''Stuntman: Ignition'' is the sequel to the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

Stuntman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

'' for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

, and

Mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

. The Xbox 360 demo was released on the

Xbox Live Marketplace Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) is a digital distribution platform used by Microsoft's Xbox Series X, S, Xbox One and Xbox 360 video game consoles. The service allows users to download or purchase video games (including both ...

on July 12, 2007.

Gameplay

Single-player

The game features six fictional films: * ''Aftershock'' is a

disaster film A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, military/terrorist attacks or global catastrophes such as ...

in the vein of ''

Dante's Peak ''Dante's Peak'' is a 1997 American disaster thriller film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Leslie Bohem, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, and Charles Hallahan. The film is set in the fictional town of Dante's Peak where the in ...

'' and ''

Volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

''. This film is set in present-day

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Directed by Richard Langston. The plot: A volcanic eruption has hit the town. Nobody can stay. The penalty for staying? A flaming car and a flood of lava. * ''A Whoopin' and a Hollerin' II'' is a comedy/adventure film parodying ''

The Dukes of Hazzard ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' is an American action comedy TV series that was aired on CBS from January 26, 1979 to February 8, 1985. The show aired for 147 episodes spanning seven seasons. It was consistently among the top-rated television series ...

''. It is the sequel to the eponymous film from the previous game. This film is set in present-day

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Directed by Andy Baxter. The plot: The Creek Boys must defend their land from the evil county sheriff. Hanus from Stuntman also makes an appearance. * ''Strike Force Omega'' is a military action thriller film in the vein of ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from January 1983 to March 1987 about former members of a fictitious United States Army Special Forces unit. The four members of the team were tried by court marti ...

'' and ''

Megaforce ''Megaforce'' (or ''MegaForce'') is a 1982 action film directed by former stuntman Hal Needham and written by James Whittaker, Albert S. Ruddy, Hal Needham and André Morgan based on a story by Robert S. Kachler. The film starred Barry Bostwi ...

''. It is directed and starred by a former stuntman, Karl Steele, detailing the exploits of the titular force led by Commander Black versus mercenaries in a desert military base. This film is set in

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

in the mid-1980s. * ''Overdrive'' is a 70s-esque crime thriller in the vein of ''

Bullitt ''Bullitt'' is a 1968 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Peter Yates and produced by Philip D'Antoni. The picture stars Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and Jacqueline Bisset. The screenplay by Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleiner ...

'' and ''

Starsky & Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...

'' about Stone, a renegade cop who takes on Varga, a ruthless drug lord. It is set in present-day

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Directed by Robert Rodina. * ''Never Kill Me Again'' is a parody of ''

Die Another Day ''Die Another Day'' is a 2002 spy film and the twentieth film in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It was produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and directed by Lee Tamahori. The fourth and final film starrin ...

'', as well as many

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

films and is set at a secret military base in the present-day northern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Directed by Jean-Benoît Bernard. It is the sequel of ''Live Twice For Tomorrow'' which was featured in the first game. * ''Night Avenger'' is a parody of Tim Burton's 1989 ''Batman'' movie and is filmed in the present-day

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, which is in turn used as the base for the fictional city of "Darkdom", much like

Gotham City Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his allies and foes. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, the cit ...

from Batman. Directed by Howard Rightman. During the scenes, the Darkdom Police Cars, shown often in the film, are lettered: Police-GPD, Gotham Police Department, instead of Police-DPD, Darkdom Police Department. This is an obvious take from the police cars in ''

Batman Begins ''Batman Begins'' is a 2005 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Nolan and David S. Goyer. The film is based on the DC Comics character Batman, it stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, with Michael Caine, Liam ...

''. The plot: Night Avenger has to protect Darkdom from Big Top. Each film has six scenes. The player's goal is to complete objectives set out by the director in each scene. The way in which players complete tasks is set out differently from the first installment. The basic player will be able to drive through all the levels completing all of the director's stunts to progress to further levels. However, more advanced players will try to link or "string" stunts together to increase their stunt multiplier. To achieve a high score the player must string the director stunts with other maneuvers as well such as getting close to objects, drifting around corners, or being airborne. Players are scored for their performance on each stunt sequence, and then assigned a star rating based on that score. Players can earn up to five stars if they manage to 'string' an entire scene. Achieving stars also adds this to the player's 'rank', which is used to see how far the player has progressed through the game. The top rank the player can achieve is 'The Greatest'. New to the ''Stuntman'' series is the "strike" system which is more lenient than the scoring system in the original stuntman. A certain number of strikes means the director automatically calls the entire scene to be shot again. 'Easy Mode' can be activated to allow for more strikes (resulting in the player's final score being halved) and regardless of getting all strikes, players can carry on the scene. Also, by completing certain sequences, the player will be nominated for a certain scene in the

Taurus World Stunt Awards The Taurus World Stunt Awards is a yearly award ceremony held midyear that honors stunt performers in movies. It is held each year in Los Angeles. The first awards were given out in 2001. The deciding committee has been around since the year 2000. ...

Multiplayer

There is also a multiplayer mode, which features two different race types. Backlot battle focuses on performing as many stunts as possible within a set number of laps, while the backlot race mode is a more straightforward race where players can earn bursts of nitro by doing stunts. There is also a split-screen mode that goes up to four players.

Development

At the 2005

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

confirmed to an

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

reporter that a sequel to ''Stuntman'' was in the works for the then-upcoming

. On February 17, 2006, the company announced they would sell off their development studios, with

revealing that

Paradigm Entertainment Paradigm Entertainment Inc. (previously part of Paradigm Simulation) was an American video game development company. Paradigm is perhaps best known for its vehicle simulation games. Founded as a 3D computer graphics company in 1990, Paradigm pri ...

would be developing the ''Stuntman'' sequel. On May 10, 2006, during the

E3 2006 E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...

expo,

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

announced they would purchase the ''Stuntman'' franchise and

from Atari, officially confirming that the sequel was indeed being developed by Paradigm. On September 29, 2006, THQ spoke about the game to ''Xbox 360 Gamer'', who also ran an exclusive preview of the game in issue 16 of the magazine. On February 17, 2007, the title was officially revealed as ''Stuntman: Ignition'', and would be released for the

and

. On February 28, it was announced that the game would be released in the summer.

Reception

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions received "generally favorable reviews", while the PlayStation 2 version received "average" reviews, according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave the Xbox 360 version a score of one seven, two eights, and one six, for a total of 29 out of 40.

Sales

According to

, the game underperformed in sales, with the company announcing in January 2008 that they would have no other plans for the franchise, leaving it under limbo. Paradigm Entertainment was closed by the company in November, along with four other development studios.

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/stuntman-ignition 2007 video games Filmmaking video games Mobile games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games THQ games Video game sequels Video games scored by Cris Velasco Xbox 360 games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games using Havok Video games set in Canada Video games set in Chicago Video games set in China Video games set in Kyrgyzstan Video games set in Tennessee Video games set in San Francisco Video games developed in the United States Paradigm Entertainment games