Pursuit Force review

It's not all driving, either. In the interest of keeping you on your toes, you'll sometimes have to leave your car to tackle criminals on foot. This isn't anything lengthy or fancy, but the rapid-fire (or, if you can get in close, rapid-arrest) gunfights make for a nice switch-up from the driving. You'll also frequently be pulled into a minigun-equipped police helicopter to turn the freeway into a shooting gallery. These segments are fun in a "ha ha suck it down" kind of way, but nudging the gun around with the PSP's analog stick to shoot speeding cars is a lot less rewarding than it sounds.

Through it all, though, Pursuit Force packs in enough variety to keep even the most attention-deficient gamers happy. Each mission is unique, and the best ones are multi-stage affairs that have you leapfrogging between cars, motorcycles, speedboats and helicopters. And then there are the boss fights, which tend to feature tough, elusive adversaries that you'll have to beat within an unrealistically short time limit, all while fending off their trigger-happy goons.

Also, each of the five gangs has its own vehicles, weapons (which you can steal) and modus operandi that affect the nature of your missions. The all-girl Vixens - who prefer sports cars, motorcycles and sleek submachine guns - are high-tech thieves who like to hijack big rigs. You'll often have to stop the Humvee-driving Warlords from carrying out terrorist attacks, andthe escaped Convicts favor ugly jalopies and plinky, useless nailguns. But these disparate gangs have one thing in common: they're all ridiculous, which fits in nicely with the game's over-the-top flavor.