I have to be honest and say that on the whole Chaser almost passed me by as just another first person shooter, similar to so many others currently available. So when JoWood sent me a preview copy I set it aside for a couple of days before loading it up and getting stuck into it.

There were a couple of things which struck me immediately when the game started. First and foremost was the speed with which the game itself loaded. After skipping the obligatory logo FMVs, the game loaded almost immediately. A quick browse through the usual set of menus had me set up and ready to play.

Getting Started
Usually when I start a new game for the first time I ramp every graphic and audio setting to the highest possible level to see what sort of effect it will have on my system, a venerable P4 1.7 with a GeForce 4 TI4600. I have 512Mb ram, but a stupidly slow swap drive (5400RPM) which tends to impact on a lot of games. After an initial run through I tend to ramp down detail settings, special effects like dynamic lighting, particle systems, draw distances and so forth to get good, fast game play which allows me to focus on the game itself rather than any problems that may occur with the game engine.

So, first things first and in to the tutorial. After sitting through the introductory FMV, I spent a couple of minutes staring at the screen before realising the intro FMV wasn't an FMV at all but was the game engine itself. In perhaps the most understated introduction to a game tutorial ever, you start the tutorial facing down a short corridor. In the ceiling above you is a slowly rotating fan with a light source behind it. The walls are spaced evenly with concrete supports. And what made me pause was that the shadows cast by the rotating fan correctly mapped across all the environment in front of me, and honestly looked like part of a pre-rendered movie.

And all without changing the graphic settings. I played through the entire game with every possible graphical detail ramped up as high as possible, and only on one level did I experience any problems - and oddly, only on the second play through which suggests to me it was a swap drive issue rather than any problems with the game engine itself.

Graphics
Cauldron have used their own proprietary engine called CloakNT to developer Chaser, and I think this engine is going to give a lot of the big players pause for thought once properly released. I know that a short single player demo has been released on some magazine cover mounts, although not online yet. The demo level shows off some of the abilities of the game engine, but leaves out some of the more spectacular effects, or perhaps the most amazing of all, the sheer size of levels and complexity of architecture the engine is capable of displaying.

The engine seems quite capable of handling vast quantities of complex architecture with ease, as well as dealing with the most realistic curved surfaces I have yet seen. It is unfortunate that the screenshots we have posted do not give you any idea of how good the engine looks whilst playing, with textures having various levels of reflectivity and curved surfaces reflecting properly.

One of the biggest complaints in some FPS games in recent years has been the amount of time taken to load levels (can you say SiN?) or the shortness of the levels before needing to load a new area (James Bond anyone?) One of the things that struck me only after a couple of days playing was the sheer size of some of the levels. It became common for there to be more than 1 to 2 hours of solid game play between level loads, and one level in particular took me around 4 hours to play through for the first time - the levels really are that large (and no, the length of game play was not down to loads of backtracking.)

However the size of the levels doesn't mean the complexity within the level suffers, a the detail in each level extends as far as modeled rebar in broken concrete or nails holding boards across windows, as well as extended level design in unreachable areas purely to extend the feel of the environment and give it a greater sense of realism. 

Enemies
Each of the enemies within the game has been very carefully modeled as well, from their movements to the various animations. The AI is not particularly good at this early stage, with most reactions being limited to a sidestep or to backing away behind cover when attacked.

This early stage of the AI also shows through in the absolute prescience of the AI, as well as their marksmanship. It can be very difficult to get through some portions of the game simply because if you even get close to a corner the AI will see you immediately.

There is also a wealth of different opponents, from almost unarmed thugs in the slums of Montack City where you start, to heavily armoured exoskeletons which require enormous amounts of firepower to destroy, and even fixed gun emplacements which can very quickly turn you into hamburger if you are not careful.

Weapons
There is an enormous variety of weapons within Chaser, although you will very quickly end up relying on three weapons alone - the Heckler & Koch G11, a new variation on the venerable AK-47 that comes complete with a scope, and another weapon whose name escapes me at present. Also included are the obligatory rocket launchers, grenade launchers, hand grenades and lighter small arms weapons, most of which will never get used unless you run out of ammunition, or are forced to use them as they are the only weapons available.

Sound
There's not a lot I can say about sound unfortunately, as the preview version I played obviously had placeholder audio rather than final audio, so I was treated to some quite comical voice acting throughout the game, often bringing a smile to my face as a swarm of enemies would rush around yelling "There!" or "To the Left!" in a fake American accent..