Pursuit Force is an action game set in the near future in a city terrorized by gangs. Each of these five gangs – the Capelli Family, the Convicts, the Killer 66, the Vixens, and the Warlords – conducts their illegal enterprises through the use of high-speed, customized vehicles. A new police task force has been created to deal specifically with this threat, the Pursuit Force, and you are its number one cop. Sony recently provided us with a copy of a preview of the game and I got to try my hand at gangbusting on the freeways of the future.

The first mission I played had the Warlords trying to truck toxic waste into the city. This was a good mission to start out on because it served as a good introduction to the game’s unique play mechanic – the ability to jump between cars going at full speed to take control of the gangs’ vehicles. When you want to commandeer an enemy vehicle to either take it out of commission or because your own ride is about to blow-up around you, you need to maneuver yourself nice and close to the vehicle. This can be challenging because you’ll both be moving at high speeds on a highway with plenty of curves filled with civilian traffic. Since you’re a cop, it goes without saying that you need to avoid doing harm to the good citizens of your local berg. When you’re close enough to make the leap an icon appears indicating that you’re good to go and a press of the button sends you flying. The jumping part itself is easy enough because it is handled automatically for you. When you land, though, things are back in your hands as you’ll have to get rid of the vehicle’s current occupants by firing your weapon at them. Don’t be surprised if they don’t take too kindly to your hitchhiking and decide to fire back at you. When this happens you’ll be able to duck, move to the side, and even hang onto the side of the vehicle for dear life. Once you put enough bullets into the driver and any passengers the car is yours and you get to hop behind the wheel and take over. And if the previous occupants left behind their weapons you’ll get to use them yourself.

The Warlords mission played out as a race towards the city. I had to catch all of the toxic trucks before they reached the heart of the city, while contending with other Warlord vehicles filled with trigger-happy Warlords. All in all a fast-paced hectic mission. Once you complete any of the missions in the game you’ll receive a letter grade based on your performance as well as being rewarded with new missions. In a nice touch the unlocked missions are drawn from the other gangs as well, so you won’t be forced to play your way through every mission for a game before having the chance to face one of the others.

The next mission pitted me against the Convicts on a winding road along the oceanfront. This was a mission in which the goal was to take out one of the Convicts' leaders before he makes it to the border and freedom. Branching paths and some tight turns made this one a pretty challenging mission. The final demo mission was against the Cappelli Family, the city’s local mobsters. This mission gave me a chance to try out one of the game’s other vehicles as it was a high speed boat chase down a winding river. Just like with the road vehicles, you’ll be able to make the leap from boat to boat to take over the boat and send its former occupants down to sleep with the fishes.

The final release of the game will include 30 missions, including some that will put you in a helicopter and even on foot. The missions are relatively quick playing and provide plenty of action, so it looks like Pursuit Force will be a good game to take with you for gaming on the go. Look for Pursuit Force in March 2006.