Stunts!!!

 

A Need For Speed...Ha I have a Need For Stunts

        This game is a game my brother and I played endlessly. Thanks to Baur's!One A Day Tech! blog post on a game called Track Mania. I was suddenly inspired to write about this game of which I had forgotten until reading about Track Mania. Pretty cool!! Follow him  he has a great many things you'll want to be updated on! 

I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes

        Anyway on to the game Stunts was made in 1990 by Broderbund. If you don't know this company, Myst, Lode Runner, Prince of Persia, that is all... I digress however Stunts is a pioneer of it's genre. If you ever played racing games during the time then you know that there wasn't a whole lot to them at least in my opinion. Stunts was nothing short of pioneering. Most racing games consisted of racing along a pre-made track trying to avoid crashing into the cars in front of you or beside you. Let me remind you I played very little amounts of racing games so I could be way off on the innovation department. However Stunts is somewhat your run of the mill racing game with a huge difference. It had opponents in which to race as well as pre-made race tracks to race them on. Which I can attest to being a really hard achievement to beat any of the racers within Stunts enless you give them the crappiest car even then it can be tough to beat them.

Don't give him this vehicle he will win!

     Now i'm sure your thinking to yourself "Well this stunts game is turning out to be your run of the mill racing game it seems this fellow is lying." Well one of the unique part of this game is the fact that you can pick from a wide(for the time)variety of vehicles to drive from 11 in total. It also had Automatic and Manual control which for the time was pretty new from my knowledge. Also there was a record feature in which you can watch and save your races to view them at a later time perhaps new for the time as well.

A boat in the middle of nowhere what is happening?

     The biggest reason this game is so damn innovative is the fact that there is a custom race track feature. I know it's crazy. 1990 and so much customization in a racing game. You bet your bottom dollar! The regular editor includes the track pieces themselves, The Terrain editor is only accessible by pressing Shift-F1, I don't think many knew about this terrain editor as it's not in the manual. But with the knowledge to make your own terrain and tracks is the greatest part of this game.  I remember my brother and I spending hours making tracks with loop to loops and sidewinders, only to end into a large lake or fly off a ramp into oblivion. I absolutly love the tracks you can make. You have a lot of freedom in this regard and are given a wide area to create your tracks. Also the amount of options you get to use are outstanding.

 
    I've always had a special place in my heart for Stunts it's one of the many games I played as a child that really pushed the limits of my imagination and influenced what I expect from games. Stunts is a game that holds a whole lot of innovation for the time. The racing can get difficult, although the racing with the A.I. is rather dull and gets old quick as do the pre-made tracks. The custom track makes up for the standard tracks in every way, shape, and form. If you don't like the main part of the game you will love the custom made tracks. I give Stunts a 9 out of 10 this game is worth a great deal of time I really don't care for racing games and this game is why. It's set the bar for me and no racing games I have played after have given me what Stunts has. But we will see with track mania! Thanks again Baur for digging up some childhood memories!