Developer: Codemasters Publisher: Camerica Release: 1990 Genre: Action
Camerica were an interesting publisher. I had no idea at the time they were releasing unlicensed games in the US. But in hindsight their distinctive gold cartridges were a dead giveaway, much like the black Tengen carts. Of course that did not stop me from playing many of their releases. While I enjoy Dizzy despite its faults the Ultimate Stuntman was the one I was the most interested in. The brief snippets of gameplay I saw on the Gamepro TV show made it look like the ultimate fusion of every genre you can think of. The truth is the Ultimate Stuntman does many things but few of them well.
Where do I begin? The Ultimate Stuntman has a distinct structure. The game has eight levels with four sub stages. Each level follows the same format: an overhead vehicle chase, a side scrolling action level, a climbing stage where you battle the end level boss, and a puzzle like bomb disposal. Even though I have just lain out the general pattern of each level there is a great degree of variety within them. Variety is the game’s biggest strength but also its major weakness. Because it is trying to do so much nearly the entire package feels unpolished.
Altogether there are six gameplay styles in Ultimate Stuntman. The one thing they all have in common is a strict time limit that punishes even the slightest mistakes. The game begins with a high speed car chase along the lines of Spy Hunter. There are variations of this as you drive a car, dune buggy, glider, and speed boat but generally they are identical. For the most part these are okay. As you speed through the levels you collect power-ups to boost your firepower and turbo to jump over obstacles. These are limited and the map is wider than your field of view. This means you can miss items such as time or turbo and inevitably die. Outside of these unfair instances this mode is sound.
The side scrolling action resembles a poor man’s Contra. Here you must collect a certain number of keys to open the exit at the end. Sadly these levels have all the problems endemic of European games at the time. The controls and movement are both stiff and robotic. The level design is confusing as you fall through platforms and make blind leaps of faith under an aggressive clock. I looked forward to these levels the least surprisingly as platformers are my jam. At least they are few and far between. A few of the levels place you in a glider for some Gradius style horizontal shooting action. These are the longest levels in the game and mechanically the simplest and mostly sound. It is kind of hard to mess that up.
Next you climb a building to reach the end boss battle. As you ascend the building you dodge impediments like spiders, electrical currents, and random birds. You also shoot enemies using a reticle. You cannot target the reticle and move simultaneously, creating harrowing moments. These levels can be frustrating but at least are short. The boss battles are anti-climactic. They are big on spectacle and simple. Truthfully I do not know why they are even in the game except out of obligation.
The most puzzling is the bomb defusing. These involve clearing all chips until you reach the goal, all while a lit fuse is ready to blow. Some chips need to be passed two or three times while others can only be approached from a certain direction. While you might be able to vary the order you pass chips there is usually one solution to each puzzle. They become ever more complex as you progress and admittedly they are fun despite being nerve wracking. I find it puzzling because there is no impetus as to why you must do so. There is never any mention of a bomb in game. It is like a designer came up with this minigame and forced it in, reason be damned.
Like many European games the Ultimate Stuntman is hard for all the wrong reasons. There are cheap deaths in almost every one of the modes. These include blind leaps of faith, unforeseen obstacles, too little time, to confusing level design and stiff controls. The cheap deaths add up and unfortunately there are no checkpoints once you run out of lives. The later stages are very long and hard and having to repeat minigames that have long since lost any entertainment they provided the first time grows tedious. The bosses are cheap with large hit boxes that are hard to avoid and honestly I almost question why they are in the game. There are also no passwords to save progress which would alleviate some of the frustration in the late game.
Aside from the lacking polish in each of its modes and unbalanced difficulty what ultimately (heh) kills it is repetition. The game has no business being this long and suffers for it. The Ultimate Stuntman shows all of its cards by its midpoint. After that the levels and bosses shamelessly recycle wholesale with minimal changes. This is accompanied by a vicious difficulty curve that makes the latter half of the game a slog. The high challenge only exacerbates the game’s other flaws and will likely make most quit long before completion. If they removed a third of the game’s content it would still be flawed but my opinion would be higher. This is a classic case of less is more.
In Closing
The Ultimate Stuntman stands out due to its gameplay and unorthodox design. At the very least it is one of the more memorable NES titles out there, for better and worse. This one was hard to write as there are many aspects of the game that I like. Its blend of action sequences, driving, and puzzle elements provides a unique experience. The problem is this kind of genre mash up is done much better in Vice: Project Doom. While I do not regret playing it I will likely never play it again either.
