Solid on-rails shooter
The on-rails shooter is a genre that seems to go in and out of favour with regularity, with classics like Operation Wolf, Starfox, Panzer Dragoon and the Time Crisis series each providing their own twists on a well worn formula. Chaos Control is such a shooter, and while it may be not a classic example, it certainly provides some solid blasting for undiscriminating action fans. As is usual with sci-fi games, there's an aggressive alien race with plans for galactic domination and a lone pilot who stands as the last hope for mankind. In this case, that's the player and you are given control of a nifty little fighter craft which is apparently enough to do the job. As this is an on-rails shooter, the player has no control over the craft's movement, but instead targets a reticule freely, blasting the myriad enemies from the sky with wild abandon. These include giant mechs and other spaceships, with virtual reality constructs also making an appearance. There are some pretty cool levels to fly through, including devastated cityscapes with ruined bridges, with the Statue of Liberty making an appearance at one point. Visually, the game is quite striking with some attractive pre-rendered backdrops and some impressive anime-style cutscenes. Enemies too are nicely varied and well designed. As on-rail shooters go, this isn't bad. The action is certainly fast and furious, with everything zipping along at a good pace, and it is undeniably fun blasting those pesky aliens from the skies. Any faults with the game really revolve around the genre, such as the lack of control, so your enjoyment of Chaos Control will largely depend on your acceptance of this fact. If you want a neat shooter for a couple of hours of action, then this certainly fills the role, but don't expect a classic.
