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Pursuit Force Interview

Pursuit Force Interview

Written by Cyril Lachel on 2/6/2006 for
More On: Pursuit Force

If you’ve been reading the site for the last few weeks you know that we are looking forward to Sony’s upcoming road combat game Pursuit Force (check out Cyril’s hands on preview here). We were fortunate enough to score an interview with Ryan Hamlyn the producer on the game

GamingNexus: Pursuit Force was released on in Europe a number of months ago, can you talk a little about why it took so long for us American gamers to get our hands on the game?
Ryan Hamlyn: We wanted to make Pursuit Force as accessible to US players as we could, and that meant making some changes from the European version.  We recorded some new voices, added in features like the save images to memory stick function, and tuned and tuned… and tuned the difficulty.  The end result was well worth the effort, though, and we’re confident that gamers will be glad that we took that little bit of extra time.

GamingNexus: Does Pursuit Force have any multi-player modes, and if so can you explain how they work and how many people can play at the same time?
Ryan Hamlyn: We did not get any multi-payer modes in this time, as we were concentrating our efforts on getting the single-player experience right.

GamingNexus: After watching a number of the previews trailers I can tell that the emphasis is on shooting, can you talk a little about what kinds of weapons we can look forward to using?
Ryan Hamlyn: There are the standard issue police weapons, and then each of the gangs has their own preferred weapons.  So you’ll be dealing with different types of pistols, shotguns, and machine guns, as well as other more “creative” weapons like nail guns, to name a few.

GamingNexus: Were there any specific movies or games that influenced the development of Pursuit Force?
Ryan Hamlyn: Pursuit Force was born in the teams’ minds after watching a ton of action movies—most notable of which are the Bond and Indiana Jones films.  In particular, the scene with Indiana Jones fighting off the bad guys from the hood of a truck really stuck in their minds, and was one of the main seeds for the idea behind Pursuit Force.

GamingNexus: Who is the enemy in this game, and will gamers be racing (and fighting) the same people each level or different gangs?
Ryan Hamlyn: There are 5 different gangs that have taken over Capital City and its surroundings.  The gangs are the Convicts, the Warlords, the Capellis, the Vixens, and the Killer 66.  It is your charge as the first member of Pursuit Force to take out all of the gangs by any means necessary. 

GamingNexus: I've noticed from the trailers that it appears as if you're a one-man army, will the main character ever play alongside computer-controlled characters, or is this a job only one man can complete?
Ryan Hamlyn: A one-man army is a great way of putting it.  You’ll have some buddies show up every now and then, but for the most part, getting rid of the bad guys is up to the Pursuit Force, and that means you!

GamingNexus: What kind of locations should PSP owners expect from Pursuit Force?
Ryan Hamlyn: There are a variety of locations in and around Capital City that you’ll experience—from mountains to freeways to beaches to desert.

GamingNexus: Is there any licensed music in the game?  And will you be able to stream music from your memory stick?
Ryan Hamlyn: All of the music in Pursuit Force is original, and was performed by a live orchestra.  As such, we decided not to go the licensed music route, and streaming music from your memory stick isn’t available. 

GamingNexus: How much time are we talking about for the single-player story mode, and what kind of incentive is there for people to go through it more than once?
Ryan Hamlyn: The time it takes to complete the single-player story mode varies pretty widely depending on the skill of the player, but it can last up to 12-14 hours or more of play time.  We have tons of unlockable images and cheats that will probably take more than a single playthrough to get.  Also, you can merge your high scores with your friends to see who’s really the best at Pursuit Force!

GamingNexus: Do the roads you are racing on have alternate paths, or are you stuck on a linear map in each level?
Ryan Hamlyn: For the most part, the paths are linear, but there are definitely short cuts and alternate routes that players will need to utilize to get the best scores.

GamingNexus: I've heard that the U.S. version of Pursuit Force will feature a number of improvements over the European build, what kind of additions and tweaks are you making to the game?  And did you listen to the reviews of the game to figure out what to change in this new version?
Ryan Hamlyn: Many of the improvements that were made were based directly on feedback that we got from the European version.  Difficulty was one of the main criticisms of the original version, which is why we spent so much time and effort trying to tune the US version of Pursuit Force as much as possible.  Another item that we tried to address was the observation that the Chief tended to repeat some of the same lines more than we would have liked.  So, during the US voice recordings we added lines in to try and keep things varied.  And of course the image saving feature that I mentioned earlier is completely unique to the U.S. version.

GamingNexus: With the game's improvements do you think European gamers might feel slighted by getting an early version that wasn't polished?
Ryan Hamlyn: We certainly hope not!  And I definitely wouldn’t say that they got a version that wasn’t polished.  Both visually and story wise our versions are nearly identical.

GamingNexus: Will the game feature any kind of intermissions, such as cinemas?
Ryan Hamlyn:
Yes, we have some movies prepared, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise!

GamingNexus: Are you planning on keeping Pursuit Force exclusive to the Sony PSP or at some point in the future might we see a console version?
Ryan Hamlyn:
Yes right now it is exclusive to the PSP but we’re keeping all of our options open at this time.

GamingNexus: Was there anything that you wanted to do with the game that you couldn't because of limitations associated with the system's hardware?
Ryan Hamlyn:
No, as with most games, time was our biggest enemy.  We had a ton of ideas that we didn’t get in the game, but we’re keeping them close at hand as the team transitions to their next project.

GamingNexus: What feeling do you want gamers to have coming away from playing Pursuit Force?
Ryan Hamlyn:
Exhilaration, Accomplishment, Justice Served!  It is definitely a white-knuckle ride with constant action that adrenaline junkies will be all over.

GamingNexus: Outside of cars will there be any other kinds of vehicles the main character will be jumping on and commandeering, such as boats or helicopters?
Ryan Hamlyn:
Cars, boats, motorcycles, big rigs, SUVs, helicopters, and many, many more.

GamingNexus: Any plans for a Pursuit Force 2?
Ryan Hamlyn:
Nothing that we can speak about right now ;)

* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.

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About Author

It's questionable how accurate this is, but this is all that's known about Cyril Lachel: A struggling writer by trade, Cyril has been living off a diet of bad games, and a highly suspect amount of propaganda. Highly cynical, Cyril has taken to question what companies say and do, falling ever further into a form of delusional madness. With the help of quality games, and some greener pastures on the horizon, this back-to-basics newsman has returned to provide news so early in the morning that only insomniacs are awake.
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