Jackie Chan Stuntmaster – undeservedly (?) forgotten beat ’em up

Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is a beat ’em up game released in 2000. It was developed by the studio Radical Entertainment, which you might know from The Simpsons: Hit & Run, Scarface: The World Is Yours, two parts of Prototype and some other projects. To be honest, the portfolio is not very impressive. Even though these things are far from “garbage”, and for one of them the guys even ate raisins from the hands of the authors of “Stopgame”, in general – nothing special. The game was published by the company Midway Games, which also floats somewhere with the “average” ones. Two parts of Area 51, two more The Suffering, Stranglehold, Wheelman, the amazing Unreal Tournament 3 and something else.

Jackie Chan and porn films

We all know that according to John Carmack, shooters are similar to porn films. Apparently, Radical Entertainment took the famous statement more widely. The Jackie Chan Stuntmaster script is built as simply as possible. First we watch a simple introductory cutscene that briefly describes the plot. Next, we observe the process itself, during which we will see a couple more plot inserts, mainly related to changing the scene of action and introducing new characters, and at the end – the end. Which doesn’t try very hard to explain what happened, but simply makes it clear that you can take out the disc and put it back in the box. Until you want to stretch your arms again. Seriously, the total length of the entire story is about twelve minutes.

But Jackie is better than porn!

True, there’s nothing to criticize the game too much for. In many games of that time, the script was rather sketchy. But the videos themselves in “Stuntmaster” look nice. And I don’t care that even in the pre-render everything is square, it’s fun and exciting to watch what’s happening. The plot with the kidnapping of Jackie’s grandfather may be banal, but it immediately turns into a vigorous chase with classic stunts recorded through motion capture. The movements were copied from Jackie himself, so you can be sure of their coolness.

The initial delight does not https://casinobetfair.uk/games/ leave even during the first levels. The enemies are still weak, and the abundance of methods of reprisal makes you eagerly poke all the activated buttons in different orders, studying the rich motion set of the main character. Here you have tackles, beautiful jumps from walls, impressive counterattacks, and the opportunity to use auxiliary weapons in fights like a broom, an oar or a big fish. There’s nothing to say about banal things like punches and kicks and simple combos. There are also enough opponents themselves, and the character of each of the five presented “bosses” is memorable.

You barely manage to get comfortable and get used to the controls, when the usual mechanics are diluted with platforming, continuing to hold interest. And just when you think that the scenery is starting to become boring, the environment immediately changes, providing new views. As beautiful as PS1 power and a small budget allow. Eating dumplings in Chinatown, walking across rooftops with cats and ninjas, trying not to fall overboard at the port, jumping from train to train in an attempt to escape smelly zombies in the subway and maneuvering between dangerous mechanisms in an unknown factory are all undeniably cool.

The game constantly throws up something interesting, so you don’t want to give it up. And in general, if not for some problems, Jackie Chan Stuntmaster could have become one of the best projects of its time. But alas, there are problems, and they cannot be reduced to a short ten-minute script.

Jackie Chan and the problems of game design

The first problem takes us straight back to those ancient times when the number of downloads from the “checkpoint” was limited. Lost three times – start the whole level again. Even playing my favorite “dandy” I didn’t understand this. But it’s not just a matter of personal hostility.

By limiting “lives”, the game brazenly, sometimes even dishonestly, takes away those very “lives”. For example, in a fight you can die because Jackie turned to the enemy not quite correctly, fired a deadly combo into the air, and then got hit in the ears by an equally deadly enemy. Or he didn’t calculate the trajectory at all, and fell off the roof. But things are even worse with platforming. For an action movie, it’s interesting, no doubt. But at the same time he’s annoying.

The controls in the game are not very convenient, so it’s easy to miss the right platform. Even if the game has endless “checkpoints”, jumping over a dozen simple obstacles to get a chance to overcome one unpredictable one is not fun for everyone. Besides, the game blatantly doesn’t see this as a problem. Therefore, often, in an attempt to create more tension, she forces the player to act quickly. Sometimes you get so carried away that without knowing the obstacles in advance, you won’t be able to react to them. Running on the right side of the road? But I didn’t guess. Look at the nook on the left, remember it, and next time run on the right side. And this is with limited “lives”! Personally, I didn’t experience any problems. Thanks to the emulator, my nerves remained intact. But I understand why many were unable to complete the game on PS1. Sometimes it just doesn’t work as intended.

Well, the last problem of Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is monotony. The environment changes, situations change, but the core of beat-em-up in the form of fights remains the same. Enemies are “updated” only externally, but they act the same at all levels. Even the survivability and damage dealt to the player fluctuates within the statistical error. I suspect that this could leave a bad taste for fans of gaming fights.

I’m also not sure I used the word “game design” correctly. Well, don’t give a fuck. The main thing is that I consumed the beer correctly.

To play or not to play – that is the question

At the time of release, reviews of the game were "low-key". I guess I understand why. On the one hand, there is an abundance of interesting moments and the undeniable argument “Jackie Chan is cool”. On the other hand, there are technical problems and ambiguous core mechanics. If I had the opportunity to play Jackie Chan Stuntmaster in the year 2000, I would have liked the game. But I wouldn’t pass it.

But now, when most of the annoying moments were eliminated through “emulation cheating”, I still got my share of pleasure. Which is what I advise you too. Yeah, it’s not the best I’ve played. But Jackie Chan is cool.