Stuntman Hollywood tested: Cinematic action without the challenge

Here, I could live out my fantasies of being a pro driver, slewing through London streets in a faux Ford Capri, or trying to jump a sidecar (bike, not cocktail) in an Indiana Jones-aping scene.

A sequel, by different developers, arrived in 2007, with the same basic premise. For fans of the original, it lacked appeal, mainly due to looser vehicle handling. For those who never played the first, however, it is remembered fondly.

Which brings us to Hollywood, the third game in this series and the second reboot attempt.

It takes the tried and true formula of you playing a driving professional on the set of a TV show and movies, tasked with chaining together vehicle sequences into one fluid scene.

In your ear, a director will prompt you with a warning of an upcoming task, for example, drift around a corner, smash through a prop or jump a ravine. There’s a time limit; otherwise you fail the scene.

Each small stunt within the chain now has a coloured icon (on screen during gameplay, but not visible in supplied footage or images). Aim for the green area, and you’ll likely be close to danger, or a momentum-sapping crash, but you can earn a higher score. Red will be a much lower score, but easier to pull off.

This is then totalled up at the end of a run, providing you with an overall star rating and percentage score. There are also optional side tasks, such as avoiding all boxes or ‘freestunting’ (drifts, jumps, etc) every 15 seconds, which bear no relation to success or failure, but unlock “items, trophies and keepsakes.”

There appears to be a wider palette of mechanics too; at one point, I had to shoot something while driving in a brief quick-time section.

The other significant update from the prior instalments is that you’re now driving through a licensed set. You are actually in (well, as much as you can be within a virtual world) Miami Vice, Fast & Furious and the aforementioned Jurassic Park. They have the right names, titles and themes thanks to a deal with Universal Studios.

Plus, of course, the significant visual enhancement.

In action, I was surprised by how lengthy some of the sequences last, and as ever with a game of this ilk, playing through a second or third time is when you’ll really find a rhythm and unlock the higher scores.

The environment doesn’t just look pretty, but it has significant verticality to some sections, like sliding down a broken highway, and the destructibility is spectacular. It’s mostly canned, but the first time you see something explode is awesome.

However, what I feel Stuntman Hollywood lacks presently is under the skin. Pretty visuals, massive explosions and real-world franchises aside, the vehicle handling lacks precision.

When the inherent gameplay requires you to dodge flying objects, or time manoeuvres to perfection, cumbersome car handling is a significant drawback. The bike riding is worse, not feeling or behaving like a motorcycle in any other recent game.

The Crew Motorfest, for example, isn’t known for superlative two-wheeling behaviour, but Hollywood makes it look like some kind of motorcycle simulation in comparison. In the original, you could argue that the snowmobile and tuk-tuk were poor, so I guess the motorcycle follows that trend.

The game’s difficulty follows a different trend, one that, on the whole, I find that video games have become easier over the past 24 years. Or rather, there are greater assists and options, which opens up accessibility, and that’s generally a positive.

Having said that, I found it actually difficult to fail a level. Receiving a worse score is straightforward, but you have to be pretty woeful for an outright failure. Which is at odds with the masochistic ways of its predecessors.

Now, this was a Gamescom-specific build, as it wasn’t immediately obvious what the difficulty level was set to. I still feel like the hard edge I was looking for, that pushed me to repeat levels (and occasionally rage quit), is sadly missing.

There are moments where this game, created by a new team for Saber Interactive, was a sugar-filled adrenaline rush. My concern is that once that initial high wears off, we’ll be left with an underlying driving experience that doesn’t live up to its forebears.

Then again, as my grey hair attests, I’m getting old. I’m sure there will be a whole new generation of gamers who could fall in love with the idea of being a stunt driver all over again, iffy controls aside. They’ll have never heard of the original, let alone played it.

There could be just enough pizzazz here to mask the underlying shortcomings. We’ll find out for certain at this latest effort’s launch. As there isn’t a release window yet, I hope there’s time to polish and appeal to both camps, old and new.