Chaser
- Chaser (1978 on Apple II)
Description official descriptions
In the year 2044 the UN established MARSCORP (Martian Security and Economics Committee). Its president Samuel Longwood gradually became unpopular with other companies by acquiring a considerable amount of wealth from dubious sources. Meanwhile, a man named John Chaser, wakes up on board the spaceship H.M.S. Majestic. He does not remember who he is, but after a very short time he finds himself fighting for his life, persecuted by mysterious men in black uniforms. Chaser must survive, regain his memory, and regain the dark secrets of Earth and Mars.
Chaser is a traditional cutscene-driven first-person shooter with some sneaking and submarine-navigating segments. The player character fights his way through indoor and outdoor levels, utilizing standard modern-day firearms as well as a "bullet time"-like feature (called "Adrenaline" in the game). Multiplayer offers Deathmatch as well as team-based modes such as Capture-the-Flag.
Spellings
- Chaser: ŠŃŠæŠ¾Š¼Š½ŠøŃŃ Š²ŃŠµ - Russian spelling
- ćć§ć¤ćµć¼ - Japanese spelling
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Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Windows version)
129 People (101 developers, 28 thanks) · View all
Managing Director | |
Development Director | |
Lead Programmer | |
Lead Graphics Artist | |
Programming | |
Lead Level Design | |
Level Design & Scripting | |
Cut-scenes and Animations | |
3D Artists | |
2D Artists | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 67% (based on 30 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.2 out of 5 (based on 38 ratings with 6 reviews)
Great first-person shooter, with excellent sound and graphics
The Good
JoWooD's first-person shooter, Chaser, is an impressive game in which you play John Chaser, the man who has no memory of who he is and why he is being hunted. In my opinion, this game is impressive because it is more advanced than any other FPS that was available at the time. The visual effects, audio, and the game mechanics are amazing.
Chaser is divided up into missions, with more than one mission being accomplished In the early levels. Apart from the early missions, I can say that they are satisfyingly long, because you have to accomplish more than one goal during a mission. Although the game is mostly a first-person shooter, shooting enemies that get in your way using your weapon of choice, you have to do other stuff such as protecting your getaway vehicle from snipers, get to a secret meeting without being seen, and navigate a submarine.
There is a tutorial that can be accessed through the main menu, and it is ideal for anyone who is new to first-person shooters before they start the actual game. New users can learn about jumping, swimming, using their flashlight, and shooting. Depending on how well you do, the tutorial takes about ten minutes to complete.
The levels are spread over three different areas: futuristic Earth, Siberia, and Mars. The first level starts on the spaceship Majestic. I enjoyed walking around each room, looking out the window and overlooking the planets as they fly by. The second level, meanwhile, is impressive. You get to explore slums that lead outside with a nice view of giant skyscrapers, and Majestic's debris crashing into them and setting them on fire is amazing and well animated, as are the water that you have to swim in from time to time. The highlight is exploring the airport on Mars and looking at the impressive signs around the terminal.
There are plenty of weapons to take advantage of, from your standard pistol to a more advanced sniper rifle. What's good about it is that that all the weapons are modeled after real-life ones. As you move Chaser through your surroundings, the environment is reflected off whatever weapon you are holding, and that is pretty impressive. Only a small handful of weapons are listed on one of the inside covers.
There at least three types of enemy in the game. The first enemy in the game look exactly like those silencers from Crusader: No Remorse. I like the Russians that you encounter near the middle of the game. When you happen to fire a weapon in their vicinity, they are alerted to your presence and go to where they heard the gunfire.
The game has the occasional cut-scene that details what happens as a result of you accomplishing the mission, and what you need to do next. Every cut-scene features Jay Benedict who voices Chaser, plus several other people who are assisting him. Later on in the game, the cut-scenes get more interesting as we learn that his previous assistants turn against him.
Starting from the music on the main menu, all of Chaser's soundtracks are fantastic. While walking on the Majestic, that mission's soundtrack has a nice beat to it. Following that, the soundtrack is a mix of techno and rock. Each piece of soundtrack also blends in with the overall theme of the mission. The music during the end credits is just amazing.
