Capital city has a crime
problem. Not a little problem, a big problem. Five of the worst gangs have
laid siege to the city and conventional police tactics just aren’t cutting the
mustard. Enter the Pursuit Force, a team of obviously unbalanced Police men
and women who’s job it is to take down these gangs by any means necessary. Of
course, it doesn’t hurt that as a police officer, you don’t have to be put on
paid suspension when you are involved in a shooting. Instead, you are given
rewards for blowing away the bad guys, civil rights be damned! I love this
game.
Pursuit Force is somewhat of a
hybrid game, not only do you chase down the bad guys in blistering racing
sequences, but combat is also used as you actually jump form vehicle to
vehicle while firing away with your hand-held weapon, smearing passengers and
driver alike all over the interior of the vehicle only to toss their body out
and assume control of said vehicle, then it’s on to the next one. But there’s
oh-so-much more to it then this.
Can I see your license, registration and
proof of insurance please?
You see the game isn’t designed
quite like other games that could be in this vein. No, as you play along in
career mode, you will notice that there are two different gangs initially
available with missions to complete. You must tackle a mission for one gang
and then two on the other gang before any other missions are unlocked. This
sounds fairly common, but where most games would have you tackling one gang
from beginning to end, this title has you working your way through all the
gangs bouncing from mission to mission involving the different gangs.
And just so we’re clear, this
isn’t a one trick pony; the missions do vary and can be incredibly difficult.
One mission may have you doing a simple (yeah right) outrun as you are trying
to get a witness to the airport as mafia-types are trying to kill you. Another
mission may have you racing along a river in a speedboat trying to thwart an
assassination or stopping rampaging criminals from killing innocent
people. The point is that this game never lets up. It’s a full-tilt barn
blazer, and those who like their action games with a lot of action would do
well to pick this one up.
Nooooo…. Mine is faster.
The game looks really great, in
fact I am somewhat surprised it isn’t a PS2 title. The framerate is top notch
and trust me, there is an awful lot going on when you are speeding at 100
mph. What I thought was kind of a nifty eye-catching tool was when you make
the leap from one vehicle to another, you can fire your weapon at the
occupants and the screen will go into slow motion, like an action movie. Some
may say that this is a bit cheesy, but hey I thought it was cool looking and
well implemented in a game that normally is going by at a very quick clip. The
villains too look over the top evil, but I assume that this is what the
programmers were trying for. I liked that they were varied with both their
look and the nefarious deeds they were up to. The Mafia gang was into
silencing witnesses and killing prominent heads of state where the Convict
gang was more about causing anarchy and death. But more then that, the game
has nice field of vision, good use of the horizon, really smooth looking cars
and lots and lots of explosions, all accompanied by strong lighting effects.
Now when I play an action title, I
think I look at how the sounds are used maybe a little harder then any other
title since I like to go into these things thinking I am going to be part of a
big budget action flick. Well, the game does not quite put me where I would
like to be, but it isn’t all that bad either. The voice acting of "the chief"
is done with a fair amount of over-acting, but that’s what I like. As far as
the other sound effects, they aren’t as big or booming as I would have liked
them to be. I can recall on numerous occasions making a vehicle explode right
in front of me and the end result not sounding as BIG as I thought it should
have been.
Driver only carries $20 worth of
ammunition.
As you play and complete the
missions, you are given a score and a grade and as you get further, promotions
are given to you allowing you to access more missions – it’s all pretty
standard fare. But as you beat the missions, vehicles and tracks are unlocked,
which can be accessed when you play the game’s Race or Time Trial modes. I
thought it was funny that the game’s manual speaks about how officers should
be law abiding and beyond reproach when off-duty, then goes into how to race
around town with no regard for safety.
|
Review Scoring Details for Pursuit Force |
Gameplay: 8.7
Well controlled, well-executed
action title that features all sorts of vehicles to drive, courses to unlock
and five really mean criminal gangs to take down.
Graphics: 8.9
Really strong visuals,
complemented by easy-to-read health bars and other HUD information readily
available. Vehicles, levels, gangs and even the cars all vary in appearanced;
looks like a strong contender for action game of the season for PSP owners.
Sound: 7.5
While the voice acting is fun and
over-the-top, the sound effects are a tad on the "light" side.
Difficulty: Hard
The first couple of levels are
fairly easy, but then the game gets hard in a hurry and never lets up.
Concept: 8.0
I really thought the game did a good job of bridging several
different styles of games, racing, action and even third-person adventuring at
some points. If ever there was an action game that sounds like an 1980’s
action flick then this is it.
Overall: 8.6
The biggest problem with this game
is that it has no sort of multiplayer capability, otherwise Pursuit Force is a
heck of a good time to play; hard, but fun.
