Chase HQ - Car Games For Kids

Chase HQ Old Arcade Review- Car Games For Kids

Chase HQ has a special place in my heart when I think about old arcade games and my personal favorites.

Taking some inspiration from Miami Vice, Chase HQ is all about chasing criminals and bringing them to justice by smashing their car into submission.

You drive a black Porsche 928 S4 Turbo and you and your wise-cracking partner get your instructions on the radio from Nancy the dispatcher at HQ.

You then have 60 seconds to race through the streets and catch up with the known criminal. If you successfully reach the baddie, your time extends for another 60 seconds - just enough time to repeatedly smash the criminal's car off the road and make the arrest.

Released just two years after the seminal Outrun, Chase HQ was arguably just as popular and captured the public's imagination just as vividly.

This time, the focus was more on fun, rather than purely racing against the clock and the game was also notably easier than previous successful racing games.

Although the game's sense of speed was incredible, especially when activating one of three turbos available, it was not much of a challenge to reach the criminals car and with any reasonable skill, you could usually reach the third or fourth stage on one credit.

My only real criticism of the game, (scrutinizing a 27 year old game at the time of writing!) is that when you run out of time and you decide to continue with an extra credit, it is actually harder because you car comes to a complete stop when you run out of time.  So you need additional time just to catch up with criminal's car again.

Back then to get the most value for money in an arcade, any player aware of this would just start again from the beginning.

Chase HQ also borrows the alternative routes from Outrun, although these choices are offered near the start of the stage and if you pick the correct one you reach the criminal a little quicker.

Other innovative features included tunnels and objects in the road which didn't slow you down, they were there for dramatic effect.

The handling of the car was not really tuned for sliding around corners, but more zipping in and out of traffic whilst chasing the bad guys.

So Chase HQ had all the hallmarks for a classic arcade game, exciting and fast action, appealing to the masses, excellent sound including some smart wise-cracks "Let's go Mr Driver!" and a catchy them tune when the criminal's car was reached.

On a side-note I was ecstatic when the Spectrum conversion got such great reviews and I remember taking the bus to my local town centre and buying the game for £9.99. For a spectrum game, it was awesome!

Chase HQ went on with a sequel which introduced gun play, which I also liked very much. They were fantastic car games for kids!

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