Chaser

Published by JoWooD
Developed by Cauldron
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Released - Out Now
Price : £29.99

You play as John Chaser and the game begins with you awakening in what appears to be the medical section of the HMS Majestic. Chaser appears to be disorientated and has no idea of what's going on. Without time to catch his breath he comes under intense fire from the military who, as it turns out, have orders to kill him. To make matters worse the space station that he's on is about to explode. Only seconds into the game you'll have to get Chaser off the Majestic and away from certain destruction, and this is only the beginning.

Chaser certainly begins dramatic enough. After escaping certain death on the Majestic, Chaser crash lands in Montack City and soon finds himself in deep trouble. It's not long before he has a spider type device implanted in him which basically allows his movements to be monitored and controlled. Disobeying orders or straying from the given task will result in Chaser being killed. Throughout the game Chaser has to find out who he really is and why so many are after him. It's this mysterious beginning to the game that will initially keep you interested.

In terms of gameplay Chaser is a real mixed bunch. There are times when stealth is called for, as it's best to avoid a confrontation at all costs, and there are times when an all guns blazing approach is called for. Whilst this adds to the variety of the game there may be some gamers out there that do not appreciate this mix and would have preferred either a pure stealth game or a frag fest.

It's nice to see that Chaser's multiplayer game is actually very good. There are four modes in all which include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Shocktroops. Of course you all know what's involved with the first three modes and you'll be familiar with what Shocktroops is all about if you've ever played Counterstrike. Shocktroops is a game of two teams and each team has specific goals that must be completed. Just like Counterstrike, if you're killed you'll have to sit and wait until the next round and purchase better weapons with the money you earn. Still it's a classic formula and is the best of the four multiplayer modes on offer.

The game uses the custom-built Cloak NT game engine and it's use of vertex and pixel shaders are very impressive. The textures used generally look good but it does look a bit angular in places and the animation of the characters can look a bit wooden at times but all things considered it's not a problem. The water effects are particularly impressive and are surely the best to date in a PC title. A variety of environments such as the mines on Mars or the Russian wastelands all look impressive and it's obvious that the Cloak NT game engine is up there with the best of them, particularly as it seems very framerate friendly.

Support for deaf gamers in Chaser is particularly impressive. Subtitles are an option and they are on by default. The tutorial is fully subtitled and all instructions are shown in text. Subtitles exist for all the story line and all important conversations but some enemy conversations are not shown in text but there are no problems as the unsubtitled information isn't important to the gameplay anyway. Holding down the Tab key will recall any objectives that you have been given.

Whilst Chaser can't be regarded as a classic it certainly is one of the better FPS games of recent times. There are a few bugs though and some people who buy the game will need to download the patch so that your PC will recognise that the CD-ROM is in the drive (a problem one of our systems had). An enjoyable single-player experience that lasts approximately 20+ hours and a solid multiplayer experience make this a FPS that most of you will enjoy.

Overall Game Rating: 8.0/10
The search to find out just who Chaser is will keep you playing right to the end and there is a solid multiplayer element to keep you interested once you've finished the single player game.

Deaf Gamers comment:
There are no real problems for deaf gamers. The game is subtitled by default.