History VideoGame / Chaser

* DownerEnding: Seemingly pretty standard for an Eastern European developed game (although, given their history, it's kinda understandable). [[spoiler:Pretty much TheBadGuyWins. MARSCORP President Samuel Longwood destroys the Resistance's main base and breaks the leader of the Resistance, and "Chaser" is captured and[=/=]or killed. The only upside is that Chaser kills the Resistance Leader, preventing the BigBad from scanning his brain for the location and identity of any remaining Resistance cells. Pretty much the same ending as if ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' had ended with Cohagen capturing Quaid and strapping him into the brainwashing[=/=]unbrainwashing machine.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Chaser gets told that the city he's in implants a [[ExplosiveLeash metal spider]] into those that fall into the interest of the local mafia to keep them under their thumb, and that he should leave as soon as humanly possible. He promptly does the exact opposite and heads straight back in where he immediately bumps into the leader of the mafia, gets knocked out and implanted with the spider so he'll have no choice but to do jobs for them. [[FromBadToWorse He almost seems to degrade in intelligence from there.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Chaser gets told that the city he's in implants a [[ExplosiveLeash metal spider]] into those that fall into the interest of the local mafia to keep them under their thumb, and that he should leave as soon as humanly possible. He promptly does the exact opposite and heads straight back in to the leader of the mafia, gets knocked out and implanted with the spider so he'll have no choice but to do jobs for them. [[FromBadToWorse He almost seems to degrade in intelligence from there.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: That "man in black" who saved Chaser's life in Russia is never found. Or seen. Or even given a name. Or a reason to do what he did. Or...absolutely anything.

* RareGuns: The AS Val, Heckler & Koch G11 and XM29 OICW appear plenty in this game.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse?: That "man in black" who saved Chaser's life in Russia is never found. Or seen. Or even given a name. Or a reason to do what he did. Or...absolutely anything.

* WhatHappenedtotheMouse?: That "man in black" who saved Chaser's life in Russia is never found. Or seen. Or even given a name. Or a reason to do what he did. Or...absolutely anything.

* TooDumbToLive: Chaser gets told that the city he's in implants a [[ExplosiveLeash metal spider]] into those that fall into the interest of the local mafia to keep them under their thumb, and that he should leave as soon as humanly possible. He promptly does the exact opposite and heads straight back in to the leader of the mafia, gets knocked out and implanted with the spider so he'll have no choice but to do jobs for them.

* ArtificialStupidity: The enemy A.I. is very simple, especially compared to modern shooters. Enemies mostly just run towards your location, then stand still and fire at you once they enter your line-of-sight (although they do occasionally run behind cover for a couple seconds).

* NintendoHard: ''Extremely''. This is an old-school, hardcore PC shooter. No regenerating health. Health and armor pickups are relatively uncommon. Enemies can kill you in just four or five assault rifle shots (seven or eight shots if you're fully armored). Snipers can kill you in one or two shots. Adrenaline Mode gives you a slight edge, but doesn't make you a God Among Men like in most other shooters that feature it.

* TasteOfPower: As you escape from the space station at the start of the game you get to use the G11 as your primary weapon, which is one of the best assault rifles in the entire game. You lose your inventory upon crashing down on Earth, and that weapon only appears again much, much later.

* TasteOfPower: As you escape from the space station at the start of the level you get to use the G11 as your primary weapon, which is one of the best assault rifles in the entire game. You lose your inventory upon crashing down on earth, and that weapon only appears again much, much later.

The game takes place in the year 2044, and follows the adventures of John Chaser, an [[EasyAmnesia amnesiac]] soldier with a price on his head who stumbles from one location to another on dystopian Earth as he gets drawn into the conflict between the tyrannical Marscorp MegaCorp and the martian resistance. The game's plot is transparently a WholePlotReference to ''Film/TotalRecall1990''.

* DownerEnding: Seemingly pretty standard for an Eastern European developed game (although, given their history, it's kinda understandable). [[spoiler:Pretty much TheBadGuyWins. Marscorps President Samuel Longwood destroys the Resistance's main base and breaks the leader of the Resistance, and "Chaser" is captured and[=/=]or killed. The only upside is that Chaser kills the Resistance Leader, preventing the BigBad from scanning his brain for the location and identity of any remaining Resistance cells. Pretty much the same ending as if ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' had ended with Cohagen capturing Quaid and strapping him into the brainwashing[=/=]unbrainwashing machine.]]
* EliteMooks: In the last few levels you primarily fight Marscorps heavy soldiers wearing PoweredArmor that can soak almost a full mag of gunfire, and equipped with [=OCIW=]s, the best assault rifles in the game (which are also equipped with undermounted rocket launchers).

* BulletTime: The game has Adrenaline Mode, which slows down time giving you more time to react. Unlike most other Bullet Time mechanics in other games, it does ''not'' increase your movement or shooting speed, leaving you just as vulnerable to damage. It also regenerates ''extremely'' slowly, so you can't rely on it for every firefight. On the plus side, you have a lot of it (a full meter lasts almost 30 continuous seconds, but it takes several minutes to regenerate).

* BodyArmorAsHitPoints: Averted. Body armor semi-realistically absorbs a percentage of damage based on its condition. At full armor, your armor absorbs all of a bullet's damage, while at partial armor it will only absorb a percentage of the damage (with the rest directly damaging your health).

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chaser_game.jpeg]]

''Chaser'' is a 2003 sci-fi FirstPersonShooter for the PC (now available on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} developed by Cauldron, an Eastern European developer known for making "budget" first-person shooters such as ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune: Payback'', ''The History Channel: A Nation Divided'' and ''Battle in the Pacific'', and ''VideoGame/JurassicTheHunted''.

''Chaser'' is a 2003 sci-fi FirstPersonShooter for the PC (now available on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} developed by Cauldron, an Eastern European developer known for making "budget" first-person shooters such as ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune: Payback'', ''The History Channel: A Nation Divided'' and ''Battle in the Pacific'', and ''JurassicTheHunted''.

''Chaser'' is a 2003 sci-fi FirstPersonShooter for the PC (now available on {{Steam}}) developed by Cauldron, an Eastern European developer known for making "budget" first-person shooters such as ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune: Payback'', ''The History Channel: A Nation Divided'' and ''Battle in the Pacific'', and ''JurassicTheHunted''.

* GiantMook: The last few levels have several enemy exoskeletons which are basically the power loader from {{Aliens}} strapped with armor plating, a minigun, and a rocket launcher.

''Chaser'' is a 2003 sci-fi FirstPersonShooter for the PC developed by Cauldron, an Eastern European developer known for making "budget" first-person shooters such as ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune: Payback'', ''The History Channel: A Nation Divided'' and ''Battle in the Pacific'', and ''JurassicTheHunted''.

''Chaser'' is now available on {{Steam}} for $4.99.

The game's most notable features are its rendering of a few dozen different real-world firearms (with a surprising absence of any sci-fi "space guns" despite the sci-fi setting), its ''huge'' levels, and a BulletTime mechanic known as adrenaline mode (although it's much less of a core gameplay element than in ''[[FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]]'' or ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'').