14556 Island Xtreme Stunts

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14556

This article is about a video game. For the theme of the same name, see Island Xtreme Stunts.

Island Xtreme Stunts
Item №:	See versions
LEGO Theme:	Video Games     Island Xtreme Stunts     Studios
Developer(s):	Silicon Dreams
Publisher(s):	Electronic Arts LEGO Interactive
Date Released:	2002
Genre:	Action, Adventure
Mode(s):	Singleplayer
Rating:	ESRB: E
Platforms:	PC PlayStation 2 GameCube (cancelled) Game Boy Advance
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Island Xtreme Stunts is the third and final video game in the LEGO Island series, released in 2002 and available on PC, PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. A GameCube version was planned, but scrapped for unknown reasons. It was a crossover between two themes, Island Xtreme Stunts and Studios.

LEGO.com Description

This is a description taken from LEGO.com. Please do not modify it. (See an archive of the product’s page)

Pepper is back for extreme action! Pepper's been hired to do the stunts in a brand new movie -- if the Brickster doesn't ruin all the scenes! Help Pepper drive, fly, jump, and skate through five extreme stunt games, while keeping the Brickster at bay. Plus there are puzzles to solve, cool trading cards to collect, and exciting sub-games to unlock in Pepper's awesome new adventure!

Synopsis

LEGO Studios has come to LEGO Island, and Pepper Roni has been cast the lead role in the upcoming/latest movie, Xtreme Stunts. However, once again, The Brickster has been released from jail somehow, and has also been given a role as the movie's villain. The Brickster-Bots are also now used as assistants in the movie sets, though they still cause trouble around the island. Most of the game is spent filming the scenes for the movie in minigames (side activities with other characters can be done in between filming events or after all of them have been completed as part of the game's progress; a few of them are essential for achieving things, like a road vehicle license). However, after the filming for the movie is finished, the Brickster reveals that he was using the movie as a cover for his latest scheme, and that the Brickster-Bots have built him a super computer-powered tower on top of Space Mountain that will destroy the island. The Brickster then tells everyone that he has kidnapped the Infomaniac and taken him to the top of the tower, warning that if anybody tries to stop him, "the old man gets it."

After Pepper borrows the Brickster's car and drives it across the island to the tower while being bombarded by falling objects, he climbs the mountain and tower. Pepper faces off against the Brickster and the Brickster-Bots at the top while Sky Lane tries to hack into the tower's computer to stop the impending explosion. Pepper defeats the Brickster, and Sky arrives in a helicopter, saying she wasn't able to stop the program, but was able to change its effect. Pepper and the Infomaniac escape with Sky on the helicopter, leaving the Brickster on top of his tower, which then self-destructs and he is left behind and falls down. Back on the island, the Brickster is arrested and put back in jail, but escapes once more, and Xtreme Stunts is shown at the theater.

Development

According to several developers, the initial design for the third LEGO Island game (then called LEGO Island 3) was a Zelda-inspired game set on Adventurers' Island. It focused on the Silk Road, the working title for an Adventurers theme LEGO was developing. The theme's story involved following the trail of Marco Polo, and later evolved into the Orient Expedition theme released in 2003, which featured the same story premise.

This is a description taken from Darren Drabwell. Please do not modify it.

Extreme stunts was a complete re-write to the game we had designed. It was going to be called the Silk Road and Pepper was going to follow the path of Marco Polo.

This is a description taken from the lead designer and associate producer of Island Xtreme Stunts, Dean Roskell. Please do not modify it.

Sure, so Lego Island 3 wasn't a clear sequel to Lego Island 2. We had to work with Lego and understand their plans for which themes they were wanting to promote over the upcoming seasons that fit the timeline of the game's release. So early on the team were working on basic technology, a new engine to drive whatever the game was going to be that would utilise the new Playstation 2 hardware; myself, along with the producers from Silicon Dreams and Lego were trying to build the plans for taking Lego's product theme needs and building out a concept that fit. So at the time, they were discussing a product line up based on the Silk Road. Lego also had an adventurers theme, I can't recall if they were going to be built as exclusive sets or combined so that the Silk Road would become a subtheme of Adventurers. I did a ton of research into the history of the Silk Road, and Arabian Nights. The proposal I built was to have a multi-location adventure which included the Lego Adventurers sets and locations, Pepper would be the main player character, and would be themed around a story based on the Silk Road and Arabian Nights. I did some digging through old boxes and found a sample dungeon adventure I designed to show the type of game this would be (see attached). As you can see the adventure, based in Arabia, uses a story based on an idea taken from 1001 Arabian Nights. Pepper (the player) and his partner Johnny Thunder (From Lego Adventurers). This was the only dungeon design to be fleshed out like this as it was a proposal to see if this fit Lego's wants and product theme needs. The design of this game unlike Lego Island 2 was to be more like Zelda Ocarina of Time, using a flow of moving across a set of different landscapes (with some backtracking), building up a set of key tools which would unlock the ability to access new spaces and perform new abilities, each area culminating in some form of dungeon and boss fight which would test the player's skills using their growing set of abilities, whilst unlocking new abilities for use in future dungeons. This was a very different design, and scope of the project, which that in a combination of Lego deciding not to go with the Silk Road theme after doing some market tests with their own product line proposals (I believe they had some mockup sets which they showed to people for feedback) we axed. Following this was them making bringing a new product theme to the table based on Xtreme Sports. This fit closer to the existing range of Lego Island games as Pepper was already a skateboarder, and the Island could make for a good basis for a skate park style environment easily adapting to the physical sets being produced.

