Released in 2003, this is very much a classical FPS. For those that cannot look past dated graphics and old-style gameplay (for example grenades being considered weapons rather than a hotkey), this game is not for you. It is also a fairly long game- taking me almost 13 hours to complete on Normal difficulty

The plot of the game is… difficult to understand. You play as an amnesiac whom, after escaping to Earth, discovers that they are the legendary rebel John Chaser. Beyond that, and despite playing attention to every infrequent cutscene, I did not understand much of what was going on. John Chaser has little agency and spends most of the game being commanded by various criminal bosses. Whilst there are frequent betrayals during the story, they kind of happen out of nowhere during a cutscene. The lack of any explanation and agency resulted in me neither knowing nor caring about why Chaser was killing these people.

Gameplay is the best part of the game. Like many of the same genre, your character is a proverbial arsenal of weapons. The guns sound great and, at least in the earlier missions, create an impression of impact. Whilst not particularly futuristic considering the setting, there are several memorable guns that I enjoyed using. For some reason Chaser also possesses a slow-time ability. I do not quite know how that factors into the game’s lore but whatever. If you played this game, you would be forgiven for not realising that such an ability existed since the game never gives any indication that Chaser can bend space-time. In the later missions this ability is imperative to survive even a single encounter so one would think that the game would at least suggest it is there. While this ability is a standard time slow, whenever you use it, you get blinded for two seconds. It also recharges very slowly- a problem in the later missions.

A mark is its age is the game’s refusal to ascribe to modern gaming conventions like ‘fairness’ and ‘logic’. Difficulty in the game frequently flickers from easy to impossible at will. Sometimes the AI is brain-dead. Enemies would stand still not reacting as I shot them. If they react, their aim resembled the aim of a Stormtrooper as they fail to hit a stationary target from two metres away. On the other hand, the AI occasionally can be likened to a CSGO hacker. It is often that you will be one-shot by an enemy from across the map firing a machine-gun of grenades. I also encountered the occasional glitched invisible enemy. The level-design compounds this difficulty. The AI will almost always get the advantage of surprise over you as they snipe you from the most obscure angles. This results in levels basically being Chaser travelling from one ambush to another. You will die a lot, some of it will be your fault, a lot of deaths will not. For this reason, you must save constantly. Literally after every fight. Sometimes during.

Most levels follow the same format. Be commanded to go to a place. Kill everything in that place. While repetitive, this is fine as it is where the game is at its best. Infrequently, there are parts which deviate from this formula. Most… suck. Of special mention is the underwater section. That was hell to go through. During that level you must go from one tiny light to another whilst ignoring or killing hundreds of underwater turrets firing at you. The lights must be found in order and are often located far enough away from each other that it takes you ages to find. I would have just called this section boring if not for the fact that I had to take breaks because of how nauseous I felt. You are thus stuck trying to find a small light in the most illogical of places whilst fighting off turrets and sickness.

It should be said that there are some good levels. The Yakuza mission was great and, others such as the Mars assault, were very memorable. Despite being quite linear in nature, the maps gave the impression of being much larger. This is not a good thing. It is remarkably easy to get lost in the map and often the way to progress is completely illogical. Whilst I would not usually bemoan a lack of map, this game desperately needed one as none of the exits were signposted. You spend a good 20 minutes in every level running into doors until one finally opens.

Despite being quite critical of the game, I recommend it. While my 12 hours of gameplay were filled with frustrations, I must admit that I enjoyed myself. As horribly broken as the game was, it had a certain charm that I came to appreciate. As it was on sale, I got it for £1.12 and to get 12 hours of somewhat fun for that price is, in my opinion, a steal. I honestly and wholeheartedly recommend this game.

I also recommend that you keep a guide handy whilst playing because a good 40% of this game is getting lost.