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"Maniac" is a word rarely applied to me - except perhaps behind the wheel of a car. Still, following on the heels of ATC and other budget chart toppers on the Code Masters label, Super Stuntman has everything a budding lunatic could wish for - the celluloid world of the unsung hero reduced to the small screen.

You must race through seven screens of mayhem only a crazy director could devise - through desert forest and river, crossing bridges and leaping over gaping canyons. Great box office, this!

Like a sequence of out-takes from Hooper, you barge your way past fender-bending rocks and bomb the other cars (intent on claiming your Oscar, no doubt). before they bomb you. In fact, falling into rivers, being bombed, not missing fire pits, or in the water scenes hitting land (of which there's a fair bit), are the only ways you lose one of 3 'takes', but at least you get awarded bonus points for "amazing action". In other words, dying is sometimes actually helpful - zan-ee!!

Initially the blurb on the back made me think, "Oh no, not another Spy Hunter clone," but full marks to Peter Williamson for an original and fun-to-play game.

Unfortunately, it falls into the near-miss category - no Emmys here. It's not really the graphics, 'cos this isoOne of the game's strong points. Its not even the game itself, as that's a gas. No, it's the detail. On the bug front, reversing (as is often required) can cause the scene ahead to be corrupted, and it you die in the wrong place, you're all too likely to be resurrected somewhere that's totally impossible to get out of. It would also have been nice if the damage chart didn't show a car, when you're in a boat. These, and others I could mention, are fairly small points, but how nice for them not to have been there to mention at all! Perhaps this is what makes a budget price game??

Strangely, whereas there is mild attribute problem you rarely notice it in the heat of the moment, and though your vehicle seems as if permanently on ice, this actually makes the thing challenging since you're always kept guessing. Just remember to turn miles before you need to.

Being a stuntman is dangerous and costly on props. Just as well I've got this as substitute I guess - I can't leave the thing alone!

Thrills, spills, excitement and a clapperboard too. Terrific fun for would-be stuntmen everywhere.