Stuntman : Ignition

Stuntman: Ignition for PlayStation 2 is a 2007 stunt-driving game developed by Paradigm Entertainment and published by THQ. It follows the original Stuntman, but casts its player as a working movie stunt driver rather than a conventional racer. Every course is a sequence from a fictional action picture: the task is to hit marks, crash through the right scenery, take jumps, and survive the controlled chaos with enough precision to satisfy the director.

The central career mode is built around six films, each divided into six scenes. Their deliberately broad movie premises range from a volcanic disaster and a rural action-comedy to a military thriller, a 1970s-style police story, a spy adventure, and a comic-book-flavoured night-time crime film. That structure gives Stuntman: Ignition a changing series of locations, vehicles, hazards, and cinematic set pieces while keeping the focus on driving for the camera.

Before and during a take, direction indicates the required stunt beats. Drivers may need to thread between traffic, launch over an obstacle, skid through a corner, sideswipe a target, or smash through a carefully placed prop, then continue toward the next cue without losing the flow of the scene. Simply meeting the compulsory marks permits progress, but the game also rewards players who connect them with optional risks. Drifting, airtime, close passes, and other daring manoeuvres contribute to longer stunt strings and higher scores.

Ignition makes that push for mastery visible through scene ratings and an overall stunt-driver rank. The strike system gives a take some room for mistakes before it must be restarted, a change that makes learning a difficult route less punishing. An optional easier setting allows more strikes at the cost of score, so the PlayStation 2 game can accommodate a player who wants to finish the film as well as one aiming to string a whole scene together cleanly. Successful work is presented as a finished trailer, reinforcing the idea that the drive has helped create an on-screen action sequence.

Away from the film shoots, the PlayStation 2 edition includes local split-screen competition for up to two players. Backlot Battle turns laps into a contest to perform the most stunts, while Backlot Race is the more direct racing option and lets drivers earn nitro bursts through stunt work. These modes use the same link between spectacle and speed that drives the campaign, rather than treating trick driving as a separate diversion.

As a late PlayStation 2 entry in the Stuntman series, Stuntman: Ignition is distinctive for turning a driving game into a choreographed production. Its challenge is not merely to reach a finish line first: it is to execute a planned sequence under pressure, recognize where a route allows an extra flourish, and make the finished take look convincing. Players familiar with the 2002 Stuntman will recognize the movie-set premise, while Ignition expands it with its six-film framework, stunt-string scoring, and local competitive modes.