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	Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver
	Developer: I-Imagine Publisher: BAM! Genre: Stunt Racing Players: 1-4 Similar To: Stuntman Rating: Teen Published: 10 :14 : 02 Reviewed By: Ryan Newman Overall: 8.5 = Excellent

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Each course has similar objectives, but instead of being redundant, they manage to offer a steadily enjoyable experience. Though things start off slow and don't leave you much to accomplish, you'll soon find yourself pursuing the quotas for in-air flips, turns, and wheelies that are required to earn the necessary reputation points to advance to the next scene or movie. Whether it's driving a scooter with a huge bowl of Ramen noodles in the middle of a busy city or racing a dirt bike through an army base and over a helicopter-populated chasm, Chase rewards your efforts with sheer entertainment. Although not all courses have to be completed to progress, they are all laid out in such a way as to be challenging while still giving enough leeway for the objectives to be completed, as well as having a healthy amount of shortcuts for the risk-taker. It's this great and well-executed combination of fun courses and tough but attainable objectives that make Chase such an enjoyable title.

Now, all of this isn't to say that the game doesn't have problems; there are graphical flaws, the reputation points can skyrocket in the later levels, and aside from the challenge modes that offer campers to jump over, a freestyle course and other goodies, the missions themselves don't take all that long to complete. This limits replay value to how much you enjoy the original missions - which wasn't a large issue for this reviewer, as I'm replaying the tracks even now. There were a few tracks that had deceiving objectives, however: for instance, you might be expected to reach a certain spot before your time expires, but the scripted events will actually take place five or so seconds before your time is up, which can cause a few problems. Another oddity I found was that the goal had to be accomplished exactly how the game wanted; for instance, if a player chooses not to jump off a ramp but instead bounces off a ledge and crashes through the window to the end of the shoot, then they are left running outside the realm of the track until the last few seconds left tick by.

Probably Chase's weakest point is the inclusion of a rival. His general purpose in the game is to one-up Chase, but he mainly serves as a source of irritation. His repeated insults fail to inspire competition, and his attempts at interruption can become extremely annoying as he shoots you in the middle of a jump, causing your vehicle to crash and the game to start from the beginning. Even with the other problems, I found him to be teeth-grindingly irritating.

Rough spots aside, the whole of the experience was extremely enjoyable and it made for a great time. With obstacle-laden courses and interesting objectives (try riding on two wheels for 45 seconds and then powersliding around a corner for another 20 in that one prime spot of a course to know what I'm talking about), Chase offers such fun that I eagerly played through the movies again after completion. This looks to be another sleeper release from BAM! - re: Way of the Samurai for the PlayStation 2 - but hopefully, this one will get the attention it deserves.

Graphics: 6.5/10
Despite being well-designed and boasting a somewhat interesting look, the courses are surprisingly bland. Their backdrops are even more so, and the fact that the vehicles look so good make this shortcoming that much more prevalent. And as previously mentioned, there are some glitches: the main culprit seems to be clipping, as I was able to drive through many poles, trees, and various other objectives. The only time that gameplay was affected by said glitches was during a course where I was driving a monster truck and when going over a ramp, the truck fell short and landed on a thin wall, but instead of bouncing, the truck fell through it and was stuck there until time ran out. Overall, the graphics were definitely not a showcase of the power of the Xbox, but while they were adequate, they would've fared much better if the clipping problems had been handled properly.

Sound: 7/10
Aside from the annoying remarks of Chase's rival, the audio was rather decent. The music fit the title, the comments from the director were a nice touch, and the vehicles sounded good, although some seemed to be some bizarre stealth mode as I wasn't able to hear their engines at all. Of course, when you're going through a desert level on a buggy with the engine whining and the wheels spinning uncontrollably as a rocket barely misses the back tires and explodes on the side of a cavern, the whole 'Strange, I didn't hear an engine with the last car' factor pretty much goes out the window.

Control: 8.5/10
Featuring standard handling with some relatively subtle differences, this is one of those titles that is easy to pick up and play. Getting the hang of unlocked cars takes an initial run-through of the course, but a bit of practice, you'll soon be speeding through barricades and jumping over boats with ease.

Overall: 8.5/10
A hurricane was passing through town when I first decided to try out Chase; 11 hours and 45 minutes later, I finally put down the controller. At its core, this game is nothing more than a racer with the inclusion of stunts, which is nothing new; however, it does right what so many other games fail to do by melding enjoyable courses and tricks in a manner that makes it incredibly addictive and flat-out fun. Give Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver a try, as it's more than worth it.

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