Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver

Written by Leigh Culpin on October 15, 2002

Full Review: Chasing the competitionЕ

Chase is a game from European developer I-Imagine, and their first published X-Box title at that. Sadly, it may well be their last Ц while there isn't really a lot wrong with the game, it screams mediocrity every second you spend playing it, and while its not as bad as some games I've played, it's not a game you're going to sit down and play through short of being really bored. The game sets you as Chase, daughter of a great stunt driver, and you have to prove yourself in Hollywood and continually beat down your competitors, who have all of 4 or maybe 5 insults they'll throw at you: over and over and over again.

The aim of Chase would seem to be something similar to Stuntman, the recently released PS2 game Ц being that УHollywood Stunt DriverФ is in the title, one would think that you go through some sweet looking movie sets, enter in fast-paced car chases and throttle through explosions and over huge chasms. While you do actually get to go through all of the above, it's not as much fun as it sounds. For one, the big thing in the game seems to be the replays Ц rather than asking УAre you sure?Ф or something of the like it warns you that your replay hasn't been saved. However, this is never really a big deal, since the replays pretty much suck Ц there are NO camera options, and the only controls are more or less play, pause, and save. Rather disappointing for such a game, and while the occasional replay isn't too bad, you'll likely watch it once and then forget about it until you go to clean up your X-Box's hard drive.

The gameplay is okay, but again mediocre Ц all the vehicles handle very similarly to each other, even the bikes, sports cars and dune buggy. The only real difference between these is speed and the surface you're driving on, though you never really get the sense of speed you'd expect considering the numbers your speedometer will reach. The goals for each level are usually very similar Ц blow up this, collect X number of this and jump X meters in the air. You'd think some of these might be at least slightly challenging, but this isn't really the case Ц any distance-based goal you need to achieve (i.e.- jump 20 meters, powerslide for 25 meters, etc) can be grouped together, so you could make 4 puny 5-meter jumps and that would count as your 20-meter, so there really isn't any difficulty here. Generally all the goals are a cinch, and you'll be able to complete most of them after only a few times through the УSceneФ (there are 4 УsetsФ or movies in the game, and each has 4 scenes which you must progress through), with the odd exception. This relative ease makes the game feel pretty short, and really it is, since each scene is limited to around 2 minutes in length.

The multiplayer isn't a strongpoint of this game either Ц there is but one level and only 3 game modes, none of which declare a winner Ц you can play tag, for instance, but at the end of the match, the game simply asks if you want to play again. Game modes aside from the main one and tag include a stunt-based point match and car jumping, which is perhaps the most irritating of all modes Ц rather than giving you standard transmission and a huge line of cars to jump over, you get to play a game of mini-gold Ц the jump is blocked by two giant swinging balls, and hitting either will destroy your car. Adding to the irritation is the fact that the ramp moves up and down, so you have to time your jumps just right with the pendulums and the ramp. I don't know what the developers were thinking when they implemented this, but they need to give their heads a shake.

The game physics can be very questionable at times Ц you can start your car barrel-rolling in mid air in either direction, and then miraculously reverse the way you're rolling or even start a flip. If you're driving a car and are going faster than 60, you can just hit the trick button and you'll suddenly balance on two wheels until you either lose speed or release the button. The bike is a bit more realistic (and a bit cooler) since you can do wheelies on it, but that's about the extent of the tricks you can perform. Crashes can be very frustrating, as the УresetФ button will upright you, but do so the way you're facing rather than turning you around, so if you land badly and end up facing backwards, you'll get flipped up facing backwards, which, when you're on a clock, can be a little irritating. Your vehicle also has an uncanny tendency to roll upright when common sense would infer that you should be stuck, or that Chase should be dead, since landing upside down on the ATV or motorbike crushes her, but that's not the case. She's apparently invulnerable, unless you hit one of the odd obstacles, such as spinning blades or a falling bus, in which case you vehicles simply disappears in an explosion Ц and when I say disappears, I mean it just disappears Ц no crushed chassis or flaming hulk, you're justЕ gone.

One bright side about the game is the damage effects Ц some, though not all, can be pretty cool, and you'll get to see the insides of your vehicles if you trash them enough. And while nothing in the game is ugly, none of it's terribly good-looking either Ц frame rate can drop substantially at times, and for no apparent reason considering that you'll never see anything worth a frame rate drop. The sound is decent as well, though the car sounds are really boring and the music can get extremely repetitive.