Retro hall of Shame # 3: Chase HQ - Amiga

What? Another post right after the last? You might think I'm mad (well, I am, actually) but I thought why not? But why am I doing it for a game I've looked at already. Well, the clue is in the title.
Chase HQ was ported to many, many systems. Some by Taito themselves and some by Ocean (The Taito versions being called Tatio Chase HQ). Some Ocean versions were spot on ie. Spectrum but one version smelt like dog shit and looked like a chav after a night out. Where did it all go wrong for the Amiga version?

The game sees you...... (fast forward a few lines. As the game plays the same as the arcade version, I wont repeat my self) .....if you don't get there in time.

The Amiga Verison...yuk...

This version also has the same status bar and easily looks the best thing in the game. Its a shame the rest of the game was utter crap. First off, the graphics look awful. Really dull and drab and don't have the vibrance of the arcade original or the Speccy version. The road side is very sparse of objects, apart from one cactus and a couple of signs. Maybe a building or two, but that's about it. Its just a barren wasteland. The graphics are smaller and the cars look terrible as well. The Amiga can handle much better graphics than this and is more than capable of the speed as well. There is no sense of speed at all. The sound is just as awful as well. The engine noise will make you go insane after 30 seconds. To me, It all just seems very rushed to get it out on the shelves. More often than not, you'll find yourself wrestling with the joystick. When you turn, it doesn't feel like your turning at all. Sometimes, you'll turn too much. The controls don't feel refined at all. There's no 'sweet spot', per se.

The sublime Arcde version. See the difference?

This, to me, is the worst version of one of the best Arcade games ever. The arcade game was fun, visually stunning and, sonically, was brilliant. The Spectrum version was exactly the same and was very enjoyable. The Amiga version is the bastard child of the arcade version and should have been dropped at birth. It goes up there with the Amiga version of After Burner, PitFighter and Turtles Coin-Op as the worst arcade conversions ever. It would be a crime to have bought it when it was released, and its a crime to even pick it up off eBay now.

0.5/5 - JSW's Even Bigger Bag of Wrong Award.