Covert Ops: Nuclear Dawn

Covert Ops: Nuclear Dawn, otherwise known as Chase the Express (チェイス・ザ・エクスプレス, Cheisu Za Ekusupuresu), is a video game created by Sugar & Rockets for the PlayStation, and released in 2000. On March 16, 2000 Activision announced that they had acquired the North American publishing rights to Sony Computer Entertainment's Japanese action-adventure game, Chase The Express. The game was then renamed Covert Ops: Nuclear Dawn for the North American market.

Plot

The player controls Lieutenant Jack Morton of NATO, the sole survivor of a terrorist strike on the Blue Harvest, an armored train. He is aided by Christina Wayborn throughout the game, the French ambassador's bodyguard and the NATO council. Traveling around the various carriages of the train, the player must defeat the terrorists, find the French ambassador, and prevent the terrorists from using a nuclear weapon.

The terrorists, under the leadership of Boris Zugoski, detonate some C4 charges in parts of the train, kill all those who resist and take the French ambassador's family hostage. At a certain point in the game Boris is killed by Jack and it appears that the ambassador's assistant, Phillip Mason, is actually a double agent sent to steal a data disk from the Blue Harvest.

The ending depends upon what data disk the player gave Mason.

Good endings consist of Mason attempting to escape in the helicopter but being stopped by Jack who stops the nuclear bombs on board. The Ambassador is saved as is Billy.

Bad endings consist of Mason escaping and remaining at large. Jack then stops the nuclear bombs however the Ambassador dies as does Billy.

Gameplay

The game is a third-person shooter, with other elements including puzzle solving, key searching, stealth and, at several points, driving the train. The game is divided into levels which take place on each carriage of the train, one such carriage may require the player to find key A that opens door B, while another could lead to a boss battle before disarming a bomb. The story here is not completely linear, events can change the entire game's course. The player can use hand-to-hand combat or ranged combat using a variety of weapons. Weapons can be customized using parts obtained throughout the game.

Game saves are completed in the train's toilets, where there is also an item box to store items inside.

Cast

Reception

IGN gave Covert Ops: Nuclear Dawn a poor 4.8 out of 10 criticising the gameplay of the game for bad controls and game design despite praising the graphics stating the game had "detailed environments and solid player models".^[1]

In Japan, Famitsu magazine scored the game a 30 out of 40.^[2]

References

See also

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory