I think Jackie Chan is one of the most beloved actors in the world, and his charisma on screen is just too incredible, his action scenes impressive and his choreography very original. His movies were a big part of my childhood and whenever I'm watching TV and it's on some channel, I always watch it. But I had completely forgotten about a very entertaining PS1 video game about this actor, a pretty good and entertaining 3D Beat em Up, which even today has managed to age quite well.
After several Retro Reviews with games whose plots are very simple, but which are effective, we are faced with a game with a deep plot, full of plot twists totally unthinkable and with an ending that would make even Stephen King himself cry... I'm lying, we are facing another game with a simple premise, but in this case serves as a purpose for Jackie to kick ass and break heads and arms, of those who dare to stop us. Jackie works for a courier company and while she was organizing some boxes, her grandfather delivers a special package to her, as it is from a "Shaolin Temple". Jackie's grandfather tells her that she must deliver that package safely, due to its great importance. However, all of this is being monitored by another of the shipping company's workers and he informs someone else that the package is at that location. Subsequently, when Jackie was eating in peace, a group of thieves interrupted the place and kidnapped Jackie's grandfather. This group of kidnappers want to make an exchange, they return his grandfather and Jackie must give them that special package. Although Jackie chases after them, he loses sight of them, now he must look for his grandfather, but in the process he will break a few arms, because who would think of attacking a martial arts expert like Jackie Chan? Anyway, this is the plot of this game, just an excuse for our beloved protagonist to embark on a rescue mission.
Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is a game with a graphic quality really quite good, I did not remember that this game looked so good, so I was very surprised to play it again. Since normally these types of games, they don't look bad, but they don't have an extremely good level of quality either, but in the case of this game, it's quite outstanding. Not at the levels of Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy XI, but Jackie Chan Stuntmaster does a great job in its graphics.
The quality of the textures I think is the most surprising thing, they look very good, I did not see many scenarios where the quality of their textures drop in quality, in fact, it is quite maintained for most of the duration of the video game. Likewise, the lighting is quite good, especially in the alleys and closed scenarios, it really manages to create a "believable" environment, so to speak.
The design of the characters is undoubtedly the worst, the PlayStation 1 is known for the amount of polygons, but in this game it is very exaggerated. The characters have designs, weird, with fat limbs and in some cases deformed, especially in the face of the characters, they look like LEGOS, but melted.
The music in Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is brutal, with melodies that manage to convey action, violence and epic moments, things that fit very well with Jackie Chan. It has in general music with strong rhythms and with a lot of bass, some melodies even remind me of industrial metal themes, although not so marked. Little more to say about this soundtrack, it fits perfectly in a game of the Beat em Up genre as Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is and it sounds pretty good.
Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is a Beat em Up and having Jackie Chan as the main character, it was logical that it should be a game of this genre. In fact, it would have to be a crime to put Jackie Chan in a video game that is not a Beat em Up, out of respect. But anyway, it is a Beat em Up in 3D, so we will be able to go through scenarios of a larger size and dimension than the conventional 2D ones. But I must say that the gameplay of Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is really addictive, or at least it was in my experience when I played it. Since the control over Jackie is very easy, it responds very well to what we want to do and is comfortable.
Jackie Chan, logically, can punch, kick, kick in the air, can jump and somersault, each and every one of the skills for which this actor is known (logically with their respective limitations being a Playstation 1 game), however, Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is a game entirely full of entertainment from start to finish.
Jackie Chan will be able to perform a series of combos from which we will be able to eliminate our enemies in more colorful and acrobatic ways. And like any good Beat em Up, we can equip Jackie with different types of weapons, from sticks, a broom and even a stick to play Pool. Likewise the classic items to recover the life of our character, in general, maintains all the classic elements of a game of this genre. It is really quite satisfying to go with Jackie and hit and kick our enemies, doing acrobatics and overcoming certain obstacles, as it also has certain elements of platforming gameplay.
Jackie Chan Stuntmaster is a real jewel of the Playstation 1, a fairly classic game, but it is quite well done, which makes it quite entertaining and worthy of being one of the best games of the Beat em Up genre.
