Maximum Chase, brought to you by the folks over at Majesco Games, is a very
straight forward racer/shooter combo. As Rick Summers, an off duty Los Angelos
police officer, you are thrust into the center of a large scale terrorist plot.
Oddly enough Rick’s involvement comes about by a woman named Christine Stanfield
who jumped in his car one day as she was being chased around the streets of
Los Angelos. Cue the chase, and with it level one.

Gameplay
The game play in Maximum Chase is divided into two types, driving and shooting.
The levels are short and have you fleeing from multiple aggressors ranging from
tinted out Sedans, to Hummers, and even the occasional helicopter or police
car. When you are not driving you are hanging out the passenger side window
blasting away while Christine handles the maneuvering.

The driving portion is straight forward, you start at point A and are tasked
with escaping your pursuers by getting to point B in one piece. The vehicles
you use for your fast getaways change every few levels with a cut scene to explain
the transitions and fill you in on the story as it is progressing. The vehicles
in Maximum Chase vary from pickup trucks like the Chevrolet S70, classics such
as a 1970 Camaro and even the stylish Nissan Z. The variety of vehicles is nice
and gives you a chance to experiment with the different types of handling each
car has.

The shooting section has Christine at the wheel doing the driving, while you
fend off your pursuers by blasting away out of the passenger side window. While
on shooting levels, pursuing vehicles can only be damaged by gun fire as Christine
doesn’t ram any of them or force them off the road, the shooting scenes
play much like a rail shooter. The shooting levels are also where you face off
against the boss in each area of the story. Each segment of the story contains
a different boss, and the bosses’ appearances vary from land to air assault
vehicles. The boss vehicles are also noted by the multiple targets located on
them, this allows you to focus on neutralizing their weapon systems before focusing
your attacks on destroying them.

Maximum Chase is very fast paced with the driving sections being more intense
than the shooting counterparts. The levels feature various ramps and sharp turns
to drift around, along with alley ways to fly through while avoiding dumpsters.
One of the benefits is the intense action, Maximum Chase keeps you focusing
and ready to evade the next threat. The environments in Maximum Chase also vary
from industrial parks to dessert chases complete with scripted events and sharp
twists and turns. Unfortunately the levels offer multiple routes and offer little
to no guidance, making it very easy to find yourself smacking into a dead end
or wasting time driving in circles.

Control
The controls are simple in Maximum Chase and easy to adapt to, with a learning
curve of less than 15 minutes. The game features two sets of controls, one for
shooting and one for driving, both seeming very straight forward. In the shooting
areas you stick to the R trigger for firing and B to reload, with the left analogue
used for aiming your cross hair. The driving portion is a very natural control
scheme, the triggers are for accelerating and braking, the A button is to drift
and X is to reverse, with the left analogue stick to control the vehicle. I
found this a nice layout, though it does take time to get in the habit of using
A to drift and not brake, which barely brakes a vehicle going over 100 miles
per hour.

Graphics

The cars featured in Maximum Chase are very nicely modeled with attention paid
to detail, all brought to you on license from their respective manufacturers.
The damage modeling is handled very nicely, though it only really applies to
your own car. As you are getting smacked around and shot at the cars’ condition
and looks slowly start to deteriorate, windows crack and the sides gain gashes
in them to accurately reflect the damage that has been inflicted. Unfortunately,
this damage modeling and attention to detail doesn’t carry over to the enemy
vehicles. You are often being chased by cars that take damage quickly and never
display any sort of physical indications before their tires are blown out and
they are removed from the chase.

The levels in Maximum Chase vary from movie sets that mimic Jurassic Park,
to streets of various neighborhoods throughout Los Angelos. The levels are nicely
designed in terms of placement and size, unfortunately they are not very detailed
in terms of textures. As previously mentioned, one of the major problems with
the levels is the lack of guidance. Their is really only one path to the end
of the level, although you are given many options that lead to dead ends or
has you going in circles. The levels do not offer a mini map or anything to
consult while speeding through the streets, though in the time it takes to get
to the end perhaps a map wouldn’t be too useful anyway. The lack of multiple
exits from the level also take away from the bonus it receives in size, this
is due to the fact the other directions you can take in a level don’t offer
any purpose, and instead are there to slow you down or confuse you.

Audio
While swerving through the streets of Los Angelos trying to locate the correct
path to take, you are often entertained with your characters making comments
about your driving or how close the enemy is to you. Throughout the levels your
characters also help to guide you by instructing you to drive through certain
locations, though it is often done at the most obvious times when it is not
needed, such as when a large yellow arrow is pointing at the location. The voice
acting in the game is decent but doesn’t seem to match up with the video as
it is dubbed on top of it, the problem I had is that the characters seem to
be speaking English, so why dub English audio over the natural English video?
The upside to the voice acting is that it is well done, while you may not be
convinced the people are really in peril, the characters voices do seem to match
their looks and personalities.

The sound effects found in Maximum Chase are nicely done overall, though lacking
in some departments. While the car related sound effects are where the game
shines, the rest seem to have had less attention paid to them. From the revving
of the engine to the glass shattering as you slam into other cars and objects,
the audio based around the vehicles is the pinnacle of the game. The downside
however is the gunshots and related sound effects, with the guns containing
a very flat tone and lacking the ferocity of real gun fire. This is most evident
during the shooting portions where you are constantly firing and reloading your
weapon, as well as being fired upon. Unfortunately this lack of realism extends
to the explosions where they all sound alike, you would expect a truck falling
from three stories high and erupting in a ball of flames to sound a lot stronger
then a barrel blowing up or the tires to a car being blown out. All in all the
audio is sub par, what points are earned on the cars effects are soon removed
by the dubbed voice acting and lack of feeling in explosions and gunshots.

Replay Value
Maximum Chase features a challenge mode that can only be unlocked after the
game has been completed, all 23 levels, as well as different cars that can be
unlocked later and cheat codes that can be activated. While you may want to
try the challenges repeatedly, constantly perfecting your scores, the story
on the other hand is horrible. With the terrible dubbed cut scenes and bad acting
the story mode takes an amazing beating. The game itself is not difficult at
all, once you realize the path that needs to be taken through a particular level
that is. With many games offering alternate endings, online content, etc. Maximum
Chase just doesn’t stand up to the mold when it comes to reasons to play
it again after finishing the story and challenges.

Additional Comments
Maximum Chase is on the lower half of the enjoyable games that are available
for the Xbox console right now, the game starts on a high note with the levels
being fast and action packed, but they don’t offer any variety except scenery,
they all play the same and end with a magnificent stunt you have no control
over. The ability to watch the chase you just finished is nice and the game
adds special effects, transitions and camera angles to the video to give you
a sense of excitement. Unfortunately that excitement starts to dwindle as you
progress through the game. The story in Maximum Chase is badly told and almost
doesn’t include you; your job is to get to point B and to get there fast. After
playing the game I almost felt as though I had no influence on the story and
it was just a bad reason to drive fast and have cars chase me. The dubbed videos
set against videogame graphics with live actors was the nail in the coffin for
the story. If you are considering purchasing this game, it is recommended that
you pick it up for a rental first.

Overall Score
Overall Score: 5.2/10 [Not an Average]

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