Super Stuntman

Your Sinclair

Graphics 8/10

Playability 6/10

Value For Money 8/10

Addictiveness 8/10

Overall 7/10

David Powell 7/10

Code Masters £1.99 Reviewer: David Powell "Maniac" is a word rarely applied to me - except perhaps behind the wheel of a car. Still, following on the heels of ATC and other budget chart toppers on the Code Masters label, Super Stuntman has everything a budding lunatic could wish for - the celluloid world of the unsung hero reduced to the small screen. You must race through seven screens of mayhem only a crazy director could devise - through desert forest and river, crossing bridges and leaping over gaping canyons. Great box office, this! Like a sequence of out-takes from Hooper, you barge your way past fender-bending rocks and bomb the other cars (intent on claiming your Oscar, no doubt). before they bomb you. In fact, falling into rivers, being bombed, not missing fire pits, or in the water scenes hitting land (of which there's a fair bit), are the only ways you lose one of 3 'takes', but at least you get awarded bonus points for "amazing action". In other words, dying is sometimes actually helpful - zan-ee!! Initially the blurb on the back made me think, "Oh no, not another Spy Hunter clone," but full marks to Peter Williamson for an original and fun-to-play game. Unfortunately, it falls into the near-miss category - no Emmys here. It's not really the graphics, 'cos this is one of the game's strong points. It's not even the game itself, as that's a gas. No, it's the detail. On the bug front, reversing (as is often required) can cause the scene ahead to be corrupted, and it you die in the wrong place, you're all too likely to be resurrected somewhere that's totally impossible to get out of. It would also have been nice if the damage chart didn't show a car, when you're in a boat. These, and others I could mention, are fairly small points, but how nice for them not to have been there to mention at all! Perhaps this is what makes a budget price game?? Strangely, whereas there is mild attribute problem you rarely notice it in the heat of the moment, and though your vehicle seems as if permanently on ice, this actually makes the thing challenging since you're always kept guessing. Just remember to turn miles before you need to. Being a stuntman is dangerous and costly on props. Just as well I've got this as substitute I guess - I can't leave the thing alone!

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Sinclair User

Overall 8/10

Chris Jenkins 8/10

Label: Codemasters Author: Peter Williamson Price: £1.99 Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: various Reviewer: Chris Jenkins Well, ah'm just a lonesome stuntman, a steel pin through ma skull..." or something like that. Fans of The Fall Guy, where the cars are the best actors, will love the opportunity to play at being Lee Majors in this latest arcade epic. The action is fast and furious, and the script is better than the real thing. Super Stunt Man is basically a car race game, but unlike most of this type of thing, you get the chance to blast your opponents off the course and smash into solid objects. Great! The left-hand two-thirds of the screen are taken up by the vertically-scrolling playing area. On the first level, this is a nicely-detailed desert scene, with boulders, canyons, cacti, and the odd bonfire which somehow manages to sustain itself the wilderness. To the right of the screen are the score counter, timer, and a progressively more battered car indicating your damage level. Your aim is to complete each stage within the time limit, and in as spectacular a manner as possible. Dune buggies and racing cars speed past you firing bombs, and while you must dodge them to avoid being shunted into the fires, you get bonus points for ramming them or shooting them. You can even get a bonus for getting killed; run into a fire and you lose a life, but you get a 1000-point bonus for "great action". If you're close to completing a stage and you have plenty of time left, it might be worth it, because you get all your lives back at the start of the next stage. The fires are pretty hard to avoid since some of them appear in bottlenecks and only the most skilful steering will avoid them. If you get stuck in a dead end, all you can do is reverse out, jam the wheel over and try to tack around the obstruction; you can't actually turn around. Your car slips and slides across the sand, which makes the game more realistic if more difficult. Half way through each level is a special stunt which you must perform flawlessly; on level one, a ramp lets you jump over a huge canyon, if you're lined up properly for the takeoff. Otherwise, it's KERSPLATT! Don't forget to steer hard right as you land, or you'll plunge into a dead end. Complete level one and it's on to the boat chase, which isn't quite so exciting, if only because the backgrounds are so dull and there are fewer obstacles. Oddly, your damage meter still appears in the shape of a car. Caught you out there. Subsequent levels include a forest, a valley, a New York scene and a secret Grand Finale (it's secret because I haven't got there yet). Fabulous David Whittaker music in three-part harmony, decent sound effects, nice graphics and imaginative gameplay make Super Stuntman another budget hit. How do the little beggars do it?

Crash

Presentation 73%

Graphics 57%

Playability 48%

Addictive Qualities 61%

Overall 53%

Bym Welthy 66%

Paul Sumner 39%

Producer: Code Masters Retail Price: £1.99 Author: P Williamson As an amazingly competent stunt man, you have to steer car over a vertically scrolling course covered in rocky outcrops and cacti, and jump river ravines by using ramps as you progress across the landscape. The route is also hampered by the appearance of other vehicles which attempt to run the car off the road - these are swiftly removed by using the vehicle's forward-firing blasters. Collision with ground features and vehicles incurs dents which are indicated on the damage monitor at the top of the screen. Too much damage effectively writes off the car, and there are only three with which to complete the stunt. On reaching the river, the car is replaced by a speedboat which is used to negotiate the islands and waterways. Opposing traffic is again encountered and dealt with in a similar fashion. COMMENTS Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair Graphics: both stages have clearly defined character blocks Sound: grinding title tune with Geiger counter spot effects Options: define keys

Back to basics: Code Masters's Super Stuntman is a mediocre Spy Hunter.