Chaser

The Good
Right from the get-go, the graphics are outstanding. I mean that, too. For a 2003 game, these are 2004 graphics (cliché, 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 you’d 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 it’s also a far cry from running Far Cry (I never get tired of that pun).

Sound is similarly pleasing, though it doesn’t 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 you’ve fired several thousand rounds from a gun you tend not to ‘hear’ 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 you’re in for good, cheap sci-fi. It’s the standard fare, but it’s done well. When you start playing and there’s a space station in Earth orbit that’s exploding all around you, you know you’re 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 didn’t try the multiplayer in the full version, but I played the heck out of the demo. I can’t 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. I’ll start with the one that annoyed me the most… 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, I’ve 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 ‘normal’ I’ve 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 ‘weapon reload’ key. The game’s 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 shouldn’t gripe about, but I have to register the complaint. It’s well-documented in the game reviews, I’m 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 game’s 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, Chaser’s single-play will make you giddy and/or content. I would recommend the Easy setting, and I don’t say that lightly. The graphics don’t 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 I’m glad to have seen and experienced. It’s not for everyone, but it is worth a shot. Just don’t expect a Half-Life, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

The Good
You can really guess that Cauldron, the designers of chaser, aren't incapable. Chaser features some nice ideas (for example the atmospheric submarine-mission), from time to time really nice graphics and generally a lot of good ideas, but...

The Bad
... somehow, they weren't able to fit everything together. There are so many design- and gameplay-related flaws, bugs and inconsistencies, that it hurts! It begins with a wannabe-immersive-story, the ultra-linear leveldesign and the bad AI. And it doesn't end...

The Bottom Line
Chaser tries to be a good shooter with innovative features, good graphics and a nice story. But it fails and fails and fails. It seems, like JoWood, the publisher, wasn't able to control and direct the gamedesign-process. So, what remains, is a substandard shooter with some nice moments - and many frustrating...

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.