It's hard to believe now, but Chaos Control really did look great when it was originally released in 1995. It was one of those games you would see small clips of inserted into sizzle reel advertisements for CD-ROM drives - "Look at the amazing new games you can play with this hardware!" Honestly, as a fan of old PC games in general, I think it still looks decent today.

But the gameplay is just plain bad. Even if your standards for what makes a good on-rails shooter are very low, it would be hard to find anything to like here.

There is only a single weapon in the entire game - a slow-firing gun that is hard to aim accurately due to fast camera movements combined with the low 24 FPS frame rate. There are no power-ups or collectibles of any kind. There is no environmental interaction at all. And shooting enemies doesn't destroy them; instead the game "paints" a puff of smoke over them, which both looks silly and also makes it hard to see enemies in the background if the enemy you've killed is close to the screen.

Basically this is a barebones shooter that is nice to play a few times if you're curious about what high-end computer graphics looked like 25 years ago, but there is little else to recommend about it.

I will at least say that I'm glad Piko Interactive has released it on Steam, because I care a lot about game preservation and I hate to see even bad games become completely forgotten. So I hope they continue to add more such games to the Steam library in the future, regardless of their quality or reputation.

DUDE! I thought i'd never play the full version of this game!
Back in the old days that was the best we could afford to play since they didn't have Virtua Cop or GunBlade NY for PC...

Not sure if the emulation for this game was done very well. At certain moments it felt more accelerated than at other times. For the most part, it ran smooth.

What can I say? You can play the Phillips CDI KILLER APP, right here on Steam.

Folks, do you want to experience firsthand GamePro's 1995 Philips CD-i game of the year? Look no further!

The story goes:

In the year 20XX, the Pioneer space probe containing the Earth's galactic coordinates was flung back to the planet like so much space trash by the evil TERRORNID ALIEN EMPIRE. Angered by the presumption that anyone would ever visit Earth for funsies, they make it all about business and launch an IMPOSSIBLY ENORMOUS ATTACK. Luckily, Lt. Jason M. Grayson (the M stands for Mason) is here at the sticks of his trusty PURPLE PEREGRINE extra-atmospheric attack craft to convene with what remains of Earth's resistance, including the Ultimate Lifeform, at the final fight - The Battle of Arizona.

just kidding, none of that happens. this is a super crummy rail shooter you can finish in under an hour with zero replay value. the flat shaded early 3D graphics are charming to a specific kind of nerd (me), but even those are lazy af - destroying an enemy doesn't blow them up, they just get a little smoke jpg over them while they finish their flight path. Kinda neat cutscenes that composite animation over the 3D stuff. This is not worth playing. I recommend it, but like...recommend not playing it. If you do peep the Discussions on here for a cheat code.

And remember - Lt. Jason G. Mason walks with you always soldier, his spirit become myriad in the exciting aftermath of THE BATTLE OF ARIZONA.

Old pc game, space story, gameplay similar to Virtua Cop 2
good childhood game to play

This WAS a great game in its era. Made back in 1995 you can expect clunky controls and poorly optimised 3D graphics. It was fun for 15.5 min until the nostalgia wore off and I realized I was playing an old DOS game on a rig with specs only god would of dreamt of when this game released.
OK, thanks but no thanks, back to CoD4 or any indie games made in the last 5 years.
(Not worth the admission price, must have got it as part of a bundle or giveaway)

Earth got destroyed and it was all my fault. Fortunately, there was an epic cut scene that really encapsulated my failure.

Rate 11/10. GOTY 1995.

A rail shooter that feels like it was ripped from a 90s arcade. Which may seem cool and all, but in the end it just becomes an annoying and repetitive game that never really gets you anywhere. On top of that it's $6.99, which at that price you could get something more up to date with a more consistent framerate. No nostalgia here to make this review better.

Good game. Very oldschool.