Cover bearing the original title.
Chase the Express (international title, Covert Ops: Nuclear Dawn) is a Third-Person Shooter with Tank Controls and fixed camera segments made by Sugar & Rockets for the original PlayStation. Activision handles the game's distribution rights in North America in 2000.
When the Blue Harvest, a high-speed bullet train was boarded by a terrorist syndicate known as the "Knights of the Apocalypse", a NATO Special Forces team was sent to infiltrate the Blue Harvest and extract it's hostage, among them the French Ambassador, Pierre Simon, his wife Catherine, and daughter, Jane. But a botched infiltration attempt leads to most of the team wiped out in the process, with Special Forces Operative - and Player Character - Lieutenant Jack Morton as the sole survivor.
Making his way into the Blue Harvest, Jack is a One-Man Army against legions of insurgents, only to later discover the terrorists' true mission - to hijack six nuclear warheads in the train's cargo hold, using them to hold the world hostage. And that there's a hidden spy on the Blue Harvest working for the terrorists.
The Chase Begins...
- Anti-Air: The Blue Express has an AA-turret built on carriage 8. When receiving reports of terrorist reinforcements arriving via helicopter, Jack needs to fight his way to the carriage, kill every mook inside and on it, before taking control of the turret to shoot down enemy air support.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Boris, the terrorist mastermind behind the Blue Harvest's hijacking and leader of the Knights of the Apocalypse, is fought roughly 60% into the game and gunned down by Jack without too much fanfare. But the game doesn't end there, Jack still needs to locate where Ambassador Pierre is being held and later found out Pierre's aide, Philip, is working for the villains and the game's True Final Boss.
- Distressed Dude: Jack - with Christina and Philip in tow - comes across Sergeant Billy MacGuire, a NATO Operative assigned to fight the terrorists during the initial takeover only to be badly wounded and nearly dead from excessive blood loss in the process. With one sub-mission having Jack attempting to find a blood pack in the infirmary for Billy - upon recovery, Billy will conveniently remember an important clue and reveal it to Jack.
- Flamethrower Backfire: One of the bosses is a flamethrower-wielding terrorist lieutenant. Upon defeat, the following cutscene have his pack exploding incinerating him alive as Jack dives away from the inferno.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: In the light of the revelation that the bespectacled Philip is working in tandem with the terrorists, despite knowing they're after the hidden nuclear warheads and threatening to detonate one to wipe out Paris, the seemingly-harmless and supposedly helpful aide can be seen as such.
- Guns Akimbo: There's a pickup that allows Jack to use two pistols simultaneously.
- I Have Your Wife: Ambassador Philip's wife, Christina, is the first to be rescued, but as the terrorists still have Philip and his daughter Jane hostage, Christina immediately informs Jack her family is top priority. Jack complies, saving them both in separate missions.
- Locomotive Level: All of them, due to the entire game taking place aboard a bullet train. Inevitably a few leads to a Traintop Battle.
- The Mole: Philip Mason, who appears to be Ambassador Pierre's personal aide, turns out to be working for the "Knights of the Apocalypse", having arranged for the Blue Harvest's takeover. Said mole is personally after the blueprints for a hydrogen engine that could revolutionize industry instantly, which he intends to steal and use to take over the world's economy.
- Notice This: Essential items that can be picked up will let out a visible twinkle, even if there's no reason to do so, just so that the player won't be too lost on where to proceed. For instance, one cutscene suspiciously lingers over a dead terrorist's body, with something twinkling on the collar - it's a hint for the players to search the corpse for a keycard.
- Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: One of the endings sees this trope performed with discs, where Jack can give Philip, the traitor, the fake disk in exchange for Christina's life.
- Race Against the Clock: More than one mission is timed, like preventing the launch of nuclear warheads and returning to the Blue Harvest while on another train when the bridge ahead is out. Most of these stages have a gigantic, bright red countdown on top of the screen for Jack (and the player) to know how much time's left.Jack, the train you're in is headed for a broken bridge! You've got to get back to the Blue Harvest! We're running at 80 mph. There is no time to lose! Align the trains and get back here NOW!
- Save Point: The train's toilets functions as such. Just step into a cubicle, flip the toilet cover open, and choose your memory card slot.
- Shout-Out:
- Name of the train where most of the game is set on? Blue Harvest.
- The tunnel battle, where Philip attacks Jack via helicopter while he's clinging on the Blue Harvest's front is a remake of the climax of Mission: Impossible (1996). The helicopter crashing in a fiery explosion consuming the whole tunnel before it's wreckage misses Jack by an inch even looks similar to Ethan Hunt doing the same to Franz Krieger's exploding chopper.
- Switching P.O.V.: In Scenario S, should Jack be gassed into unconsciousness and taken to a church, Christina will be playable in the next stage to rescue him and help Jack return to the train.
- Tank Controls: Like many narrative-driven action-adventure game of the era, Chase the Express follows the trend.
- Thriller on the Express: Die Hard on a NATO Bullet Train, as if the original title isn't a giveaway already. (Although unusually for this type of story, there are a few stages that take place on a different train running adjacent to the main one.)
- Traintop Battle: Several stages, and multiple boss battles, takes place on the Blue Harvest, with cutscenes showing enemies shot off and falling from the sides.
- Train Job: Another reason for the terrorist takeover, because the Blue Harvest also contains nuclear warheads and the blueprints for a high-tech hydrogen engine, the latter which Philip the traitor personally covets.
- Two-Keyed Lock: The high-tech vault containing the blueprint for a hydrogen engine, which is what Philip is after. Jane's locket, which she gives Jack after her rescue, is one of the keys, while Ambassador Pierre holds the other.
- Wire Dilemma: One such moment occurs when Jack needs to diffuse the nuke on the Blue Harvest as it's heading for Paris, being planted there by Boris with Philip's assistance. The catch is that he needs to cut all the wires, in the correct order, but luckily clues can be obtained beforehand.