With the use of cheats, I loaded the multiplayer maps and explored them. My favorite map is chdm03, where you are out in the forest when it is raining, and there are buildings that you can use to take cover. You can even climb on top of them to get a good view of your surroundings. I don't know what it is called, but the other multiplayer maps have you running around the city streets, similar to the second mission. But the only difference is that you can actually look up onto the highways.
The Bad
I can't think of anything bad.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, Chaser is an excellent first-person shooter from JoWooD, in which you play someone named John Chaser who is trying to recover his identity. Like other FPSes of its time, Chaser is divided up into missions that are well-balanced, and each mission has more than one goal. The cut-scenes in the game are well-scripted and add depth to the story. The graphics and sound are excellent, and both of these blend in with what the mission's theme is. The game is great and it is a pity that there wasn't a sequel.
Windows · by Katakis | ć«ćæćć¹ (43091) · 2013
I'm glad to have played this game, but I have suspicions that I hate it on a deep level.
The Good
Right from the get-go, the graphics are outstanding. I mean that, too. For a 2003 game, these are 2004 graphics (clichĆ©, but true). The accurate reflections on any wet spot of ground, off the window glass, and the ripple-prone water. The glass will fragment, and breaks about as youād expect too, and oh is it spectacular. This all comes at a frame rate you can adore; on a Geforce 4 4400, Athlon XP 2700+, there were no hitches to speak of. Granted, the computer is no slouch, but itās also a far cry from running Far Cry (I never get tired of that pun).
Sound is similarly pleasing, though it doesnāt hold a candle to the graphics. The soundtrack adds just the right amount of flavor to the combat, and once turned down to an acceptable volume, it makes the boring parts of the shooter more tolerable. The weapon sounds are good, though once youāve fired several thousand rounds from a gun you tend not to āhearā them anymore. The screams from your armed victims are pretty satisfying too.
A final strong point would be the story, which is what you can thank for this review. From the opening scene of the intro, you know youāre in for good, cheap sci-fi. Itās the standard fare, but itās done well. When you start playing and thereās a space station in Earth orbit thatās exploding all around you, you know youāre in for a ride. Chaser does not disappoint, and I congratulate the writers. This is the kind of game that can make a person pick up a copy of Analog just to quench the thirst for talented, quickie sci-fi.
A final note; I picked this game up because I wanted to check out the story. I didnāt try the multiplayer in the full version, but I played the heck out of the demo. I canāt attest to the current state of multiplayer, but I do know that I regret not buying this game when it was first released when multiplayer would have been going strongest. Multiplay was solid in the demo, and I expect it is in the full version too.
The Bad
There are two major flaws to this game in single-play. Iāll start with the one that annoyed me the mostā¦ the difficulty. Because I just wanted to experience the game and its story, I opted for normal (out of Easy-Normal-Hard). I play a lot of Unreal Tournament 2004 and its mods, Iāve played a lot of multiplayer everything, and more single-player games than I can count. I can honestly attest that normal mode for this game is the hardest ānormalā Iāve ever encountered. You will quicksave/quickload so many times during the course of the game that you will be using the keys for those two functions almost as much as your āweapon reloadā key. The gameās Adrenaline mode (akin to bullet-time, but different enough to make its own mark) does not offset this inherent difficulty. When you finish the game, the story is all the sweeter, but damn. This is one hard game.
The second flaw, which I probably shouldnāt gripe about, but I have to register the complaint. Itās well-documented in the game reviews, Iām sure. This game drags out. It will drag out to the point of your being in tears due to the sheer volume of bad guys to kill, of tunnels to go through, of quicksaves and quickloads. The gameās story is epic, and the gameplay is near-infinite. I enjoyed the length at first, but when story was waiting for repetitious shooting sequences to finish, I had had enough. The game is just too long.
