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Stuntman: Ignition

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It takes unfairness to the extremes, but we almost don't mind

Words: Matthew Pellett, Xbox World 360 UK

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Aug 29, 2007

They say that football is a game of two halves. Well, we don't know who "they" are exactly, but somebody had better tell them to include Stuntman: Ignition in that statement next time around. If you're not prepared to replay a level time and time again until it's perfected, then Stuntman's simply not for you. If, however, you're willing to pour blood, sweat and tears into a fairly unforgiving game in order to get the most out of it then there's plenty on offer here.

To dismiss Stuntman in the first hour or three would be easy, and totally understandable - it's possible to storm through the first five films (and there are only six to choose from) in one long, swear-filled sitting and think you've seen all there is. But chances are that, unless you're a gaming God, you'll have an average rating of about three stars - in which case you really haven't "got" Stuntman: Ignition at all.

Each scene you film is strictly linear. You trundle through a level hitting the objectives that the director barks at you, usually finding that you've missed half of the spoon-fed stunts because the instructions came just too late for you to follow. So you restart, get to a point further into the scene until, surprise, surprise, another belated order appears and you can't adjust your position in time to rescue the shot. Typically the next attempt will end in failure because you've memorised the beginning. Now that you're a split second ahead of the next event, that stunt's timing is thrown out of the window. And so it continues until, success! - you hit all of the maniacal director's objectives in a seemingly perfect run and are awarded with... a feeble two-star rating.