I was incredibly excited when I got the invite to play Stuntman: Hollywood at Gamescom this year. Announced at a State of Play a few months back, this revived franchise promises chaotic film-stunt-inspired action across some of the largest franchises in Universal’s catalogue.
It feels like a throwback to a bygone era of gaming tie-ins, and I was glad to see that impression was very much alive and drifting across the four levels I got to play.
Admittedly, I was terrible at the game. Stuntman Hollywood was a lot more technically challenging than I initially expected. With short courses, usually lasting about two minutes, you are expected to weave your way through thin pathways, hit drifts at exact timings, and miss oncoming objects by mere inches.
With my shortcomings as a stunt driver, I was able to play through the levels several times over, and immediately I could feel that dopamine hit from steadily improving my score. This is a game all about perfecting courses with exact drifts, near-misses, and tight pathways. There’s very little room for error, but that’s part of what made the gameplay loop so enjoyable.
It feels great to drift around in this game, and each time I finished a level, I felt that urge to go back and improve it just a little bit more.
But of course, there is also the film fan in me that just wanted to take in as many details as I could. My preview was made up of a level inspired by Fast and Furious, Miami Vice, Earthquake, and Jurassic World, and each felt unique and playful in its own way.
In the Miami Vice level, I was drifting my way around the sun-soaked streets, shooting out the tyres of enemy trucks and narrowly missing rockets in a white Ferrari Testarossa. The Jurassic World level saw me rev up a dirt bike and escape the eruption of the volcano on Isla Nublar, backflipping over a snapping T-Rex in the process.
That mixture of satisfying and challenging gameplay, along with movie references galore, has me super excited to kick back with Stuntman: Hollywood. It’s a perfect encapsulation of some old-school video game fun, and Saber seems to have nailed the tone so far.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.pushsquare.com/previews/stuntman-hollywood-feels-like-a-racer-from-a-bygone-era-and-i-couldnt-be-more-excited
