The Features

Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver is one of those titles that got a lot of press a few months ago, and then nothing the moment it comes out. Usually a worrying sign, but then again there are times when good games don't need loads of press. Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver puts you into the driving seat of various vehicles across a range of movie sets taking part in lots and lots of jumps and stunts. Here are the main features:

Take the role of Chase Corrada, a young sexy stuntwoman, who is starting her promising career as a movie stunt driver. Chase will take you through four unique movie sets including a gangster movie setting, a post-apocalyptic movie set and more. Not only will you drive traditional four wheeled vehicles, but you will also have motorcycles, a three wheeled Ramen delivery Tuk-Tuk and a large missile truck at your disposal.

Chase places players in the exciting world of Hollywood movie stunt car action. With four unique movie sets and a variety of vehicles unlike any other game, Chase promises heart-pounding action and spectacular movie-style special effects. Players will have to hit their marks as they attempt jumps, smash through props and race through the set in order to please the director before moving onto the next action packed stunt.

• 4 Diverse movie sets (Asian City, Post Apocalyptic, 1920’s Gangster and Spy Thriller Set)
• 22 movie scenes and 4 training missions
• Career, Challenge and Multiplayer (mini-game) modes
• Dynamic Camera Replay System with added effects for the best view of the action
• Up to 4 players can compete (via split screen) in the multi-player mini-games
• A variety of vehicles including 1920’s automobiles, high-tech sport cars, motorcycles, articulated semi-truck, a three wheeled Tuk-Tuk and post-apocalyptic dune buggies
• “Hit the mark” system guides players to action packed stunts
• Play as the young sexy stuntwoman Chase Corrado
• Earn reputation points to unlock new scenes, challenges and multiplayer modes
• Communicate with the movie’s director through the Head Up Display
• Up to 4-player split-screen

Installation, Settings and Loading Speeds

Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver comes on the single DVD-ROM, loads times are pretty good, there are not many missions that take anymore than 15 seconds to load at a time. There are various options that can be fiddled with such as controls, music, sound etc but nothing more than that is really needed.

Gameplay

Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver is a blend of racing and stunt driving, trying to blend the two together into a game is a pretty hard task as you can either end up with a game that is well designed, but really dull (Stuntman on the Playstation 2) or something that can have quite a bit of action but very little else - which is what we end up with here with Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver.

The game doesn't start off all that badly, the first tutorial mode is quite well done, explaining the controls and flips you can do during the various missions. The worrying thing here though is that you straight away start to notice that there are not really many controls for you to master in the game, this leads me to believe that even early on, that the game won't end up being all that in-depth.

As mentioned a little earlier, the game has you playing as a female stunt driver called Chase, you take part in various missions or scenes from movies that are currently being directed. You have to jump bridges, crash into trucks, overtake trains, smash into other cars, all while trying to make sure that you can survive until the end of the scenes you are in. There are usually around four scenes in each of the movies that you take part in, new scenes are only opened up when you have either earned enough points in the scene you are on, or if you have collected all of the cutting boards that are in each scene. There cut boards can be found around each scene, via jumps, turns and flips.

The points system works quite well on the whole, the more points that you get in a scene, the more chance there is of unlocking new cars for you to use during the game. The problem here though is that you don't have all that much freedom in the game as each scene has to be completed in a set time limit too. Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver does keep you playing though, but for me it was more to do with hoping that the game would get better later on the further you get like Enclave did. Unfortunately for Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver it doesn't and I was left disappointed after having high hopes for this title after earlier previews of the game came out.

Graphics & Sound

Graphically Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver isn't a stand out title for the Xbox either, it does have its good points though with great reflections and a very stable framerate, but most of the textures used in the game look as if they were made for the Playstation 2. Replays which should be very good in a stunt driving game are also poor, where most of the stunts that get done seem to be missed in replays due to bad camera angles. Soundwise Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver is again not all that good, the voice-overs are annoying and feel amateurish whilst most of the sounds in the game are nothing to write home about either. There is no 5.1 option either which is another let down and something that should have been addressed before the game came out.

Final Comments

I am disappointed with the way that Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver has turned out, I had high hopes for the game when I first heard about it, and even more when I saw it running a few months ago. There is no doubt that the point system works quite well, and it does, in part keep you playing. But a good points system isn't going to save this one, the graphics are not up to what we should be seeing on the Xbox and the sound is nothing to write home about either. Maybe worth a rental, but defiantly not worth a buy.

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