The Bottom Line
If you have patience, you enjoy a good single-player game, and you enjoy cheap, Analog-grade sci-fi, Chaserās single-play will make you giddy and/or content. I would recommend the Easy setting, and I donāt say that lightly. The graphics donāt stop being good at any point of the game, and the music will keep you company during the slow parts of the game. I found the ending to be worth it, and there were many novel sequences that Iām glad to have seen and experienced. Itās not for everyone, but it is worth a shot. Just donāt expect a Half-Life, and you might be pleasantly surprised.
Windows · by Bet (473) · 2006
Chaser: Navigate your way through boredom
The Good
Chaser offers a large amount of weapons, divided into good & old stuff on Earth like the M4 assault rifle and some high-tech toys on planet Mars where you can use e.g. the G200. And there is a reason for this plenty of weapons: A lot of bad guys and these bad guys are shared above various levels. You will need some time to win Chaser so this is not the kind of game that you can win accidentally in one evening.
The Bad
Or maybe I only think that Chaser takes that long because this game is boring like hell. There are some missions where you do nothing. If youāre the lucky one, then you have to walk through empty levels with nothing to shoot at. The major problem in most of the levels is to find the right way. Oftentimes you have several places that could be the right way. Then you try way No. 1, missing it several times and continuing to way No. 2 where the game begins again. If you have tested all possible way and donāt find the right way, well then you have to test all ways again. Yeah, thatās entertaining. Can I have a coffee, black with extra coffin? Otherwise I will fall asleep in this JumpānāRun. The story is not a reason to play this game because it is (yes, you guessed right) boring and unimaginative. The summarize the whole thing: Everyone you meet will betrayal you so you have to kill them all. Various, isnāt it? But this had one good thing: All the characters in the game are so sympathetic that I loved to kill them, only because I wonāt see them again. Unfortunately the most unsympathetic character is Chaser itself and Iām not allowed to kill these guy. Another disappointing fact is the AI. The opponents are as intelligent as three meters of a road (without a curve). The bad guys are able to run and to shoot and thatās it. No teamwork, no coverage, no grenades. Even the developer thought āHow can we make the game more thrilling?ā and of course they choose the simplest way: They betrayal. The enemies get stronger weapons and armour. Not the kinds you will get, that would be fair. No, the enemy equipment is stronger. Let me give a an example: You will find a new kind of grenade launcher on planet Mars. To kill one of the heavy armoured guys, they have your kind of armour, you will need three or four direct hits. Same situation with a little difference: Now the bad guys have the grenade launcher. They fire and, because you are a smart hero and dodge, the grenade impacts several meters behind you. Previously you had 100% armour and 100% health, afterwards just 40% of health. Last point on the bad list: The graphic! Ok, the levels look different, but there is one thing that is overall the same: the levels look like the cleaning lady just walks through it. No garbage, no weed, no debris. Maybe thatās good, because if you found some, you will encounter the problem of āHow to move around that thing?ā The collision detection is not very good, to say it politeā¦
The Bottom Line
There is only one reason to play Chaser: You want to develop your own shooter-game and want to determine how you should not do it. Or you have insomnia and want to try something else then sleeping pills. At least the sleeping pills from the drugstore. I guess Chaser: Fight your way through boredom is the better title for the game.
Windows · by jaXen (261019) · 2007
Trivia
Doors
The most dangerous enemy in the first level on the Majestic Station are the doors. Then can kill you instantly if you stay in their way when closing.
German version
In the German version all blood effects (except the ones which appear when the player character gets hurt) were removed. Corpses also disappear instantly.
Soundtrack
As of 2006, the soundtrack for the game can be downloaded at Cauldron's site.
Support
JoWood and Cauldron have released several free downloadable add-ons for Chaser including an official map pack (with five new maps), a level editor, and a stand alone server package.
Server pack and/or v1.50 patch.
Information also contributed by ClydeFrog, Karthik KANE and Silmarillion.
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Related Sites +
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Chaser Homepage
News, Downloads and Media of Chaser -
Developer page on Chaser
Description on the Cauldron site
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Felix Knoke.
Additional contributors: Jeanne, Sciere, Scott Monster, formercontrib, Klaster_1, Patrick Bregger, Zhuzha.
Game added July 8, 2003. Last modified February 11, 2024.