ipkevin

Has anyone else tried Chaser? It's a recent FPS with apparently a pretty low profile. The reviews make it sound like it's an old school, utterly relentless and simplistic blaster like Serious Sam, but in fact it's got one of the better balanced shooting games out there, with a twisty story and tons of rather well-directed cinema scenes.

Story-wise, it takes its cues from Total Recall, where you play an amnesiac badass who has to find out what happened to him. It starts at a beautifully realised space stations and continues to cyberpunk-esque Earth cities, though the weapons are all current day stuff (M4s, G11, FAMAS, etc). I figure it's because the developers liked the intense 'feel' of machine guns compared to laser guns or whatever. Missions are mainly shooting with some pure sneaking missions for variety. There may be other types too - I haven't finished the game yet.

Anyway, the most significant part is the shooting action. It's SHOCKINGLY good. It has flow. There are long hallways and rooms for you to exchange fire in extended gunfights and make you feel like you're in an action movie-style firefight. Unlike Soldier of Fortune, it isn't cheap lazy shit where the enemy can kill you in seconds so the developers just give you an invincible "lean and shoot" move. There's no leaning here. If you move out of cover then you can be shot, but at the same time the guards' aim isn't so great that it means instant death. That way you get the sense of danger but simultaneously get to engage in the fun of extended battles and let rip on the machine guns. Perfect balance.

It's an above average game so far and it should be playable on lower end machines. I pulled decent performance out of a P3-733, Radeon 7200, and 384 RAM! If you can find it cheap and understood what the hell I was talking about in the 3rd paragraph , definitely give it a shot.

Groucho

Hmm...sounds fun, I'll give it a try. Both single and multiplayer demos available here:

www.chasergame.com

Trigger

I read the review in PCGamer and wanted to pick it up - but I'm in no hurry - it'll be bargain bin soon enough...

flashburn

I just played the demo and I thought it was a very mediocre fps (of which there are many recently). Is the full version that much better or is it just more of the same?

cubanx

There was so much multiplayer cheating in the early demo that I lost all interest in this game even though it was fun. I simply don't have time to deal with 15YR old's that like to gun hack or TK constantly on a server especially when it's the admin

Flay

I just played the single player demo. Absolutely horrible. It's been uninstalled and deleted.

flashburn

Ok good, then Im not the only one who thought it sucked hard.

ipkevin

Well, as an overall "experience", Chaser certainly doesn't compare to your Medal of Honours or other posh A-level games. It does not have the awesome atmosphere or classy production values (the music is weak, the art direction is uneven) that those top games have, although they do give it a very good try with a variety of story twists and situations.

But what it does offer is a good time for gamers who really take pleasure in the shooting action aspect of the gameplay

I play a lot of FPS games and I can't say that there are many which hit the gameplay balance that this one has. You may prefer a different balance, but this is what makes it cool to me:

- Real-world, accurately modeled weapons but with a suitably exciting Hollywood feel (the sound effects are good, and the perspective doesn't make the machineguns look too dainty).
- Enemy fire is at that perfect level where it hurts you enough so that you fear it, but not so much so that you want to run and hide at every noise. Enemy aim isn't perfect either. Overall, it gives you more chance for longer gunfights.
- Long corridors and rooms - again this extends the battles as you either advance on or try to get a bead on them.
- It isn't overbearingly realistic but it's not a sloppy throwback to Doom either. It lets you rock and roll with the firepower, but also makes you take some moments slowly and carefully as well. That's perfect to me.

Mind you, the shooting action doesn't really pick up until a few levels in. This is for the SP mode. I haven't tried MP yet.

But like I said, it's something you should pick up for cheap only.