Hollywood Revitalizes The Classic Series In All Its Hardcore Glory

Debuting in 2002, Stuntman was a challenging blast. The game puts players behind the wheel of a massive action film, challenging them to navigate an explosive course and deliver the best footage possible for an unseen director. Notoriously difficult but deeply entertaining, the game was a blast for the PS2 era. 2007’s Stuntman: Ignition was a solid sequel, but the IP has been dormant ever since.

Nearly twenty years later, the series is roaring back to life with Stuntman: Hollywood. The game takes direct inspiration from properties like Back to the Future and Death Race in its challenging new courses. Screen Rant got the chance to play the game at Gamescom 2026 and can’t wait to make their own action movie at home with the game’s mix of tight gameplay challenges and naturally developing spectacle.

Choreographed Chaos Is The Key To Stuntman: Hollywood

Stuntman was always a notoriously difficult game, something the development team recognized and wanted to honor. Make no mistake, you’ll be replaying the missions in Stuntman: Hollywood plenty of times – – and not just because you want to earn a top score. Some stunts demand real timing and precision, encouraging repeat plays and multiple attempts.

The best trick the developers use in the game doesn’t undercut that difficulty; it creates room for natural agency. While the game has plenty of instructions and challenges, it also leaves enough room and expectation for improvisation and creativity. While drifting across roads, I could suddenly change course and pull off a slick turn that earned extra points.

Finding these small openings is key to improving your score as you play. While a perfect run of the in-game director’s requirements will net a solid score, it’s those little moments of flashy moves or risky maneuvering that will give players a top-tier score. It’s a tricky balancing act that, if not properly executed, could leave the game feeling either too loose or too specific.

What’s impressive about Stuntman: Hollywood is how it avoids both pitfalls. It relies on the player to figure out directional changes on the fly but leaves enough room to make it feel like the player is discovering new ways to deliver an impressive chase. It’s a way to make a game about following instructions still afford players agency.

It’s a challenging game, but one that feels rewarding even after just a minute of gameplay. Taking multiple swings at a course and delivering a nearly flawless performance is a genuine blast. Stuntman: Hollywood has a deceptively tricky experience to deliver but does so with the kind of bombastic excess that one would hope for from a big-budget showcase.

In Stuntman: Hollywood, You’re The Star

In previous Stuntman games, the central challenges are fun recreations of movie archetypes and tropes. However, there’s something to be gained by making the levels direct riffs on specific movies. This is Stuntman‘s not-so-secret weapon: Hollywood, which uses its direct connection to Universal to offer its own take on specific movies.

Three levels were available to players at Gamescom, each directly recalling a different franchise. Miami Vice takes players through a busy downtown city, with the chase requiring plenty of timely swerves around cars and dodging road hazards. It all culminates in a jump off a harbor into a speedboat, a perfectly cheesy climax to the level.

The second pulls from The Fast & The Furious films. Instead of doing any direct or specific sequence from one of the movies, this scene throws players through a massive warehouse at breakneck speeds. This level felt the most video game-y and reminiscent of the series’ past, while also embracing the flexibility the current formula highlights.

The best of the three was the final run, which was based on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Against the backdrop of an exploding volcano and swarming dinosaurs, players are sent flying across a prehistoric landscape on the back of a motorcycle. There are hops, drifts, and trick moves off the back of a T. Rex. It’s everything you could want from a Stuntman game.

Stuntman: Hollywood sometimes feels like a precise Burnout, where the cars’ sense of weight makes every soaring move feel even better. The challenge never feels punishing, giving players room to have fun or really test themselves. Stuntman: Hollywood is everything fans of the series have been waiting for.