Stunts

The Good
Stunt represented a new advance in racing games. It has a lot of cars to choose from, different types of adversaries and, the best of all, an excellent track editor. In the times of the BBS's, before the Internet, it was very common to download and exchange tracks for this game. The editor was very easy to understand, too. It would be interesting to see a Windows 9x/NT version of this game, with improved graphics, and obviously, with the track editor.

The Bad
The enemies seem to drive very perfect, even the easier ones. This is a thing that happens in almost every driving game. They tend to drive in turns very perfect.

The Bottom Line
An innovative game, that I would like to see in a newer version.

The Good
Stunts was one of the first 3D driving games that I fell in love with and I typcially hate driving games. Late nights with friends trying to beat each others' scores... Maybe I'm being nostalgic, but this game holds a special place in my heart. I am very impressed with the speed of the 3D graphics engine, the frame rate is quite good on a low powered machine and has plenty of fun and interesting tracks. Thank god it's not plagued with the boring ovals ones common in many of the racing games of that day.

Creating custum tracks was more than a novel feature that added virtually endless hours of game replay.

The Bad
At this time in my life I already had two PC's. While it was fun having stunts going on both machines, one for me and another with a friend, it would have been even better if we were really racing each other. Multi player wasn't all that uncommon in 1990, Microsoft Flight Simulator and Armor Alley both had it to name a couple.

The 3D engine was fast and could have done more for people like me with faster machines. It would have been nice to see more detailed models, but then all of the 286 people would be complaining.

The Bottom Line
Stunts is a fun and exciting driving game that is only limited by your imagination. The basic goal of the game is to drive through stunt courses with cork screws, jumps and more. Just make sure you have enough speed to make that loop-to-loop, and remember: Always wear your seatbelt.

The Good
You can drive around on the included tracks against the clock or others which is quite fun but the longevity of this game is so great because of the track editor that lets you create new tracks to try. This way you can trade them with friends and have hours of fun trying to beat each other's tracks. You can place all kinds of crazy stunts like loops, tricky curves and even corkscrews and much more. The graphics aren't super but good for a game of that time I think. Gameplay is also amazing for such an old game, especially with the F1- car. All people who I showed this game loved this!

The Bad
Not much, really.The worst thing is that there is no multiplayer which would have been perfect for this game, even with the already high fun factor of beating each other's records.

The Bottom Line
A must-have for all driving/racing fans and it will remain fun for years because you can think up new tracks endlessly. Download it now, it's all freeware these days and is available on a lot of abandonware sites!

The Good
I think that everyone has the right to have his own opinion. However, blasting a game like is something I can't let happen. I've had so much fun with this game!

The object of the game is simple: pick from one of 11 totally different cars and try not to mock it up while driving through classic stunts such as loops and corkscrews. You can race against the clock or a computer-controlled character.

The cars are really heterogenous and range from a F1 to a 4x4. Some of them are slower, but can be handled more effectively on dirt or snow. Personnally, I liked the Audi Quattro as it was the most polyvalent car. Compared to TD3, you have a choice of a lot of more cars.

Tired of racing the same tracks? I guess you could eventually be; just build your own! This is a feature that is really cool: you can create totally wild tracks, which gives a lot of more value to the game. Many websites on the internet still feature some tracks that you can download and try. Before Doom came out, I didn't enjoy designing game levels as much as I did with Stunts.

Now let's evaluate the game considering it was released in 1990. First of all, it was fast and it was totally playable on a 286. Even if the 3D engine didn't feature the texture mapping and all the gizmos we're now used to, it gave a good representation of the environment. Unfortunately, you couldn't see far ahead. As for the sound, the FM effects were good enough. As a matter of fact, Stunts squeaked much better sound out of my AdLib than other racing games. Of course, the engine sound changed depending on your car.

The Bad
No head-to-head modem play. Stunt Driver by Spectrum Holobyte did have this option and it would have been really fun if it was in that game.

The Bottom Line
Distinctive software must have had it with the Test Drive series. Accolade went on its own and released Test Drive III the same year Stunts was released. While TD3 was technologically better, Stunts deserves a mention as a game which let you actually enjoy playing it all the time, no matter if you're good or bad. Win a race against a nasty opponent and you'll be glad; crash your car like hell and you'll also laugh your heart out.

No matter what, I consider Stunts as one of the best games I've ever played. It took quite some time for me to get bored of it. I guess the track builder helped a lot. Stunts is half a simulator, half an action game, so don't play it too seriously.

The Good
Ah, the MIDI music. What compelled games designers in the early 1990s to emulate heavy metal guitar solos, with a medium - the ADLIB sound card - which was so utterly unsuited to the task? And yet the music was extremely entertaining, and I can hum it even today, and that encapsulates 4D Sports Driving's appeal. It had grand ambitions, it was for the most part competently put together, but it had lots of quirks and was above all entertaining. It's interesting to compare it with one of the modern 'Gran Turismo' games, as well, because there are lots of similarities (although, as far as I am aware, only the Honda NSX appears in both games).

