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 ;)
