Dom Robinson reviews
Chase the Express
for Sony Playstation
Distributed by
Sony
As the game is titled, "Chase the Express"
, I thought at first this was to be
a belated sequel to the ZX Spectrum classic, "Stop the Express", which pitted you as a shrunken
Pillsbury doughboy' character running and jumping across the roof of a train until reaching the front
and putting a stop to the speedy shenanigans. Nothing could be further from the truth.
You are Lieutenant Jack Morton, the sole survivor of a NATO operation that went pear-shaped. Now
it's time to make amends and you'll do this in a game that combines elements of third-person
shooters and the ever-popular Resident Evil series.
A group of terrorist nutters named the Knights of the Apocalypse have kidnapped the French
Ambassador and his consorts. They want $20 million and safe passage to France to blow up Paris and
top this respected government official. This is important because everyone knows the Ambassador's
receptions are noted in society for those delizious chocolate balls handed out by his butler.
Covert Ops: Nuclear Dawn plays out in third-person perspective, similar to Tomb Raider at first as
you make your way across the top of a hijacked train, avoiding the bad guys' bullets before gaining
access to the carriages. From there the fixed camera points ape those the aforementioned gory monster
hit as the one nearest to you shows what you're up to. However, like Big Brother, they follow you
about, although there have been times when I was ambushed and couldn't see the enemy because they
were off-camera. It's difficult enough to get the hang of moving about sometimes without such extra
hindrances.
Perseverance is the key though and patience definitely is rewarded. The animation of your character
and those around is fluid and smooth with detailed graphics. Enemy A.I. is acceptable but they're not
really required to have a brain here, unlike a game such as
Thief 2.
Upon entering a carriage, you're
shown where any enemies are residing and if you want to take them on, that's up to you, but if you
get too close they will find you. One carriage early on had a hidey-hole enabling me to hold off firing
until they came past and a clear head-shot eliminated the problem.
You can hold up to eight items at once, with a menu/storage system that's lifted straight out of the
Resident Evil series, making that one part of the game that's easy to understand. The puzzles aren't
too taxing though as many are a case of picking up items from one area and using it in another.
Overall, this feels at times like Soldier of Fortune Lite for Playstation owners.
That game had a train-based level but the emphasis was more on killing than problem-solving. However you still get a
number of occasions in which to open fire and a small amount of thought should see you through the
puzzles (hint: search all dead bodies lying around for goodies).
PC owners will definitely feel short-changed, even if this one stills finds it compelling. First
person-shooters are advancing all the time and few games, Covert Ops excluded, can match the sheer
atmosphere and terror brought about by the nemeses in
Thief 2.
There I had to change my pants
hourly, whereas here I don't even break into a sweat.
Overall: 4/5
This review was on Freeloader.com before it closed.
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