In a nutshell, it was the arcade's 'Hard Drivin'' on the PC, but with a track editor. And lots of bugs, most of which sent you flying into the air and/or along the ground at supersonic speed. With a few creative friends you could create huge novelty levels which took ages to explore, and the polygonal graphics were fast and smooth on a bog-standard 386. Nowadays the options menus are themselves little history lessons, with CGA, Hercules, MT-32 and other odd terminology which the kids of today will never need to know about, bless them. I saw a boxed PC copy in a second-hand shop a few days ago; it was £1.50.

The Bad
It's hard to poke fun at it; rather like 'Serious Sam' it's clearly not meant to be evaluated with the same rigour as, say, yer average Noam Chomsky pamphlet. At the time I loved the game wholeheartedly, even its flaws. Still, it won't be long before the Porsche/March Indycar is the only car you ever drive, and you might have trouble getting the game to work on XP.

The Bottom Line
There was a '4D Sports Boxing', donchano? It was rubbish.

The Good
The Track Editor is a definate bonus. One of the first games including one, this was so far ahead of it's time most people didn't even understand how to use it! We're talking 1990 here!

The Bad
The graphics are kind of choppy (not unlike many of today's new and "ground breaking" games) and the whole story line with the other racers and their grudges is kind of cheesy.

The Bottom Line
The game is a worthy buy, but sadly as is many other great games it is no longer for sale. It is a fast paced and realistic racing sim. The best feature is definately the built in editor. The game features many, many seperate soprts cars and opponents to race against. Be careful, though, when you crash you're out, unlike many other games which just flip you back over and aloow you to keep going unharmed.

The Good
I played this about 5 years ago on my decked out 386. :)

I love this game. It doesn't have the best graphics, The sound is adequate, and the controls OK.

Although these are the games shortcomings, this game is completely addictive. The tracks that are included range from easy to challenging. But the great things about this is the track editor.

Creating your track is pretty easy. You have a Grid of sorts and pieces of track that you place down to create the track. Quick, easy and simple. I used to trade tracks with friends and try to make the best time to complete laps. A great competitive game in that sense.

The physics engine was not the best, but taking jumps and missing the landing ramp... or hitting a steep incline and making your car SOAR into the sky.... Or just witnessing an awesome crash over and over (thanks to the built-in replay camera) is just too fun.

The Bad
There wasn't a lot I didn't like... It was a great game!

The Bottom Line
A racing game that you can't take seriuously. Great fun.

The Good
If Stunt Driver was about realism, Stunts was about arcade racing fun. Sometimes you just want to fly around a track, make a massive jump, land without a scratch, and tear off into the next bend. Stunts fit this bill nicely.

The track editor extended the life of the game. Got the top score in all the tracks? Bulid a new one! This was half the fun, though; Stunts was a buggy game, and you could build a track that, when properly exploited, would unleash some bizarre racing behavior. I've made a massive jump, crashed into something, and flown almost a mile high into the air.

The Bad
Like all DSI games, control was digital, even if you were using an analog joystick. (I go into why this is a really, really bad thing in my review for Test Drive.)

Sometimes the bugs in the game bit you in the ass when you were playing normally. They didn't seem so funny then.

There's no multiplayer support. This wasn't common for 1990, but Stunt Driver had it, and Stunts didn't.

The Bottom Line
Yes, it's a cheesy game and hardly realistic, but it's still fun to play. So fun, in fact, that there are still several Stunts fan pages around today.

The Good
-The unlimated tracks! Design a stunt track, how can you go wrong with that one. -The graphics are good.

The Bad
-Not enough things to place on your track. -Can't make multiple hill elevations.

The Bottom Line
A fun racing game with many cars, unlimited tracks, and a lot of replay value. Pure fun, especially if you have a friend with it, then you can see who can do better on different tracks.

The Good
Nothing really.

The Bad
Horrible controls, bad graphics (even for the time), lackluster music and sound effects and after a while you get the desire to hit the screen with your dad's hammer.

The Bottom Line
Just an old-fashioned crappy car sim.

The Good
It was a neat idea.

Instead of a racing on a race track, race on a stunt track.

The Bad
I'm not too much of a racing fan, but I've seen better.

The Bottom Line
No real reason to play this one, with so many other better racing games out there.

The Good
OK, so the cars were only 3, but it's just too much fun to play this game, the blowing up cars, the falling bridges, it's just great, and considering that "TD II: The Duel" was released at about the same time, the graphics were a total surprise from the developing companies (Accolade, Distinctive Software), great game.

The Bad
Well, there were like THREE CARS in a game considered almost revolutionary for the time!!!! Nothing else though...

The Bottom Line
Great game that can be considered "fun", it's really nothing except addictive and fun, and the graphics were okay!

8.5/10