Pursuit Force

PlayStation exclusive

You can play as a rookie cop battling five different gangs spread throughout Capital City in Pursuit Force. The game features 30 cases for you to close, using 55 different vehicles and 25 types of weapons. Each gang has a unique boss and lieutenant with their own specialized vehicles and missions. Taking down gangs fills up your justice bar, which can be used to slow down time for key stunts, fill up your life, or repair your vehicle. The game features Hollywood-style chases and gunfights to keep the action going during missions.

Released: 18 November 2005
Platforms: PlayStation Portable
Genres: Racing Shooter Vehicular combat
Developers: Bigbig Studios
Publishers: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: First person Third person
Themes: Action
Country: United Kingdom
Age ratings: PEGI 12 ESRB T
Composers: Richard Jacques

About

Pursuit Force is a 2005 vehicular combat and third-person shooter video game developed by Bigbig Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable. The game places the player in the role of a police agent who is a member of the titular elite law enforcement agency that specialises in direct armed encounters with adversaries, whether it be on foot or on the hood of a speeding car. The player has to try to seize cars and motorbikes while engaging in high-speed chases and gun battles against heavily armed gangs.

Pursuit Force was released in the PAL region in November 2005 and in North America in March 2006. The game received positive reviews from critics. A sequel, Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice, was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2007. In May 2023, the original Pursuit Force was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 as part of the Classics Catalogue.

Keywords

vehicular combat
time limit
crime
boss fight
vehicle combat
digital distribution
voice acting
polygonal 3d
mission briefing
unlockables
playstation tv support
police chase

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

There are a total of 30 missions, six per gang, involving fighting enemies on foot, in a speedboat and a car/motorcycle chases, or in a helicopter while manning a minigun. The player character can leap into enemy vehicles and commandeer them after shooting their occupants. The player can earn different ranks which unlock different content while completing missions will unlock new ranks which will unlock new gang missions and different abilities to help make the game easier, such as regenerating health.

The game also includes a race mode with several different courses and scenarios and a time trial mode, setting the player across all the games' tracks. These two modes are completely independent of each other and will not help nor hinder the gameplay of the other game modes. There is also a wide variety of unlockable content such as pictures and videos to access. The amount of content to unlock, however, is completely dependent on the scores in the career mode.

Story

The Pursuit Force has been organised to destroy the threat posed by gangs responsible for many vehicle-related crime sprees across Capital State and to eliminate their leaders:

Capelli Family: One of the two gangs that are initially available at the start of the game, the Capellis are Capital State's most powerful Mafia family headed up by Don Capelli, and are said to be the state's oldest gang. The other significant member of the Capelli Family is their best marksman Stefano De Tomaso, also known as "Deadeye".

Reception

The game received "generally favourable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, where the game was ported and published by Spike on 2 March 2006, Famitsu gave it a score of two eights and two sevens for a total of 30 out of 40. Rice Burner of GamePro said, "If rampant explosions and car chases float your boat and you can forgive the list of obvious short comings [sic] of Pursuit Force, then this game can be an enjoyable ride and a minor trip down video gaming nostalgic lane."

Detroit Free Press gave it a score of all four stars and said that the game was "nearly perfect with its graphics that often look close to cinematic scenes and a whole host of strategies for nailing the bad guys." The Times similarly gave it all five stars and said, "Even by the high standards already set, Pursuit Force is an astonishing title... The best PSP title yet." However, The New York Times gave it an average review and said, "Apparently the designers were afraid the game might just be too much fun, so they compensated by making the missions brutally, mind-numbingly difficult."