Dube=Yum (Pollock,David W)	  Dec 6 1992, 2:27 am

REVIEW OF STUNT ISLAND

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (from box):

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386SX-16
2 Megs RAM
VGA
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THE IDEA:

The game takes place on, you guessed it, "Stunt Island," where cities,
forests, canyons, railroad tracks, etc... have been recreated so that movie
makers can film outrageous stunts. The game comes with over 30 pre-made
stunts that you fly in a wide variety of aircraft. These scenarios already
have cameras placed to film the action. You can then edit the footage from
the scene together, or have the computer do it for you. You can also make
up your own stunts to fly, and distribute them to other Stunt Island
players. Or, finally, you can just make a movie short in which you place
the cameras, fly the plane, and program other vehicles and events (there's
an extensive menu driven system for programming objects.) Your stunts and
films can take place in the preprogrammed locations, or you can create your
own set from over 800 objects (I'm working on creating a set of my campus).

THE PLAY:

The flight model is one of the more realistic of those I've used. I think
it's easier to control flight in Falcon 3.0 (non-high fidelity mode).
Naturally, since the game isn't meant to be an accurate simulation, you can
have your planes do things they wouldn't ordinarily do (like loop a 747).
But, after some practice, you'll be landing on the Golden Gate Bridge, or
on top of moving trains. Setting up sets is a bit tricky, and takes a good
deal of practice. You use "collision windows" extensively to control
action (if porsche reaches a certain point, then make it skid out, etc...).
Plus, you have to program most of the physics in the game. For example, a
car approaching a ramp will go right through it if you don't program it
change its pitch (the game is a flight, not driving simulator). By the
way, fast planes really do seem very very fast.

IMPRESSIONS:

Whenever I get a flight sim. I always have a tendency to see how low I can
fly, want to buzz cities, etc... For people who like to do this kind of
thing, then Stunt Island is for you -- finally a game designed around
flying the "stupid way." If you're looking for something more along the
lines of Falcon 3.0 or that new helicopter simulation (Maximum Overkill?)
with spectacular graphics and intense combat, then I'd save your money.
(This isn't to say the graphics aren't good. It uses polygon graphics with
fancy shading techniques which can make things look pretty good at times).

DEMOS:

In the game manual, Disney lists files that can be used for people without
Stunt Island to view SI films. This is perfectly LEGAL. I have uploaded
the necessary files as described in the manual to:


wuarchive.wustl.edu  \pub\MSDOS_UPLOADS\SI_films
filename: STUNTPAK.ZIP
I've also uploaded a film by the makers at Disney in the same directory
called SIDEM3S.ZIP. This is a rather large file (1 meg), but is very good.
If anyone has Stunt Island, I can just upload the .flm file alone (w/o the
.all file needed for people without the game) which is significantly
smaller.

  -David Pollock
   poll...@ac.grin.edu