Cars 'n' Guns... always a hit.
I have to admit that I was rather sceptical when I first heard about Pursuit Force as I thought a mish mash of game styles on the PSP just wouldn’t work… a racing game would work fine, but then there’s plenty already to choose from. But Pursuit Force is much more than just your average racer that you find yourself being drawn in and playing almost compulsively. The difficulty is tipped towards challenging rather than easy and some of the missions are so frustrating that your PSP could be at risk from ‘impact anger management’.
The sheer variety and surprising depth of the gameplay make this one of those elusive ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ type of games as each gang’s style of attack forces you to re-think your tactics too. The sheer number of vehicles you can drive is pretty amazing with each one has unique handling characteristics too, and we’ve not even touched on the boats of the chopper yet either… The nod towards tactical play in how to get new weapons, when to switch from ailing motor to powerful jeep or even when to grab the jeep because there’s an off-road section coming up mean that there’s more to this game than just quick reactions and quicker trigger finger.
The third person sections add a nice break in the pace of the game as well at the same time as keeping it flowing. Though not overly huge by any stretch of the imagination, these sections are still great fun and have nearly as many features in them as you’d expect to see in a dedicated third person shooter.
So overall, given the wealth of variety, the tactical play, the excellent (at times frustrating) car to car action, the great third person stuff and the sheer blasting fun helicopter sections, Pursuit Force is a game that every PSP owner should buy. If you’re fed up with just racing about in Need For Speed and have had enough crashing in Burnout: Legends, give Pursuit Force a whirl.
Pros
Competent racer and shooter wrapped up in one
Easy to pick up and play
Action packed gameplay
Plenty of variety
More depth than it first appears
Cons
Frustratingly difficult in places
Sometimes too much going to make it all out clearly
If games were women, this Pursuit Force would be Keira Knightley… oiled.
