I had no experience with the Stuntman series before walking into the hands-on demo for Stuntman Hollywood by Saber Interactive and Universal. It made no difference if you’ve played the other games or not. Stuntman Hollywood is easily picked up and taken for a test-drive!
I was worried I would be terrible at a game like this with its tight turns and wild gameplay. However, I quickly got up to speed and found my way to getting good scores every single time (minus one level that the developer said was one of the hardest in the demo). I played levels on sunny docks, during Earthquakes, and even while driving the Delorean!
Each level brought something different to the table. Slipping through the docks trying not to smash into walls, hitting high speeds to make jumps, or streaming past incoming traffic are all examples to the variety available. You’ll only have so many takes for each level (which are equivalent to lives) to get all the way through. Once you’re out of takes, you’re out of a job and will have to redo the entire level.
These levels weren’t overly long, but they were insanely fun to play through multiple times to try and get all of the turns correct and work on skills like drifting. I have a feeling streamers will be working hard to master these courses to get the fastest times possible. Mastering this game will be a challenge for sure, but will look like works of art at high speeds.
The most important skill I had to work on were the drifting mechanics. Stuntman Hollywood’s system is one of the most interesting, and is a bit different from what I am used to with kart racers and games like Need for Speed. The drifting is tight, and you’ll need to be precise with your every movement to keep your speed up all the way through the drift. Once I figured it out a little, I felt extremely cool making tight turns and getting better points because of it. Hard work in this game pays off.
The level that was my favorite of the demo was from Earthquake, as you’re driving through an OSHA nightmare of a set trying to not crash into burning planes, falling debris, or cracking floors. While I got a great score the first time because I locked IN, I did go back and play this level specifically two more times.
If you’re a fan of interesting driving mechanics and Universal properties, Stuntman Hollywood will be right up your alley. You will be able to play the game on PS5, Xbox, Steam and wishlist the game now!
