A lackluster Resident Evil clone without the zombies.
The gameplay is highly reminiscent of Resident Evil, in that you play from an over-the-shoulder, third-person perspective. The controls are practically identical to the RE series as well, so anyone familiar with the survival horror genre should feel right at home. Mixing up the gameplay is a few innovations Capcom apparently never bothered to include in their games, such as the ability to roll right or left and thus evade incoming fire. You've also got crouch and quick-turnaround buttons. With the crouch feature, you can hide behind crates and exchange fire with the terrorists from relative safety. The turnaround function is an invaluable addition when you find the room getting cramped with all those pesky terrorists. Also making it's way into the game is a useful but slightly odd camera function which allows you to inspect each and every room in painstaking detail. It's a great idea, but the execution is a bit weird. Instead of the camera being a first-person one or even having it placed at the center of every room, it switches positions in every room. This can be a bit boggling, but it's hardly a major problem.
The meat and potatoes of the game is of course the action. That makes it too bad then that the action is often times unbearable, mainly thanks to the clunky controls and abysmal camera. Since your weapon is always drawn, fighting simply consists of you having to point Jack in the general direction of the enemy and let loose. The aiming reticule changes color to indicate how good of a chance you have of hitting your target. Complicating matters is the unwieldy camera. You'll often find yourself taking fire from guards that aren't even visible to you, thanks to the camera taking a position that obscures the threat. On more than one occasion you'll find yourself having to move through at least two screens to get the enemy in your sights. This would be an absolute game breaker if it weren't for the AI's poor aiming skills.
Graphically, the game is pretty ugly. While the models themselves are decent, the animations seem too rigid to resemble actual humans. Also, the game uses an unholy version of Resident Evil's backgrounds, in that they are painted but have a certain degree of movement. Whereas in RE the background was always static, Chase the Express has the backgrounds moving with the player, but only for a few degrees. What this does, is make the backgrounds needlessly blurry and jaggy since they needed to be dynamic, instead of static. It makes you wonder why the developers didn't simply choose the prettier RE background mechanic. The game does have a few nice touches, such as electric doors opening as Jack approaches or pipes venting deadly gases here and there. The FMV is best ignored.
The voice acting in Chase the Express is horrible, even for gamers accustomed to the aural torture of Resident Evil. It seems half the actors don't take their job seriously and the other half takes it too seriously. I suppose it is a blessing then that the game's sound world is quite minimal, although weapon and mechanical sounds aren't half-bad. The music is largely forgettable, with a decidedly generic rock score.
Chase the Express feels like a bad Resident Evil clone without the horror and suspense inherent in the RE series. This is probably the biggest reason it fails as a game, but there are other shortcomings, like the dreadful voice acting, poor AI, lackluster graphics and a camera that must've been spawned by Satan himself. If you come across this baby at any point in your life, save yourself the trouble and keep on walking.