Alone, the game offers several hours of enjoyment. With friends, however, things really get crazy, especially when you inject alcohol into the mix (with people 21 and over, of course). Stuntman has an addictive pick-up-and-play nature that usually results in you screwing up and then passing the controller to someone else. What ensues is comedy gold, with characters flying off the backs of bikes and slamming into walls, while cameramen dodge rampaging vehicles.

You'll also enjoy the additional modes, the Constructor, or track editor, being one of the most intriguing. The game plops you on a barren course, and you drop objects and people onto it to create the ultimate stunts. You can even upload your tracks to Xbox Live for other players to experience, and vice versa.

Then there's multiplayer mode that, while not the best out there, offers some amusement. In Backlot Battle, the goal is to hit more stunts (and thus achieve more points) than your opponents. Backlot Race challenges you to get the best time around a course, and finally, Stunt Tourney (up to eight players can play) square off to complete various missions.

Despite the modes and excitement that come from crunching cars and thwarting evil, Stuntman has a few issues that keep it from excellence. The constant restarting makes the experience more frustrating than it needs to be, and we dislike the lackluster music and poorly designed movie trailers (they lack pizzazz). For a game with so much action, we expected a better presentation.

With that being said, the game's worth a few hours around the track, but we suggest renting it first, just to see if it's something you'll want to play for more than a week. Just remember to leave the real stunt driving to the professionals. That is, unless you are in fact a professional stunt "person".