t think I’ve seen a single person talk about this game, let alone actually play it, and so it’s just always existed in that little recess of my head. So when I discovered that there was a goddamn GBA version of the game - one that genuinely pushes the GBA hardware to its limits, I was floored, not only by it’s existence, but by the very fact that it’s apparently *good*. Seriously; car games on the GBA, even for the very best the console had to offer, was spotty at best. Still, I went in with low expectations - and whilst it won’t blow most player’s socks off, this game rules its particular niche.

Whilst I’m a noted non-racing game fan - a preference that’s a hundred percent intensified since last week’s game - I actually do enjoy car-focussed video games quite a bit. Hell, I’d rank titles like Simpsons: Hit & Run as amongst my favorites. I think I just need a bit more structure to my car game than just, drive around a track three times for all eternity. It’s why games like Forza Horizon hit like crack for me. Thankfully, Stuntman fits this description to a T. The PS2 version and the GBA version are actually surprisingly similar in overall design, though I was amazed to see that the GBA version was the one that got the most generally positive reviews - normally I expected the GBA to be an afterthought, but goddamn, Infogrames put some damn heart into this one, matching the PS2 edition, in their own way, step for step. It’s no masterpiece, but it’s one of those ‘demake’ ports that is just really, really solid.

Stuntman takes place in a mission-based structure, where you’ll be tasked with completing a set of stunts correctly, whilst reaching checkpoints to keep your time from running out. Whilst there isn’t a gigantic variety of stunts to perform, the real challenge is managing to dance from point to point, dodging terrain, traffic, and other car-based implements to keep your speed up and not fall behind. Per the voice-over that’ll detail the next kind of stunt you need to perform, you’ll be smashing through boxes, clipping walls, skimming explosions and making jumps, with even the slightest collision, or a handful of unoptimized turns spelling disaster for you and your timer, especially in the latter, more complex missions. I say complex, but it really is just longer, more dense levels, where harder stunts have to be performed in faster succession and tighter deadlines, allowing much smaller degrees of error. Pretty normal structure, honestly. Whilst for the most part the only failure state is running out the clock, certain levels feature more dire threats to the driver’s wellbeing, such as falling pillars or leaps across chasms; I assumed the former would just knock you about, and the latter just warp you whilst stealing some time, but you, honest-to-god, *explode*, implying a fiery end for your driver. The first time this happened I started laughing hysterically, completely thrown off by the horrifically lax safety standards on the sets presented in Stunt Driver.

Each group of stunt levels are categorized into the movie they're filming for, giving the player a sort of progression in the form of starring in higher and higher budget films, though based off what you’re doing, they really do all feel like some combination of action and spy thrillers - then again, I doubt an adaptation of, I dunno, Jane Eyre would require the work of a stunt driver. This, uh, was funnier in my head. Anyway, having a variety of different films to perform also helps in giving the game a variety of different locales to be performing stunts in; for an example, an early film will mostly have sequences in what seems to be downtown London, whilst later on you’ll be flying through snowy mountains or more rustic countryside. Whilst these are somewhat just set dressing, the obstacles you’ll need to dodge and weave through typically at least match their location - you’re thankfully not dodging through peak-hour traffic in the snow! Overall, completing each of the missions will take you a couple of hours, give or take depending on how hard you go into mastering each specific level; I took around three and a half hours to hit credits, but the core gameplay loop is so simple and brief, I absolutely plan to spend a few more hours really nailing some of these levels.

Successfully completing levels, with bonuses attached to completing it on your first try, or having a higher percentage of stunts performed correctly, will reward you with cash. Whilst also a general idea of how well you’ve been doing throughout the game’s main missions, this cash can also be used to purchase additional bonus missions, such as jump trials, where you have to make particular, complex jumps to collect letters that spell out the name of each film. These are… fine. I did the first one, failed the second, and just felt no real need to attempt any of them again. Stuntman’s appeal is blending together a decent variety of stunts, but doing just jumps, jumps can require a particular amount of speed or momentum, which at times can be really hard to judge, just isn’t as fun as the main mode of the game. At least your cash can be used for something, and it really isn’t that bad - just less engaging.

Make no mistake, the game is on the challenging end of the scale, though at least balanced for much of the game somewhat by the short length of the levels, and the ability to restart at any time. Much of the game’s brutal difficulty comes from the fact that for much of the game, completion of the level requires nailing 85% of all stunts - which for most early levels gives you an error margin of only one or two stunts that can be bungled or skipped. Still, the game demands perfection, because if screw up a more critical stunt, like slipping through a narrow passage or a notable jump, screwing up will damn you because you’ve just lost too much time to even approach a victory, so having four or five allowances for endgame trials still might as well be just one or two.

This brutal criteria is enhanced in certain levels where certain events, like driving in the radius of an explosion, or clipping a certain car, happens on a strict timetable. For an example, an explosion going off forty seconds into a level will *always* go off forty seconds into the level, so if you’re delayed by a few seconds at the start of the level, you’ll be late for that explosion stunt, and any time-based stunts after that, pretty much forcing a restart there and then. Again, for the most part these levels are short enough, and resets are free enough, that this isn’t a critical flaw, but it can be frustrating to mess up something seemingly tiny in the opening moments of a level, sealing your fate there and then. It did, however, grow too frustrating in the last set of levels, where failing at the end of a two minute run made me want to pull my hair, all because of a damn car, or rogue cinder block.

Somehow, racing games, or car games in general, were at the forefront of pushing exactly how far the Game Boy Advance’s graphics really could go. Considering Stuntman came out less than two years after the GBA’s initial release, the fact a 3D title on the GBA looks quite this good is kind of mind-blowing. Sure, it has the age-old issue of the 3D blurring together from a distance, but on the smaller screen of the GBA it’s a far better look than something like Kill.Switch or Shrek Speedway which can sometimes blur into total intelligibility. Locations all have a distinct look unique to their own, even between similar settings like cities from certain countries, like London, though there beyond the general impressive visuals there aren’t any particularly awe-inspiring effects, with a lot of generic explosions and whatnot. Also, shout out to the 3D that pops out at the beginning of every mission, ostensibly portraying your racer, but rather depicting a Frankenstein-esque monstrosity who makes the sardonically hilarious phrase ‘The Playstation Is Capable Mind-boggling Effects’ come to mind. Additionally, the game has next to no music, whatsoever. The menus have a fairly generic theme, but beyond that? Nothing. I assume this is mostly so they don’t cover the generic instructions you’re given throughout each mission, but *something*, even quiet, would’ve been nice; with how active this game is, I couldn’t just throw something on, TV or music-wise, or I’d just be failing forever.

I have fond memories of Stuntman for the PS2, though it’s a title I’ve been hesitant to revisit, based on middling reviews and the terror of having my nostalgia shattered. Stuntman for the GBA feels like a true handheld edition of that beloved childhood classic; whilst still brutally difficult at times, this is a satisfying skill-based challenge through and through, with the victories feeling earnt (though the losses can feel a bit cruel, too). And whilst I’d never say the graphics would match the PS2’s output, Stuntman sticks out for being one of the few really, really good looking 3D games on the console. Would this sneak into my top ten, or twenty, for the GBA? Nah; but Stuntman carves out its own niche to stand alone.

Thanks for reading my review of Stuntman for the GBA! Had a really, really good time with this one, pseudo-nostalgia and all. Perfect palette cleanser after the abomination from last time. Either way, you can email me for any questions or suggestions at mgeorge7003@hotmail.com, or find me at Twitter @Lemmy7003. Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next time!