Title: Pursuit Force

Date: 06.17.2006

Genre: Action / Racing

Platform: Sony PSP

Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Generally, the PSP has been riddled with lackluster ports, milked franchises, and obvious cash-in attempts. Thankfully, Pursuit Force is not one of these games. Developed by Bigbig Studios and originally released in Europe as a PSP launch title, Pursuit Force is a game that thrives on originality by melding a handful of awesome action-game concepts and refining the game to highlight these ideas exclusively. However, that isn't to say that Pursuit Force is perfect. Even the improved version released for the American region (the one to be reviewed within) still has noticeable flaws that affect the package as a whole - but even so, Pursuit Force still stands as a solid title. In short, it's an experience that any action-fan or PSP owner owes it to themselves to take for a spin.

Story

Right from jump street, the career mode opens with a cinematic from the metropolis of Capital City. A gruff voice details exactly what's going down; gang mayhem is ruining the city, and it must be eliminated at all costs. However, the current police squads in the city are incapable of rectifying the problem, so a new plan is outlined. This leads the voice (which is that of your superior officer throughout the game) to announce the creation of the Pursuit Force, a highly specialized team which will use advanced technology to bring these criminals to justice. It's standard action-game fare, but there's a reason that it shouldn't be totally condemned: there's a good bit of unintentional comedy seen in the details and the quotes in each mission. For instance, it's always a riot when the best insult a hardened gangster can come up with for your character is "pig!" That's the only saving grace, though. The issue is that the rest of the story does not connect at all, as it's merely a compilation of "Hey, the bad guys did something bad again, go fix the problem." Regardless, it's basically what should be expected of this lone cop action thriller.

Gameplay

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. The first thing that jumps out is how easily accessible the controls are. The L and R triggers give you all the freedom you need in gunning down hostile enemies, no matter what the situation. That's accented with the typical gas/brake driving with X and Square, and completed with the function that really makes the game work: you can jump out of your moving car and onto another moving car with the Circle button if you're in range. It's an excellent system that's highly intuitive and allows you as a player to do multiple things at once.

This control scheme is implemented in a variety of ways. Mainly, you'll be driving down a stretch of road in all of your policeman glory, hopping from car to car and shooting the not-so-innocent passengers inside. That's not where it ends, although it is the backbone of the game. Water-based missions follow the same principle, except with speedboats and the like. In each of these, your object will usually be to eliminate all the enemies on the road before you reach a certain point, and that's done by either drive-by shooting them or jumping onto their vehicle of choice and gunning them down while standing on the hood.

All of the action is exceptionally fast; the game never lulls in this regard for more than a few seconds at most. There's always something going on, and at a breakneck pace to boot. When you mix this in with simple controls, it's an adrenaline-inducing experience.

Regardless, there is a level of depth to be found while playing. Vehicular combat has a few wrinkles, namely the inclusion of a dodge bullets feature which allows you to hang off the side of a car and avoid damage if the passengers inside are shooting away. It's all done at the tap of a button and leads to simple mind games. There's also the "justice bar," which rewards you for killing hostiles and taking over their vehicles, and negates points for harming pedestrian drivers in any way. When you max it out, the option is to either completely refill your character's health and the health of your car, or initiate a "Justice Shot" where you can target and shoot enemies in slow motion and mid-air as you jump to their cars. It's something to think about as cars fly by while driving at speeds well over 150 mph.

This is all well and good, but the gameplay does have some minor flaws. There are segments where you engage in rail shooting from behind the minigun of a helicopter, which are well done but are a bit finicky in terms of control. Sure, it's well done, but not quite as perfectly as the standard combat. The one thing that really sticks out like a sore thumb are the on-foot portions, which turn Pursuit Force into a third-person shooter and force you to eliminate enemies in a small area. When this happens, the flow of the game is totally lost since these segments are a slow playing event - certainly in stark contrast to the utter and complete speed of the rest of the game. Mainly, it slows down since you can't just blast through an area and move on.

