Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

Combining genres in video games is usually a dangerous proposition.  Sometimes you get a new experience, bringing the best of both worlds.  Sometimes one aspect of the genre compliments the other.  Other times the combination results in a mass of refuse that doesn’t know what kind of game it wants to be.   Pursuit Force is a racing game with some action elements.  Does Pursuit Force combine these elements well, or does it just crash and burn?

In Pursuit Force you play a cop who is part of a new division of the force in Capital City.  This new division is known as, what else, the Pursuit Force.  These are the extreme sports officers.  Not only do they drive high-powered cars, but they jump from car to car, beat up the bad guys, and protect the citizens.

Pursuit Force is an excellent looking game.  The vehicles have a unique look to them.  This is especially impressive since there are five different gangs.  While it would be easy enough to use the same vehicles with different textures, the vehicles and the textures are unique.  For example, the Warlords have military-styled vehicles, while the Capelli Family is an Italian mob family that uses large wide vehicles for their transportation.  Lights on the vehicles glow, and if you hit something hard enough, damage is shown to the vehicle model.

The driving really gives you a sense of speed.  While you aren’t going to get a “Burnout” feel, the game moves quickly enough that you can feel a bit of a rush.  Crashing into other cars makes sparks fly and the screen shakes a bit.  When riding a vehicle, you know falling off could hurt.

Your character moves well out of the car as well.  Your character springs up into the air and lands on vehicles with smooth leg movement.  During certain times you can actually shoot while in the air with a Bullet Time effect.  Hanging on the edge of a vehicle shows the momentum of your characters as he swings around.  When you capture a vehicle, you see the driver thrown out of the car.

While the small screen does hide some of the jagged edges, they aren’t perfect.  However, this game is probably one of the first games to truly show the graphical powers of the PSP.

The voices in Pursuit Force are a strong part of the game.  The commissioner has a rough scowl, while the snitch has the high-pitched voice you’d expect from a rat.  While the mission briefings are spoken to you, instructions are shouted to you during the mission.  You can also tell how well you did at the end of a mission by the tone of voice of the commissioner.

The music in the game is your standard action fare.  Percussion drives the music while trumpets blare the theme.  It’s a nice little medley that almost has some resemblance to an uptempo Dragnet, but it’s not something you’ll hum apart from the game.

Racing around you hear the squeals of the tires and the hum of the car engine.  Hitting other cars or the environments lets you hear the crumple of metal.  Sirens blaze from your squad car as you race towards the gangs.  While the sounds are decent, they don’t provide the variety you’d expect.  The different guns you use do sound different, but not as different as they should.  The engine of your squad car hums when it should roar.  These are minor complaints though.

Controls in Pursuit Force are even better than what you’d expect from a PSP game.  Steering is done with the D-pad or the analog nub.  Surprisingly, the D-pad actually works better because the analog nub is too sensitive.  X accelerates while Square hits the brake and goes to reverse when held long enough.  Circle makes you jump onto a vehicle when the jump icon is shown.  Triangle restores your health and vehicle condition when your Justice Bar is full.  R shoots and L changes your target.

Controls while on a vehicle are different than while driving.  Square avoids enemy fire, while Circle and left on the D-pad lets you climb back up on a vehicle or balance yourself on it.  Hitting Circle alone jumps to a different vehicle.  The Triangle, L, and R buttons all perform the same tasks as before.  You have some similar commands while shooting from a helicopter or traversing on foot. 

The response time with button pushes are good.  Jumping from vehicle to vehicle takes some practice, but it becomes second nature fairly quickly.    The cars handle well, but doing powerslides isn’t easy.  You need to hit the Square button and then hit the X button.  The timing needs to be perfect.  Overall, BigBig Studios has done a good job to make good use of the buttons on the PSP.

At first you feel as if Pursuit Force is going to mostly be a racing game with a bit of action thrown in.  You start out driving your souped-up police convertible, chasing vehicles, and shooting at them with your firearm.  Once the Jump Icon pops up onto the screen, then the action really kicks in.  Jumping to other cars is automatic. You can land on either the trunk or the hood of vehicles, depending on your position before jumping.  You can not only land on enemy vehicles, but you can also hitch a ride on citizen’s vehicles as well.

On the screen there are two bars to indicate your status.  One is your own personal health, and the other is your vehicle's health.  As you run into the side of the road or get hit by gunfire, the vehicle health goes down.  This affects your handling and speed of the car.  When this happens, you’ll want to jump to a new vehicle quickly.  As you get hit by gunfire or slide on the blacktop hanging from vehicles, you lose health.  When you lose your health, you restart the level or go back to HQ.

You also have a Justice Bar which fills up as you ram into enemy cars, shoot enemies, and capture enemy vehicles.  Once the Justice Bar is filled your health regenerates quicker, your firepower is increased, and you can shoot at gang members in mid-air as you jump from one vehicle to another.  You can also hit the Triangle key to regain your health and bring your vehicle back to perfect status.  Your Justice Bar goes down by ramming into public vehicles or shooting them by getting them caught in the crossfire.

Five different gangs are represented in the game.  The Warlords are ex-mercenaries with a military approach.  Killer66 is a gang that practices car theft and drug trafficking.  Convicts are a bunch of jailbirds who like to wreak havoc on the residents.  The Capelli Family is an Italian mafia family.  Finally, the Vixens are a band of ex-stunt double females.  Each of these gangs not only has a distinct look to them, but they act differently as well.  The Capelli Family has heavier vehicles and a straight-on approach, so ramming them isn’t as effective against them as it is the Convicts, who have no real tactics and vehicles held together by duct tape.  The Warlords use more tactics and camo-colored vehicles.  Instead of taking the main roads, they’ll go into tunnels and off-road.

While the cars are the focus of the game, there is some variety to the game.  You actually have some levels with boats, times when you control the mini-gun in a helicopter, and occasionally pursue suspects on foot.  The change in scenery helps give the game a little more variety.

The load times aren’t bad for the game, and loading only takes place before going into the level.  Once you start actual racing in the game, you won’t have to worry about the action breaking up because of any kind of loading from the disc.

You won’t finish the game in a day, as each of the five gangs has several missions.  Completing the missions successfully grants you an A, B, or C score.  While it’s relatively easy to get the C grade, it’s compelling to score higher to work up your police ranking.  This doesn’t mean that the game is easy to complete.  As you complete missions, you gain access to more difficult gangs and difficult missions.

While the career mode is the main portion of the game, a few other modes are included.  A race mode is available where you play a gang member racing against other gang members.  Time trials allow you to travel over different areas and let you beat your previous times.  A Gallery is available as well which has images and unlocked video footage you earn as you play through the game.

Those who want to race against other players online are out of luck.  Multiplayer isn’t supported in any way, shape, or form.

Pursuit Force is one of the first that really shows off the power of the PSP.  Jumping from car to car, shooting enemies, and overtaking vehicles is a lot of fun.  Great graphics, nice sound, and good controls help the game along.  It’s the type of game where it’s easy to play through a mission or several missions in one sitting.  The action and racing elements combine into a cohesive package.  If you are looking for a new title for the PSP that isn’t a cheap PS2 port, look no further than Pursuit Force.

Gaming Trend Score

84

1. Graphics: 88
2. Audio: 80
3. Controls: 84
4. Gameplay: 88
5. Value/Replay: 78
6. OVERALL:84