Stuntman is the latest driving game from UK developer Reflections, who is now a part of the Infogrames family. Best known for their action movie-inspired crash-em-up driving games in the Destruction Derby and Driver series, Reflections is bringing their cinema sensibilities to a new type of driving game on the PlayStation2. Combining a flair for car-chase thrills with the loose muscle car driving style of their earlier efforts, Reflections has given us a fairly unique title that does a lot of things very well, while a few nagging issues keep the title from greatness. Stuntman is a hard game, so how much enjoyment you derive from the title ultimately depends on what type of game player you are. Even though this is a quality game with a lot of positives, it might not be for you, as we'll see below.

In Stuntman you assume the role of a stuntman (didn't see that one coming, did ya?) who is hired to work on a variety of action movies around the world. Each film is broken down into individual stunt sequences, in which you have a limited time to complete a list of objectives. These goals range from driving through an alley full of boxes, to jumping between a pair of moving trains, to using a nitro boost to clear a ridiculously long bridge gap. Completing all the stunt requirements on one film will allow you to move on to the next, which will require better driving skills and a lot more patience. At the end of each film, you're treated to a theatrical trailer that combines pre-rendered acting bits with real-time footage of your driving exploits. On paper, this sounds like the coolest fucking game ever.

And indeed, once you step into the game you're wowed by the high production values, attention to detail and sheer coolness factor of the title. From the intro movies, to the menu screens, right down to the loading screens, the game screams "action movie" through and through. The films on which you work are parodies of the biggest action genre staples, from "A Whooping and A Hollerin" (The Dukes of Hazzard) to "Blood Oath" (Hong Kong action flick) to "Live Twice for Tomorrow (James Bond). Each movie is supported with excellent artwork and music which capture the flavor of the genre perfectly. The voice acting is surprisingly good, with a wide array of vocal accents fleshing out the characters in the movie trailers. The stuntman himself is great too, as he candidly explains how each stunt is going to work in interviews that precede each stunt. Even the director is quite good, though it is strange that he works on every single movie in the game.

The coolest aspect of the game, however, is the awesome theatrical trailer you get to watch at the end of filming for a given movie. These trailers closely resemble Hollywood productions, complete with fancy text-effects, cheesy narration and over-the-top acting. Best of all, the game will actually insert recorded footage of your driving stunts into the trailer, interspersed with the pre-rendered parts. This is an insanely cool idea and is executed very well, and will likely be the chief reason to continue playing the game. And you'll need all the reasons you can get, as Stuntman is a challenging game that can get frustrating at times, especially for inexperienced game players. Compounding the difficulty are the long load times, which crop up in many places. There's a long load time before the introductory movie for each film as well as one directly after that, and each time you fail a stunt there is a 10+ second loading event while the game resets the level. With the trial-and-error gameplay in Stuntman, quick load times are essential to retain game flow and enthusiasm, so the excessive loading is quite disappointing.

If you've played either of the Driver games, then the loose driving control featured in Stuntman should feel familiar. The game uses a stripped-down button layout, with only acceleration, brake, e-brake and a special move button to worry about. The analog control is what I would classify as "loose", in that you need to use a very light touch in order to steer effectively. Turning the stick too much when going through a turn will cause you to spin out and lose valuable time. Proper use of the brake and e-brake is essential to driving good lines, and letting up on the gas through a turn will help keep your car on line. While it's certainly more difficult to control your car in Stuntman than in a more arcade-style game like GTAIII, I haven't had too much of a problem adapting to the control scheme. Some cars are naturally easier to control than others, so you'll constantly need to adapt your driving style to suit the vehicle. Playing Stuntman is a challenge and requires skillful driving, but the rewards most often compensate for the steep learning curve.