This is a description taken from the lead designer and associate producer of Island Xtreme Stunts, Dean Roskell. Please do not modify it.

As for Characters, I took some photos from a character document posted below, this was from when the Adventurer's theme was proposed to be included so we listed out a set of characters who would feature in each of the game's spaces based on the themes of the set (Desert, Jungle, Dino Island, Orient Expedition). For these, in particular, I remember went no further than this one document. No development work was ever actually produced beyond some concept writing.

The sample dungeon and character documents are some of the only examples of what this version of LEGO Island 3 may have been like. According to one programmer, the rewrite happened early enough that as far as they knew no specific assets were created for it - only early work that was just as relevant to Island Xtreme Stunts, like the higher detail minifigure model.

Island Xtreme Stunts was still named LEGO Island 3 for much of its development, but was renamed for marketing reasons (much like how Drome Racers was known as LEGO Racers 3 during development but renamed before release):

This is a description taken from the lead designer and associate producer of Island Xtreme Stunts, Dean Roskell. Please do not modify it.

I can't remember the exact reasoning behind the name change, it was a marketing thing though. to capitalise on the trend of extreme sports, to avoid losing customers if they hadn't played the first two games, and to shift it further away from the educational branding into more of the entertainment space.

The early map design for LEGO Island 3/Island Xtreme Stunts

The game's lead designer and associate producer, Dean Roskell, has a Flickr album with images from the development of Island Xtreme Stunts for the PC and PlayStation 2 (and LEGO Island 2 for the GBA). It includes an early version of the Island Xtreme Stunts map design (shown right next to this paragraph). The description of it has some information on the development of the game:

This is a description taken from the lead designer and associate producer of Island Xtreme Stunts, Dean Roskell. Please do not modify it.

This was an early design of the Island for Lego Island 3, which later became Island Xtreme Stunts. Some of the basic elements stayed with the design through to the end, the waterway under the mountain, the location of the mountain in the centre and the general land mass. As with most work in video games, ideas and plans get cut down during development due to time constraints and technology. Both played their part in the evolution of the islands design. One of the issues was that the game's engine didn't support streaming, as found in titles such as Grand Theft Auto, which meant that all the data had to be loaded all the time, putting strict limits on how big and detailed the island could be. The second reason was that during development, more and more emphasis was placed on the mini game sequences, which meant that we had less resources (man power) to dedicate to the Island gameplay section.

The early version of the map has a location labeled "Rolf the Vet", with a "Matching Brickimals" subgame. In the final version of the game, Brickimals are simply built in Pepper's PDA once their pieces have been found around the island, with no subgame. Other locations shown on the map but not featured in the final game include a railway, a football/soccer field, and a separate island for the jail cell.

Remnants of the cut content and the early "LEGO Island 3" name can still be found in the game data. Some files make mentions of "LI3", and ambience sound effects for the railway and veterinary clinic can still be found in the ambient sound files for the main island.

Online games

A total of four adventure games were available on the official website:

• Brickster the Pirate

The Brickster burgles Papa Brickolini’s oven and Pepper Roni and Luna Rom ascend to outer space to retrieve it.

• House on Spooky Hill

Pepper Roni and Luna Rom notice that their coworker, Arnold, hasn’t returned to the pizzeria, so they visit the house where he made his last delivery to find him.

• The Crystal Brick

Luna’s parents take her and Pepper Roni to the jungle, but the next day a local tells them that somebody stole his tribe’s crystal, so Luna and Pepper Roni adventure to retrieve it.

• The Stolen Painting

Pepper Roni and Luna Rom find out that the Brickster just stole the Bricasso painting and they travel overseas to retrieve it.

Notes

• This was Silicon Dreams' only LEGO video game to not have a 2007 PC re-release.

Versions

Set number	Console	Price
14556	PC	US $19.95
14557	PlayStation 2	US $39.95
14558	Game Boy Advance	US $29.95

See also

• LEGO Island
• LEGO Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge
• List of LEGO Island Characters

Image Gallery

Ad in a 2002 UK catalog

North American NTSC PlayStation 2 version front cover (this cover artwork was in progress)

North American Game Boy Advance version front cover

British advertisement, with prototype front covers

Media

LEGO Island Xtreme Stunts Outro

The ending cutscene

Island Xtreme Stunts GCN PS2 PC Trailer

A trailer for the game, with early footage and a mention of the cancelled GameCube version

Island Xtreme Stunts (PC) Trailer

PC trailer with early footage

Island Xtreme Stunts (PS2) Trailer

PS2 trailer with early footage

Island Xtreme Stunts (GBA) Trailer

GBA trailer

Island Xtreme Stunts ECTS 2002 Trailer

ECTS trailer with more early footage