Chaos Control
| Chaos Control | |
|---|---|
 American PC Cover | |
| Developer(s) | Infogrames |
| Publisher(s) | Philips Interactive Media |
| Designer(s) | Bruno Bonnell, Jean-Claude Larue |
| Composer(s) | Thierry Caron |
| Platform(s) | CD-i, Macintosh, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, MS-DOS |
| Release date(s) | 1995 |
| Genre(s) | Rail shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Chaos Control is a rail shooter developed by Infogrames and published by Philips Interactive Media for the CD-i, MS-DOS, Macintosh, Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1995. The game's cutscenes are rendered in a style reminiscent of anime.
An enhanced remake titled Chaos Control Remix was released exclusively for the Saturn in 1996. It was released in PAL regions under the name Chaos Control, causing it to sometimes be confused with the original game.
Gameplay
Chaos Control is a sci-fi themed rail shooter which puts the player inside the cockpit of a fighter ship. Although the spaceship flight is automated, the player may target freely using an on-screen reticule, timing their shots so that the fighter's guns do not overheat. Targets across the game's four levels include mech suits, other spaceships and virtual reality constructs, most of which will return fire in an effort to drain the player's shields. There are no bonuses or re-charge power-ups for these shields, and play must restart from the beginning of the level if the player's ship is destroyed.
Enemy positions are predetermined and unchanging. This - in combination with fixed flight paths - means that the player can seek to learn the game's deployment pattern for each level, defeating them through trial and error.
Plot and setting
Chaos Control's protagonist is a pilot named Jessica Darkhill, whose partner was killed earlier in the war against the game's antagonists, the alien Kesh Rhan. Beginning in Manhattan, Darkhill must break through the Kesh Rhan defenses, destroy a computer virus of their making, then mount an attack upon the alien mothership in order to save Earth from alien invasion.
Reception
Reviewing the CD-i version, GamePro commented that "Chaos Control is a looker, a fun way to waste some time. As far as depth and challenge, though, it doesn't deliver the chaos that it should." They criticized the lack of multiple weapons and rail shooter gameplay as too limited, but praised the heavily detailed backgrounds and the high level of onscreen action.[1]