Reviews

I don't know why, but Chase HQ is regarded as one of the best games of zx spectrum. Ok, it's better than competing 8bit ports of the same game, it's fast and very close to arcade version.

Definitely not in my top 10 but it's one of the finest creations of ocean software for sure.

This is probably the best arcade racer that ever made it to the Spectrum, although it still rather shows the machine's limitations to stark effect.

Bill Harbison's graphics make the most of what's a largely monochrome affair, with a variety of roadside scenery as well as some neat inserts on the panel. Audio wise it's pretty good too with a smattering of speech and an excellent tune from Jonathan Dunn which cranks plenty of arpeggios out of the AY chip.

What mostly sells this game though is a good feeling of speed, although things can still judder a bit when there's a lot happening at once.

This isn't a genre to which the Spectrum is particularly well suited, but this makes the most of what it can do.

Even today most racing games are disposable.

Back in the eighties, most racers suffered the same problem with added technical problems inherent in trying to convey speed in a 2 colour spectrum game. Without the power to move polygons, many racers simply had you racing against the clock, or against scripted 'ghostly' cars that seemed to sit there on the track waiting to be overtaken.

All of this makes ChaseHQ on the spectrum a complete masterpiece of it's day. The 'chase down and ram off the road' gameplay was different to what other racing games were offering and was beautifully executed given the limitations of the spectrum.

The one issue I have with this game is that I personally don't find it that addictive. For me this is a one or two go game rather than something I can spend ages playing. I also didn't feel that there was much progression. Sometimes it did jujst feel like doing the same thing over and over with not much difficulty curve.

Still a great conversion of the coin-op to the humble spec.

One of the absolute best arcade conversions on the Spectrum. Everything in this game works well, the graphics are great, the gameplay has a proper arcade feel and the music is yet another fine piece of work from Jonathan Dunn. There's even some sampled speech. Overall, definately worth checking out, if you loved the arcade game, give this a go.

It wasn't often that an owner of the humble rubber beast could smirk over their 16-bit owning chums, but the release of Chase HQ heralded such an occasion. The blistering pace, crisp graphics and entirely-intact immediate playability of the coin-op was intact, and to rub salt further into the festering wound, every other conversion on every other platform was uniformly awful. Sprites like wobbling blancmange, hideous blocky roadside objects, flickery horizons, obnoxious brass band synth music, horrible controls.. you name it. It's become a masochistic passion of mine to play terrible ports and Chase HQ for the Amiga, C64, Amstrad, ST, NES, PC Engine are all uniformly abysmal.

Meanwhile we have the Speccy version, which is fortunately ace. You play as the guys from "Miami Vice" who are not actually the guys from "Miami Vice" for tax reasons, but actually friendly talking avian pursuit drivers. Or maybe just pursuit drivers. Anyway they predictably pursue a bevehicled baddy, who your Auntie Nancy conveniently shows you a nice snapshot of before you start. You must navigate the treacherous byways of Yorkshire (probably) until you catch up with the enemy vehicle, at which point you must pound him into submission! Just like the real police! Your reward for inflicting this insurance-inflating misery is to then pursue another car, to which you do the same thing! Hurrah!

At it's heart Chase HQ is just distilled fun - it's ludicrously short and the chief challenge comes from doing enough damage during that bastard of a time limit. The car-rending destruction is suitably graphically agreeable, with sharp sprites, classy little spot effects like the hand putting the police light on your car's roof when the enemy is sighted, shards of car flying all over the place, wodges of roadside objects. The impression of pure speed when using the turbo is seriously impressive. I don't think there's a game yet that feels that quick to me. Maybe Wipeout or something, but it's still a close-run thing. Soundwise it's also not bad, with a funky percussion led number to open and parpy noises when your car corners.

There's not a lot else to say - the closest the Speccy came to arcade perfection, and a high-water mark in its fortunes.

Perhaps the most overrated game on the spectrum. I just don't find this fun to play.

What I do agree with is this game is very well programmed and the speech is fantastic. What I don't agree with is controlling your car can at times by very awkward and can be at times quite frustrating. Chase HQ is good but a shade under brilliance.

This is hot stuff.
4,25/5

Another game I loved. Simply one of the best arcade conversions ever made for the Speccy. The sampled speech is fantastic and it plays brilliantly too. For me, this can only get a 5.