In the Career Mode, you perform a series of stunt runs for a given movie, needing to pass a set of requirements to move on to then next stunt. A meter at the top-left of the screen tracks the number of stunts to be performed and records which ones you did successfully. In addition to the visual appearance of your car, a damage meter in the upper-right clues you in to the status of your ride. As you race through the various locales, a series of on-screen visual cues inform you of mission objectives, while the director will shout out orders like "hard right!". The game is very particular at times, and requires a healthy dose of trial and error. Straying from the route, even by just a few feet, will result in a failed run. It would have been nice to see a map of each route or a visual fly-through prior to performing the stunts, as a real-life stuntman undoubtedly has everything planned out in advance. As it stands, you'll often feel like you're driving blind, as many of the objectives don't reveal themselves until you're right on top of them. Coupled with the excessive load times, it might become too daunting a challenge for casual players. While it's certainly annoying, I kept playing long into the night.

From preview screenshots this game looked the be a visual beast with extremely detailed photo-realistic graphics, but upon closer scrutiny it unfortunately looks like a middle-of-the-pack PS2 title. On the positive side, the player-controlled care models look great, sporting a lot of little details. Your car is almost fully destructible and shows some awesome damage effects as you bang it around, including tiny bits and pieces that shoot off when you hit something. (My favorite effect was seeing my car completely crushed flat under a falling smokestack.) Each stage is filled with nicely-rendered buildings and scenery, and is alive with moving obstacles like people, fork lifts and traffic. Every object is accompanied by a real-time shadow, while little touches like sparks and skid marks add to the impressive visual effects. Much of the static scenery is destructible, like stacks of boxes or certain vehicles, and you can send this stuff flying (with realistic physics) when you ram it at high speeds. The environments increase in size and complexity as you advance, so there's always something bigger and better to see.

All of this visual diversity comes at a price, however, as there are a few areas where Stuntman fails to shine. Chief among them is the frame rate, which fluctuates between 20 and 30 frames per second for much of the game. While this isn't terrible, it does affect your driving from time to time, and it's a frustrating feeling to spin out of control or miss a turn simply because the game engine can't keep up with the quick action. The game appears to be running in a low resolution mode, and those nasty jagged edges run rampant as a result. Compounding the visual problems are the low resolution textures and texture shimmer, which give the game a blurry, unpolished look at times. While it doesn't look bad by any stretch, I did have higher expectations for the visual aspect of the game. But like Grand Theft Auto III, the great premise and play mechanics should keep you playing Stuntman, even if it's not the best-looking game in your library.

In addition to the main Career Mode, Reflections has include a series of Driving Games in the vein of those found in Driver. These games, such as time trials and precision tests, serve as a great tutorial that allows you to get acquainted with the play mechanics prior to attempting the Career Mode. In these games you can use the cars you've unlocked in the Career Mode, so there is incentive to try your hand at all the different modes that Stuntman offers. Also included in the game is a slick Stunt Constructor, which allows you to build your own 3D stunt arena, much like the skatepark editor in the Tony Hawk games. Cars and stunt pieces, or Arena Toys as they're called in the lingo, are earned by completing objectives in the career mode. You can then arrange and stack them in your very own arena, complete with ramps, loops, flaming hoops and stacks of cars. This is yet another cool distraction that feels right at home with the rest of the driving features.

Stuntman scores major points with the inclusion of DVD Extras, which I feel should be standard issue on every single DVD-based game. Kicking off the festivities is a ten-minute "making of" documentary that covers a few key aspects of game development through a series of interviews. While it's great to hear from long-time stuntman and stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong, I would have liked to have seen more of the actual game development process. As it stands this is a fine documentary which gives a lot of great insight into how the game came together. In addition to the making of movie, we're treated to full-length interviews with stuntmen Vic Armstrong and Tommy Trubble. The television trailer for the game makes an appearance, as do trailers for other Infogrames titles. While not as deep or involving as the extras found in SSX Tricky or Soul Reaver 2, the DVD content in Stuntman is still worthwhile and appreciated. We need more of this stuff in our games!

Stuntman is a solid game, and a worthy addition to the library of experienced gamers. I wouldn't recommend it to casual gamers, who will most likely become extremely frustrated with the steep learning curve and out-of-control play mechanics. The premise is undeniably cool, so I must give credit to Reflections for creating the game in the first place. Sharper visuals and shorter loading times would have made a much better impression on me, but overall this is a solid effort. While it's definitely not for everyone, Stuntman is still worthy of at least a rental, if only to see the awesome movie trailers.