SPECIAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS : CHASE HQ 2
Publisher : Ocean
Release date : 1992
Genre : Racing
Players : 1
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"The meanest pursuit game to hit your screen! IT'S FAST - featuring explosive turbo-boost. IT'S TOUGH - shoot the villains but dodge their flak!"
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Programming :
Ian Morrison
Graphics :
I.C.E.
Music/Sounds :
I.C.E.
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Download ROM
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Download Manual
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Editors review...
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So here we are - the holy grail of GX4000 games! This isn't going to be a review of sorts, as no-one's ever played it apart from maybe 3 people in existence (except Ocean programmers)! Firstly the reviewer Robby in French magazine "Cent Pour Cent" who reviewed it in the May 1991 issue (see pics below), and also the owner of the only known copy in existence James plus Martyn Carroll of Retro Gamer magazine (click HERE to download the scan of the Retro Gamer article) who did a brilliant piece on this game shedding some light in issue 46.
Seemingly lost until last year, when it's owner James popped up on CPC Zone forums causing quite a stir with pictures he'd taken, efforts are still under way as to how to dump the cart without damaging or opening the case. To find out about more of the story behind this, we have Martyn Carrol to thank who contacted James and also the programmer of the game (Ian Morrison) and the end result was a brilliant article in Retro Gamer. I suggest you go read that now for all the details, but as to how the game came into his hands - James picked the game up from the mail order firm WAVE advertising in Amstrad Action as late as 1993! Bet some of you are kicking yourself for ignoring those adverts now eh?
So what of the game? I suggest you also go and play the Spectrum release of the game - as it was coded first and then ported to the Amstrad. With added GX colours of course. Or maybe you shouldn't bother and shatter and dreams or illusions of the game - as the Speccy version is a stinker. And according to Martyn - "the game is identical to the Spectrum version in look, feel and execution...save for its colourful graphics, which do at least make use of the Plus's expanded colour palette." Don't want to believe what you're hearing? Well the programmer worked on the abysmal Outrun conversion, as well as the distinctly average Enduro Racer. This isn't the original Chase HQ team...
This is not good news. And what if the game ever found its way onto Ebay? Well I'd estimate the value from £200 up to anything over a grand! Depends how desperate collectors are and how deep their pockets are too.
So until the game's ROM gets dumped and we can play it via Winape, we'll just have to wait a bit longer but in the knowledge we probably aren't missing out on much sadly.
Here's some further images and photos I've managed to dig up ->
*** NEW IMAGES ***
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Graphics
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Music
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Sounds
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Presentation
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Programming
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Playability
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Lastability
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Concept
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AI & Challenge
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GX4000 Features
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Summary
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Final Score
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%
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Cheats...
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No cheats found.
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YouTube video...
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No YouTube video found.
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Further more...
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Amstrad Action final score : %
GX4000.CO.UK game ranking : #
Game value (boxed + instructions) : £200 - £1000
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Credits...
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Manuals and some sleeve scans by mochilote at cpcmania.com
ROMS taken from NVG FTP Site maintained by Nich Campbell, see his other site - CPC Game Reviews
Cheats (various) taken from CPC Zone contributed by Hermol, cpc4eva, Malc and others
Inspiration generally taken from John King's PCW King GX4000 site
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