Stuntman - GBA

Stuntman was originally released during the early stages of the Christmas 2002 rush and was undoubtedly one of the year’s biggest A-list titles. And while it wasn’t the most graphically amazing release, it delivered a rare spurt of originality and excitement. It also helped that it was produced by famed Driver developer Reflections. Now publisher Atari seems to have developed a penchant for re-releasing 128-bit console games for the GBA handheld. There’s Crazy Taxi, Tekken, Driver 2 and now Stuntman.

It terms of design, Stuntman GBA is remarkably similar to its PS2 counterpart. The game has been developed in 3D and, despite lacking an analogue controller of any kind, plays wonderfully. The 3D cars, tracks and stadiums look great, considering hardware limitations, and the scrolling backdrops are convincing, if a little old school.

Gameplay largely remains the same too, and the main Career mode is where most of the single-player work will be done. As a budding stuntman for hire, you can embark upon your own path to screen fame, earning cash, kudos and better vehicles to aid you in moving up the stunt performing-ranks in a bid to become the best in the business. You'll start out working on small budget films and work your way up to big blockbuster movies, but only if you're very talented and have no fear. During the course of each stunt, you'll have to perform many individual tasks as specified by the film's director. If you fail to reach the threshold he sets, you will have to repeat the stunt over again until he's satisfied. The good news is that whichever movie you're working on, whichever director is calling the shots, you can try as many times as you like to get it right. As you progress through your career, the stunts become more difficult, but the payments for successful execution increase too. Continued success will eventually reward players with vehicles, ramps, crates and other paraphernalia to use in the Stunt Arena and Training mode.

But the most crucial aspect of the GBA version specifically, is the multi-player link-up option. Here, players can compete against each other in a bid to outperform friends and family. All you have to do is get the best stunts in the best time. That’s all there is to it, but it is a lot of fun.

As a game, Stuntman GBA is respectable, as a conversion of a PlayStation 2 original, it’s remarkable. We can only wonder what we’ll see on the world’s favourite handheld in the coming years. more