A guest review by Gegsy.

I will start this review and be honest. If you are the type of gamer that loves to push yourself and try to perfect every game that you play then I wholeheartedly suggest you get this game, if however, you are the type of gaming that just wants to get through a game and finish it at whatever standard then stop reading now (if you haven't already). Stuntman - Ignition is a fantastic game and definitely has that addictive factor to it, but it can drive you to the brink of madness, so please stock up on your joypad supply, because they are going to take one hell of a beating.

The idea of being a stuntman sounds amazing and for any of us that love the thrills and spills, cool stunts and just smashing into things with a variety of vehicles then this game hits the mark. There is literally loads going on during each scene and the possibilities are seemingly endless in different ways to complete the sets. Then however you have the not so fun part, the re-takes, the constant re-starting when you mess up a scene, over and over and over until you are just at the point of throwing your console out of the window in pure frustration. Depending on how you enjoy your games it can get tiresome very very quickly.

The main career mode is very enjoyable and well presented. You are a rookie stuntman who is recording a commercial while a top director just happens to be on the set. He sees your work and believes after the amazing stunt you just pulled off to perfection that you are the guy to make his film a blockbuster. Little does our well to do director know but the scene he has just witnessed was not the highly talented stunt driver behind the wheel that he believes to be you, but a pre-rendered cinematic purely for us the gamer to watch. We were impressed as much as he was with the screeching slide under the trailer of a lorry to come perfectly to a halt at the curb....but we were not the ones in control of the vehicle and it is going to show come our first day of shooting....

The main bulk of Stuntman Ignition starts from here, you have to complete 36 scenes spanning over 6 movies as you learn tricks and different stunts in the trade along the way to become the top Stuntman in the business. It is nicely set out where you get a talk from the director before the filming, a friendly word from a professional who talks you through the ropes and will be ''voice'' in the sky telling you what to hit, what to jump and where to turn hard right and slam into a tree. The aim is to take you through the learning curve as you perfect different parts of the game with each movie you move onto requiring just that little bit more out of you stuntman arsenal of tricks. After each movie you even get to see a trailer of the film you have just helped to create which I always found amusing because the scenes that you actually filmed are not in there but instead pre-rendered footage is used instead.

The game is a beauty to behold as far as graphics go. Everything looks detailed and free flowing and fully what has been expected of the next generation machines. The game places you in different kinds of movies each time, whether is be a volcanic disaster movie, a hilly billy racing flick or even a spy thriller. Due to this format it takes the most insane parts of films and has you creating these and objects are literally flying all over the screen. I didn't notice any frame rate issues at all while I was playing it and the loading times are superb, believe me this was a must. With the amount of times you have to press the re-start button due to a stunt going wrong it would have been even more infuriating to sit there waiting to just mess up on the first corner again.

The actual vehicles as well are also superbly animated and the damage to them is realistic, doors fly off cars and you don't just stay glued to a bike if you do and impossible wheelie. That said though I found it very easy to pick up the controls of the game and didn't find it hard to go screaming round corners and leaping over bridges at break neck speeds because the game doesn't overly punish for the slightest movement left or right with the analogue stick.

During each scene you have a chance to mess up five times before the director calls for a re-shoot. There is an option to activate the easy mode which allows you more times to screw up but this really doesn't help you if you are trying to progress to the next movie because your score is marked down 50% for using it, harsh I felt but that is the case. In order to progress to each movie you have to get a certain rating on each scene so this 50% penalty on your score for taking the easy route is even more irritating than just gritting your teeth and trying to progress through the normal difficulty rating the game comes with. It is not simple enough just completing the scene either, in order to score at least about two stars (five being the maximum) you have to impress the director in some way by stringing together stunts outside the ones already set for you. There are objects littered around the set to accomplish this but it can become tiresome when you are just trying to remember the main stunts let alone coming up with new ones on the spot!

Overall Stuntman Ignition is a highly addictive game; I couldn't fault it on that at all. No matter how many times you mess up and have to restart a scene there is always that thought of 'just one more time' in your head that keeps you going back. To progress with new stunts later on in the game is a nice touch but the rest of it can get a bit repetitive, turn left here, power slide here, jump this bridge etc etc but then there is only so much you can do with a game of this type and it is done very well. It will not last you all year round and most likely you will finish it within a week, but there are multiplayer online options on there and small extras that can still keep you going if you find you finish it and haven't had enough.