Pursuit Force – PSP – Hands on Preview
It’s nice when you get invited up to London to go and see a new game. It’s even nicer when it’s Sony doing the inviting and the guys you’re going to meet aren’t PR bods with a message to preach but are in fact the guys who’re making the game you’re going to look at. What’s even better is when you find that the blokes you’re talking to are games fanatics AND action film aficionados, which, in my book, is a cracking combination. So what have I been dragged in from the sticks to see? Well it’s Sony’s latest offering for the PSP, Pursuit Force, which according to developers Bigbig, is a radical rethink on the action racer with plenty of extras to offer.
Sitting down with me in Sony’s London offices were Jonathan Webb, MD of Bigbig and Chris Whiteside, Lead Game Designer for Pursuit Force. Before we got onto the game itself, Jonathan told me a little about Bigbig. Bigbig was founded roughly four years ago by four ex-Codemasters guys, Jonathan included, who had all worked on numerous Codies titles including the original TOCA and Colin McRae Rally games. Since then Bigbig have steadily grown to employ roughly 20 people who have been beavering away to develop the technology and tools for their games, the first of which we’re looking at now, Pursuit Force.
Of course, I sat there on that plush leather sofa just gagging to grab the PSP and start playing, but though I reckon I could just about go toe-to-toe with Jonathan, Chris would most likely flaw me with one punch so I thought it best to let them talk me through the game. Good thing I did too, because, possible physical harm aside, there’s a lot more to Pursuit Force than first meets the eye…
