Chaser Review

Chaser. Doesn’t really sound like a name for a game, does it? It’s more the sort of thing you wash down your throat after three pints on a Friday night. However, think hard… doesn’t it bring about images of running around, scared and witless with only the cold, hard metal of a .44 for company? No? Er… Perhaps I’ll begin again…

Chaser is a first person shooter. An FPS, if you want to use an acronym. I have to admit, I’d been looking forward to playing this for a while after having a bash at the demo. It was pure, unashamed fun – and thankfully, so is the full title. It earns a JA+ review purely because, shock-horror, it’s got a story – and one which adventure fans with an itchy trigger-finger would like.

Take a pinch of Total Recall, add some Bladerunner and a dash of Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element. Pour in some occasionally hammy acting, excellent cinematics and bombastic music and what do you get? A solid story and cutscenes that are WORTH watching. The intro sets up the mis-én-scene remarkably well, as the eponymous and oddly-named Chaser wakes up upon a surgeons table on an orbiting space-station, with no memory and mysterious red-clad soldiers of death hounding his every move.

The first level is a mad-dash through the station as it crumbles dramatically around him, chunks flying here and there as the soldiers give chase. Memories flicker before your eyes, occasionally giving you a right shock, an effective device which comes into focus the more you play and to top it off the AI is pretty cunning from the start. The game sets you up with a basic weapon and it’s a case of taking your time, checking rooms before entering and keeping a sharp eye out for their shiny metal asses.

Not giving too much away, Chaser manages to escape the exploding station leading onto a second level down in the grimy alleys of future Earth, with the huge shiny skyscrapers towering over you being pelted by huge flaming chunks of metal from above. Police ships swirl around in the chaos of the night sky as gang-members try to take you out. It’s thrilling, Hollywood action-movie stuff.

It’s a certainly impressive start and a stunning indication of what the CloakNT engine, which is used to power the game, can do – and only running at 65% too. Frankly, it beats the otherwise dull Unreal 2 down to the ground. And it only gets more exciting. Later levels have underground earthquakes hounding you, assaults on enemy bases on Mars and underwater shenanigans. Just when you think the relentless assault is getting a bit boring, Chaser pulls out a trick or two to keep you interested, and the story powers you on…

t’s not without it’s faults, however. As amazing some of the tricks it pulls off are, it requires a pretty meaty PC to pull them off. And the graphics aren’t without their glitches – witness enemies falling into and through objects, and the occasional hole in the scenery. It’s not as bad as Tomb Raider: AOD in this respect, but it does show that a bit more time could’ve been spent honing the game into an all-time classic.

So, if you’re looking for a totally solid shooter with a fine storyline and a completely unexpected ending, then give Chaser a try. Sleepless nights guaranteed.

Final Grade: B+

You can download a demo, wallpapers and other assorted goodies at the official Chaser website.

System Requirements:

• 650 MHz, Pentium® III or comparable
• Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
• 1.35 GB of free hard disk space
• 128 MB RAM
• DirectX 8.1 compatible sound
• 3D graphic card (32 MB)