VIDEO GAME REVIEW

Fistfight, anyone?

After months of pent-up anticipation and a mountain of irregular delays, Jackie Chan Stuntmaster finally arrives on PlayStation. But with a release date originally set for last year, Midway might have already missed its selling targets. Confused parents buying for Christmas would have probably been the only mass-market customers for this game – with actual consumers being limited to those children who never got a gift receipt with their present.

Like a more cinematic Double Dragon, Stuntmaster does have some pleasantries. Watching the humorous, yet almost immaturely rendered, video sequences adds a dash of storyline to the game. But the high points are during the massive fighting scenarios Jackie is hoisted into. From street thugs to wicked fisherman, kicking and jabbing the enemies in true Chan style is basically the only iota of fun in the game. The trademark use of ordinary frying pans or tabletops as weapons is also inserted to add interest, yet performing the fancy footwork of the "master of the kung-fu comedy" is probably as difficult for the gamer as it is for Chan himself.

But renting Power Stone, one of Dreamcast’s premier fighting titles, might be a better bet for those looking for hardcore action. Even though it was crafted nearly a year before Stuntmaster, the controls for this Capcom title are much more accurate – not to mention responsive. A Street Fighter merged into a 3-D world, with the addition of collectible items, superpowers and massively destructive weapons is the most precise way to describe Stone – and appropriately, it’s nearly 10 times more enthralling than the repetitiveness that the Street Fighter franchise often leaks.

More exciting is the variety of characters involved in gameplay. Pilots, princesses and even mummies are driven to the game’s fully interactive arenas to battle for the unlimited strength that the "power stones" supply. Plus, let the fans speak for themselves. Sales were strong enough to induce a sequel, Power Stone 2 (released in Japan earlier this year), so obviously Capcom is managing its creative team well. Ah, but where’s that Stuntmaster sequel?

Jon M. Gibson writes about video games for Metro Times.