There is no shortage of driving games available for the Xbox, let’s be honest, and so for a game to make an impact these days it needs to have a unique selling point, a reason to be set apart from the rest. Whether that be the stunning visuals of Forza Motorsport or the way that The Crew Motorfest isn’t as good as Forza Horizon 5, a driving game needs to have something about it.
So, what we have here is a game called Stunt Paradise, coming from Brinemedia, and it hopes to make a splash with the promise of edge of the seat stunts. Is this enough of a USP, or should we give it a miss?
Presentation of Stunt Paradise is very much on the retro end of the scale. But that does also mean that one of my pet peeves comes to the fore. You see, when developers don’t want to, or can’t, pay for the licence to use the real names of cars, they make them instantly recognisable, but call them something weird. And that’s what has happened here. Thankfully, it doesn’t affect the way the game plays, so I’ll let it slide.
With the cars available we have to drive on a track that is made up of various sections; quite varied and sometimes quite spectacular. The car models are blocky and retro styled, but overall they do the job. But it’s in the set pieces where Stunt Paradise impresses, with the action slowing down dramatically to show you the best view of the action. There’s sound that is also present, and while the engines all comes across as varying sizes of bumblebees in different sized tins, you can barely hear it over the heavy metal soundtrack. While it fits the action, it is a bit too obtrusive.
With that out of the way, then we can get onto the gameplay as there is no story to take in – we’re left to drive, to take on a series of levels, unlocking one after the next with 50 to beat. It’s all simple stuff.
That gameplay though is very, very simple. There is a drive forwards button (RT), a drive backwards button (LT) and a left stick to adjust the position of the car. There is no steering required, let’s be clear, and the left stick is used to purely make the car rotate while in the air. And yes, whilst this is as strange as it sounds, it starts to make sense when you play the game. That’s because in Stunt Paradise we start in our car on the left hand side of the screen, and we have to get to the finish line which – shock horror – is found on the right hand side. In between the two points are various ramps, traps and explosive devices that we need to overcome. As long as our wheels stay on the ground, we are okay, but landing on our roof (which happens more than you might think) or hitting a trap will destroy the car and force us to start again.
In Stunt Paradise the layouts of the levels get progressively more difficult, as you would expect, and while they start relatively simple, they are soon incredibly complicated. A particular one that sticks in my mind requires the need to jump over a saw blade, land, reverse up a ramp and then rotate the car in mid air to hit a button, while missing a saw blade that would wreck the car. And that is just one small section of one track, so you can see how tricky it is.
Some tracks require you to drive flat out all the way, such as in a level that sees us jumping over a mountain to land on a ramp that is mounted on a boat. Sometimes speed is the enemy, as in one level with saw blades mounted just above a bit of track that looks like a rollercoaster. Judging your speed, making sure the car is always the right way up to land on its wheels, no matter the orientation of the track, requires split second timing.
All in all, it means that Stunt Paradise is an enjoyable challenge. And as we go around the various tracks, we pick up gold and stars, using the former to purchase new cars. However, the price of the cars is so ridiculously high that you’ll need to be grinding in order to afford the most expensive ones.Â
And while this may not sound like too much of an issue, there is a hitch. You see, as a game, Stunt Paradise is fine, but the problem – as is so often in these titles – is found in the achievements that are available. As you play the game, you unlock an achievement for each of the first ten levels, and then that is your lot; there are no more. And as is usual, the desire to keep playing also disappears, very much like dew under the morning sun. If only those achievements were spread out across the levels…
To summarise, if you are after a tricky little driving game which can provide an enjoyable challenge, then Stunt Paradise is it. Just be aware, you may run out of desire to keep playing once the achievements and Gamerscore have been ticked off.
