''Stunt GP'' is a

radio-controlled car 'Radio-controlled cars'' (or RC cars for short) are miniature model cars, vans, buses, trucks or buggies that can be controlled from a distance using a specialized transmitter or remote. The term "RC" has been used to mean both "remote controll ...

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

developed by the UK-based studio

Team17 Team17 Group plc is a British video game developer and publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. At the time, the two co ...

, released in 2001. It was published by

Eon Digital Entertainment Eon Digital Entertainment was a computer games publishing company based in London, UK, operating globally. It was founded by John Burns, now of Electronic Arts and a former Managing Director of Activision Europe as well as senior management figure ...

for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

and

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...

, and by

Titus Software Titus Interactive SA,Contact
. Titus Interactiv ...

for PlayStation 2. ''Stunt GP'' uses the

RenderWare RenderWare is a video game engine developed by British game developer Criterion Software. Overview Released in 1993, RenderWare is a 3D API and graphics rendering engine used in video games, Active Worlds, and some VRML browsers. RenderWare ...

engine. It has both

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...

and offline

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

game modes using the split-screen method, and various

game controller A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game, typically to control an object or character in the game. Before the seventh generation ...

s are supported.

Game modes

The game features five game modes named Arcade, Exhibition, Time Trial, Stunt Challenge and Championship. Arcade mode allows the player to unlock new content for the game, such as cars and tracks. In Exhibition mode, the player can choose its car, track, the number of AI as well as other settings. Time Trial mode allows the player to beat records on a restricted list of tracks. Stunt Challenge mode lets the player score a maximum number of aerials in a stunt arena. Finally Championship mode consists of a full season of 20 races in which the player will be able to gradually improve the car and its components.

Gameplay

Mechanics

The radio-controlled car is played in third-person using the arrow keys. The cars are powered with a battery which slowly loses energy over time. Once the battery has run out of energy, the car goes slower and thus the player is severely handicapped. Several game mechanics interacts with the battery level. Near the finish line of each track lies a pit-stop, in which the player can refill the batteries. A speed boost is available by pressing the Control key but it depletes the battery much faster than usual. Stunts are performed while the player is in the air by pressing the Shift key and one of the arrow key. If the stunt is successful, some amount of energy will be restored.

Cars

There are 20 cars in the game, upon which only 6 are initially available. The others can be unlock by playing modes like Arcade, Time Trial and Championship. They are divided into 4 categories : Wild Wheels are cars with a solid grip to the road. They are represented by heavy vehicles such as trucks or 4x4. Aero Blasters are vehicles with amazing agility. They spin the fastest while attempting aerials. Their design is futuristic. Speed Demons are cars with the strongest accelerations and top speed. Their lines are sharp and aerodynamic. Team Specials is a special category regrouping eccentric vehicles such as an

open-wheel car An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have th ...

or a

forklift A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various ...

. In Championship mode, every car can be tweaked extensively, from tyres to engines, suspensions, brakes, batteries, etc.

Development

The game was announced by Team17 and

Hasbro Interactive Hasbro Interactive was an American video game production and publishing subsidiary of Hasbro, the large game and toy company. Several of its studios were closed in early 2001 and most of its properties were sold to Infogrames (now Atari SA) whi ...

in November 1999 for a March 2000 release and would be released under Hasbro's

Atari Interactive Atari Interactive is a name used by several separate groups and corporations since the mid-1990s. In 1996, it was the name of Atari Corporation's PC publishing division, bringing games like the Atari Jaguar's '' Tempest 2000'' to the PC platf ...

brand. In March 2000,

Infogrames North America Accolade, Inc. (later Infogrames North America, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher based in San Jose, California. The company was founded as Accolade in 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead, who had previously co-found ...

secured North American publishing rights to the title with a Fall release window. In July 2000,

Titus Interactive Titus Interactive SA,Contact
. Titus Interactiv ...

secured worldwide publishing rights to the PlayStation 2 version of the game, with

Virgin Interactive Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwo ...

handling distribution. Following the purchase of Hasbro Interactive by

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive#Infogrames subsidiary, Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. (1993–present), Atari, Inc. It ...

in January 2001, the company announced on 19 January that they had dropped out of publishing the title due to the game's numerous delays and that the current release window no longer fit in the publisher's existing releases for the beginning of the year. On 19 March,

EON Digital Entertainment Eon Digital Entertainment was a computer games publishing company based in London, UK, operating globally. It was founded by John Burns, now of Electronic Arts and a former Managing Director of Activision Europe as well as senior management figure ...

announced they had picked up the publishing rights to the PC and Dreamcast versions.https://www.eurogamer.net/article-30363

Reception

The PlayStation 2 version received "generally unfavorable reviews" according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. In Japan, where the same console version was ported for release on 11 April 2002, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the ...

'' gave it a score of 29 out of 40.

References

External links

''Stunt GP'' official website
* {{Team17 2001 video games Atari games Dreamcast games PlayStation 2 games Radio-controlled car racing video games Team17 games Titus Software games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by Bjørn Lynne Windows games Multiplayer and single-player video games Split-screen multiplayer games RenderWare games Eon Digital Entertainment games