Chaser

The next time one of your gaming pals complains about an FPS being too linear, slap this game on him and smirk. Sure, you could say, it��s no fun being led around by the nose, but it��s even less fun wandering around huge, deserted levels searching for the one thing you need in order to get out. Example: the two levels in which you��re in a small submarine twisting through labyrinthine shipwrecks looking for the only way out. Imagine doing that for three hours, then popping out at the beginning of the level. You��ll beg for a little linearity, I guarantee you.

So much promise

The beginning offers no clue about the horrors to come. Most players will blast through the first seven (of 19) levels talking about what a refreshing throwback Chaser is to Half-Life. The story is another hackneyed conspiracy with an amnesiac protagonist, but the developers (Cauldron, a Slovakian outfit) really try to involve the player with cool cut-scenes and interesting scripted events. The first level takes place on a space station, and it��s loaded with design cues from Aliens and Half-Life.

The first few levels are standard run-and-gun fare. You��ve got a healthy variety of conventional weapons, such as SMGs, rifles, and grenade launchers, and there��s plenty of ammo and health to be found. The graphics (running off Cauldron��s proprietary CloakNT engine) look good and feature nice lighting, smoke, and blood effects. The enemy A.I. is laughably bad and the voice acting is worse, but I was having fun plowing through the levels.

The game certainly lacks polish: One enemy emptied clip after clip at me through a glass door while he recited his scripted lines: ��He��s bleeding! Shoot while he reloads! He��s running out of ammo! A-ha!�� My health was 100 percent, I wasn��t moving, and the glass door never had a scratch. Some of the later cut-scenes even show trucks driving through people.

I��d be willing to forgive the weak A.I. and the lack of polish if the game held up. There are moments when the cut-scenes, music, and gameplay meld into a James Bond/NOLF kind of thrill ride��but those moments are rare. The game bogs down in level 8, where the maps become massive and nonlinear. It takes only 20 minutes to clear out the enemies, and then you��re left wandering aimlessly through enormous, bleak, washed-out levels, looking for something��anything��to help you out. And there are 11 more levels to go, each of which takes hours to get through.

So little satisfaction

When I got stuck, I went online to look for clues. That��s when I saw dozens of people begging for help on various message boards. (There��s a walkthrough available at johnchaser.info/ walkthrough.htm, but you know something��s wrong when a walkthrough begins a level by saying, ��This one is also a pain in the ass.��)

The later levels can be rewarding only because they��re so difficult, but the majority of gamers will never see the ending, even with the walkthrough. There are just too many places where the sadists who made this game devised heinous obstacles that make it virtually impossible to go on. Maybe Chaser is an artful meditation on Eastern European existential angst��in that case, huzzah, well done��because as a game, it seems something significant got lost in translation.

Verdict: 2 Stars

A good-looking shooter that��s only fun for the first few hours.

Copyright © 2003 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Computer Gaming World.