You're almost forced to take cover behind boxes and consider things with some strategy and finesse, especially in areas where you're taking on a dozen enemies with machine guns. These segments are thankfully few and far between, but when they come up it's a minor hassle to play an average third-person shooter when you could just as easily be having more deliciously good driving action. As for within the meat and potatoes of the game, camera angles can be counter-productive when taking sharp turns. One minute you'll be cruising along, and the next your officer has just slammed head-on into a sedan. Also, the jump mechanic doesn't trigger all the time, which will screw you occasionally but hardly enough to write home about. Finally, the other modes outside of career, race and time trial, are so clearly tacked on that it's a waste. Very poorly done on the minigame front.

Oh, and one last thing: the difficulty is decidedly for above-average gamers only. Anything less and you will be frustrated after the first few missions. Even for the best players, there are some missions when you still have to battle with trial-and-error scenarios. Still, it should be said that it's never exploitation; if you fail a mission, it's entirely your fault. Regardless, a few easier difficulties would have been much appreciated so the game could be a bit more accessible. Yeah, it's easier than the European version (which supposedly was harder and had no checkpoints in any mission), but it's still one of the most difficult games to be found on the PSP.

Graphics

Visually, Pursuit Force impresses mostly in terms of its scope relative to the speed. Character models and vehicles are very detailed. Each gang car is distinctive and original, as are those of regular pedestrians and even your character's police-supplied transport. The characters themselves are a shade cartoony but totally in line with the over-the-top action movie feeling. Environments are generally strong as well, accurately portraying an area with a sufficient amount of detail (although some of the boating stages are real eyesores of gray and beige walls...not appealing in the slightest). Lighting is also well done, although it really doesn't distance itself from other PSP games.

That's all before getting to the speed of the game, which doesn't hiccup at all and naturally flows. The major problem here is draw distance and pop-in, which doesn't have the range necessary for such a fast game: it's entirely possible to see vehicles all but dropped onto a path, providing a player with little reaction time. Another grating element to see is the dialogue appearing from enemies in the course of driving, which can take up about half the screen vertically if it's a long enough quote. Sure, it's only up for a moment, but it kills concentration at crucial points in the game. At the very least, an option should be given to turn it off. Besides that, the rest of the graphics are well done and certainly some of the better ones to be found on PSP, especially in the FMV sequences which help to boost this score as well.

Sound

The sound issue in this game will likely polarize gamers. To start with, the tunes themselves are catchy and blend into the background well while gaming. Songs also tend to align a bit with the gang you're against and the type of gameplay you're currently engaged in, making it almost a context sensitive audio experience...but it's really not quite at that level. In fact, it borrows from a fair share of military action games and feels no different, but at least it fits the subject. The real issue is the voice acting. Every part is accurately represented, and no voice feels out of place in the slightest - but the lines are just so cheesy. Obviously the game itself has a sense of humor, but it gets to the point where it can become pitiful when the dialogue isn't funny. However, the writers of the script did leave enough funny lines to make it bearable, and the good thing is that you will almost never hear the same line twice in a given mission. A job well done, although if the script doesn't suit your tastes then the game basically should be muted.

Replay Value

The career mode really shouldn't come out to be that long if you are actually capable of beating each mission - probably only 8-10 hours worth of gaming with the 30 missions provided. In terms of action games, Pursuit Force makes good on having a career mode with some substance, although some of the time spent is artificially made by the difficulty being at such a high level. The Race and Time Trial modes are complete throw-aways and probably only will tack on an extra hour of play time or so. Hours really pile up upon replaying career mode missions, which you can do to get higher rankings and unlock pictures/FMV sequences in the game's gallery (and while on that subject, Pursuit Force also implements a feature where you can use any picture from the gallery and make it into wallpaper for the PSP's general menu - nifty).

Overall

Pursuit Force is the real deal. In terms of PSP titles, no pure action game is able to compare, although that could just be because Pursuit Force is very unique. The flaws and errors (such as the ridiculous story and challenging difficulty) tend to be overlooked in light of the superior gameplay - nothing matches the thrill of daredevil stunts while battling in high-speed shootouts. It's an incredible achievement which Bigbig Studios should be commended for, and warrants immediate play.

Game Score

9.0

Reviewed By: Contributed