We've been excited about Sony's upcoming Pursuit Force ever since we
got our first look at the promising title at last year's Electronic
Entertainment Expo. The game, developed by UK-based Bigbig, is arguably
one of the freshest, most original games on the horizon for the
PlayStation Portable. Though the title was released in Europe late last
year, SCEA has opted to slightly tweak the game so as to make the
experience less punishing than its European counterpart. We took a
work-in-progress version of the game for a spin to see just how
significant the changes turned out to be.
For those of you who haven't been following the game, Pursuit Force has
you assume the role of a recruit in a new law enforcement agency
focused on stopping crime. You'll be tasked with confronting the five
major gangs, whose illegal and deadly shenanigans are causing all sorts
of craziness to happen. To defeat these gangs, you'll have to advance
through a number of missions that will culminate in a final face-off
with each gang's leader. You'll find that your road to victory is paved
with much gun firing, vehicle jacking, helicopter piloting, and
speedboating, with high-speed chases occurring on land, air, and sea.
Though it's a hefty workout to go through, all of the above make for a
tight game experience.
The game will feature the same three gameplay modes as its
European counterpart--career, race, and time trial. Career is the story
mode that traces your path as a member of the Pursuit Force. The game
is somewhat linear in that you'll have to unlock the missions for each
gang, but there is a certain degree of choice available to you. The
career mode will feature five sets of six missions, with each set
revolving around one of the five gangs: Warlords, Capellis, Killer 66,
Vixens, and Convicts. When you first start the game, you'll only have
the Capelli Family and Warlord missions available to play. Once you
clear a few of these and earn some points (points are scaled by your
performance), you'll open up other missions for that gang, and you'll
eventually gain access to the other gangs. The race mode tests your mad
driving skills against those of the gangs you encounter, and the time
trial challenges you to get the best clear time for a level.
The missions are dynamic experiences that offer fast,
accessible, and satisfying fun. You'll find a good deal of variety in
your missions, which will have you chasing people down or providing an
escort to someone, either in your car or on foot, and you'll also find
yourself manning a gun in a helicopter or cruising on a boat. If, as
sometimes happens, you need to avail yourself of a better set of
wheels, you can hop into just about any vehicle you see on the road.
You'll find that running, driving, shooting, or leaping to or from a
vehicle is a breeze to pull off and offers enough diversity to keep you
engaged.
The most significant change from the European version is the
game's difficulty. Whereas the Euro version featured a punishing,
rage-inducing level of difficulty, the US version has been scaled back
to a more manageable degree. More important, though, is the game's
Burnout-style reward system, which tosses you some bones in the form of
unlockables, even if you don't do so great in the level. This segues
nicely into the extra unlockables that have been added into the US
game, which include a movie viewer and an art gallery, as well as, in a
cool first for the PSP, art that can be saved to your memory stick and
used as wallpaper for your PSP.
The visuals in Pursuit Force haven't changed too dramatically from the
last time we saw the game. Bigbig's impressive graphics engine pumps
out console-quality graphics that feature an impressive amount of
detail. Better still, the frame rate screams along at the clip you'd
expect from a game that has you driving and shooting like a madman. As
before, the game still has some jaggedness on display, but it hardly
lessens the impact of the graphics. We are thoroughly impressed by the
detail and range of environments in the game.
The audio has seen some tweaks from the European version, courtesy of
the new voice actors that were tapped for some of the roles. Beyond
that, the US version of the game still features the same winning mix of
voice, sound effects, and music score. We expect that you'll have a
love-hate relationship with your superior officer on the force, who is
one tough guy to impress.
Based on what we've seen so far, Pursuit Force is looking like
one sharp game for the PSP and arguably one of the best seen on the
system to date. The game makes use of excellent, time-tested mechanics
and throws in the new car-leaping feature, which is a blast to use. The
improvements made to the European game are welcome changes, and they
stop well short of dumbing down the experience to the point of
lobotomizing it. The tweaks make for a better, well-rounded experience
overall. If you're hungering for some original hotness on your PSP,
you'll be hard pressed to find something currently out that tops it.
Pursuit Force is slated to ship this March.
Source: GameSpot