Ray Tracers

Ray Tracers
The unrelated ancestor to the term "ray tracing" in video games.
Protagonist(s): Asuka Saito Jalta Lang Raymond Blody Sleoteel Raze Genre(s): Racing Vehicular combat Platform(s): PlayStation Release Date: January 17, 1997 Developer(s): Taito Publisher(s): Taito (Japan) THQ (US) Series: Chase H.Q. Predecessor: Super Chase H.Q. Successor: Chase H.Q.: Secret Police

Ray Tracers (レイ・トレーサー Rei Torēsā) is a PlayStation racing/vehicular combat game developed by Taito. It serves as a spinoff to the Chase H.Q. series.

This game is not to be confused with the Ray series of shoot-em-up games, also by Taito.

Why It Rocks

1. Four cars/characters to choose from with their own stats, along with three unlockable cars/characters.
2. Great anime-style graphics and character designs.
3. Catchy soundtrack.
4. Retains much of the series' basic gameplay: your goal is to reach the end of the level before the time limit expires, and defeat the boss by ramming it a couple of times. Part of the challenge is that your car is indestructible, but it can still be slowed down. There are however, checkpoints throughout the levels that, as one might expect, extends the time limit.
5. There are lots of enemies throughout the levels that you can ram and destroy for score bonuses.
6. You have nitrous with you, but there is a limited supply and you can't refill it, so carefulness and strategy are needed when using it.
7. In addition to the story mode, there's also a time attack mode that pits you in a racing duel against a computer-controlled rival.

Bad Qualities

1. The American version of the game completely cut out all of the in-game dialogue.
2. The game is quite short.
3. No split-screen multiplayer.
4. The cars can be difficult to drive due to the arcade-y nature of the game, and it's analog stick option is nonexistent, thus forcing you to use the D-pads instead.
5. The Taito logo for this game has a very loud noise, and might scare some people. It can be compared to 2K and Gearbox logo intros in Borderlands games post-BL3.
6. The game's overall plot seems nonexistent.

Reception

Despite mixed critical reception, the game has enjoyed considerably warmer and better reception among players and gamers, with a score of 3.83 in GameFAQs. Some have also described the game as a mix between Ridge Racer and Chase H.Q.

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