Stuntman: Hollywood Preview: Lights, Cameras & Audacious Action

I’ve always dreamed of backflipping a motorcycle over the head of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and now, thanks to Stuntman: Hollywood, I can tick that off my bucket list.

Stuntman: Hollywood is bringing the franchise back to life after decades away and lands back with a bang, offering an embarassment of riches in terms of explosive moments and fan-favorite IPs, coming together to leave your heart racing.

During a hands-on preview with Stuntman: Hollywood at Gamescom, I was blown away by the title, and I already know I’ll be sinking many hours into trying to earn every possible star.

Stuntman is Back

My playthrough consisted of five levels, all based upon an iconic franchise, taking me through The Fast & The Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Miami Vice, Earthquake, and Jurassic World.

Each level was packed with death-defying stunts, and it was my job to work my way through them. Every drift, close call, and crash is recorded, impacting your overall performance and resulting in a final score out of 10.

To earn the maximum of 10 stars, not only do you need to nail every stunt perfectly, but you also need to complete the three level challenge, which can range from maintaining a consistent speed to destroying objects, and progress isn’t saved. So, if you hit that challenge once, you’ll still need to do it again the next time around if you are to achieve the maximum score.

Every level has a set number of ‘takes’, translating to the number of mistakes you can make, before it’s game over and you start from the beginning. The higher the difficulty, the lower the number of takes.

It’s a formula that has served the Stuntman franchise well in the past, but the big takeaway this time around is the licenses, and boy, the world is truly an oyster for Saber Interactive.

Roaring Onto The Scene

The exact number of official licenses in Stuntman: Hollywood hasn’t been officially revealed, but plenty are known so far, including the aforementioned quintet and the previously announced Back to the Future, and there’s at least one more to be revealed.

Additionally, the levels are not necessarily a one-and-done either. For the Jurassic World mission, for example, I was riding on two wheels, but I was told there’s another behind the wheel of a car.

Stuntman: Hollywood does a great job of bringing the audacious to life, including crashing a car into a boat and driving through a collapsing building, and I was gripped for every second of my playthrough.

Naturally, the focus now is crafting Stuntman: Hollywood into the best title it can possibly be, and there’s still no release window announced, but given the close ties with Universal, there’s no end in sight to the potential content that could be brought into the game.

Future DLC or free add-ons could bring more franchises into the mix, and that’s more than enough to get my engine roaring, and I can’t wait to see more.

Check out the Stuntman: Hollywood Jurassic World trailer below.

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For more from Insider Gaming at Gamescom, check out the preview of Once Human’s Isles of the Abyss expansion, and don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.