This game is the sequel to Stuntman, with six new movies, a new mechanic, and new extra scenes. It includes as many as 36 main movie scenes, many extra "odd jobs," and 8 more scenes called "quick fixes." Aside from this, there is a constructor mode, a quick fix mode, a multiplayer party mode, and a multiplayer battle mode. All of these are incredibly fun, and provide different types of fun for players. It looks great for 2007, has perfect sound, a great learning curve, and replay value so high it is comparable to RPGs. This game is amazing, and even though it is human, making it not perfect, it is as perfect as humans can get.
At the start of your career, there is a cutscene showing you nailing a taxi commercial stunt, and the director of Aftershock, who happened to be watching, hires you. You unlock your first scene, doubling for the towns "trouble-making drifter" in what looks like a Viper but obviously isn't since the game's only tie-in with actual advertising is an Armor-All commercial which I will get to later. So you are directed to meet the director, and your stunt coordinator explains the movie to you. Next, as the first level is loading, your same stunt coordinator explains the scene to you and the highlight parts to watch out for and make sure you do correctly. The stunt coordinator will be doing this for every scene, and it is actually pretty helpful. There are also directors who you meet, and they say things depending on how you did on your stunt run.
Another thing to note about career mode is how you earn stars and unlock new levels. You earn stars by doing what the director says, getting close to objects, drifting, getting some air, among other things. The game has a combo system to keep you doing this, and your stars are based on your score, which is based on how big your combo is. If you "string it" (keep your combo the entire run), you get five stars. This unlocks new movies, new arena stunts, and also new commercials as well. There are many different things to do in each stunt run, which creates lots of tension to get it right. Often you have to hit an obstacle, drift in a certain area, or do something harder like a reverse 180 and keep going forward, or even a corkscrew jump. The stunt runs are amazing in the sense of learning curve, with each stunt getting progressively harder.
The six movies vary in what you actually have to do, and are very diverse in the type of the movies done. There is a volcanic eruption movie, the sequel to A Whoopin and a Hollerin, and a wartime style movie, to name a few.
In addition to the career mode, there is also the constructor mode. In this mode you have a few cars to start with, as well as cars you can unlock by getting stars in levels. You also have props you start with, and more can be unlocked in the same way. There isn't really much to say about this mode, as you can do really whatever you want with it, and with new unlockables being unlocked after every scene passed with at least three stars, this can keep you quite entertained. You can jump onto unlocked buildings, do amazing jumps or nosedives, or rocket yourself out of bounds. (Yes, it is possible to get out of bounds even in a well-polished game like Stuntman Ignition). There are also constructor challenges in which you set up your own stunt obstacles to create your own stunt, following the director's orders. These are often hard to do without certain unlocked items, but overall this is still a good thing.
Yet another available mode in this game is quick fixes. This mode provides eight more levels to add to the game, creating even more replay value. These use cars and often parts of tracks from other scenes, which is interesting as most of them provide a third-person perspective of other scenes.
There are also two different multiplayer modes, one of which is a local party mode, and the other offering a split-screen or online racing experience. The first mode is a Burnout-style party mode, where a party of friends can take turns doing selected stunts, and whoever gets the highest overall score is the winner. This mode is split-screen only, as I can't see it working online due to waiting.
The second mode is a score-based race mode, where players race around doing several different stunts at the same time. This mode is based on score, so highest score wins. There is a trick to this mode, called string stealer. If you ram somebody, you steal their entire stunt string, which can make or break an entire game. This keeps the action going for a while, making the fun go around with friends in this mode. Sadly as this game was released over eight years ago, the online is pretty much dead, so split-screen is the way to go if you don't want to wait.
Stuntman: Ignition is a great game. With several different modes, all of which are amazing, great graphics, fun and funny gameplay, great sound, an unmatched learning curve, and substantial replay value, gamers will find that this game is well worth its price, even if you bought it at full retail. The action is non-stop, and achieving five stars on any level is a real rush, meaning that anyone with a pulse can enjoy this game. Stuntman: Ignition is well worth an A+ rating, and I would recommend it to any gamer.
BTRs
