of the gang being Lieutenant Davies. Convicts: The Convicts are a group of psychotic prison escapees who have broken out of prison to cause as much chaos as they can around Capital State and are about to flee the city so they can wreak havoc on a much larger scale. Their leader is a gigantic criminal known only as "Hard Balls", while the other significant member of the Convicts is an insane pyromaniac named Billy Wilde. Vixens: The Vixens are an all-female group of professional thieves with a high-tech arsenal whose crimes are based around high-profile heists and grand thefts, from priceless artefacts to luxury speed boats. The major members of the Vixens are their leader "Whiplash" and her second-in-command and lover "The Fox". Killer 66: The Killer 66 are a Yakuza gang based in Capital State, and the most powerful of all five gangs in the game, focusing primarily on vehicle smuggling and illegal drug trade. They are led by "Monster" Toshima; the other significant member of the gang being his second-in-command Sudeko Arakawa. Reception The game received "generally favourable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, where the game was ported and published by Spike on 2 March 2006, Famitsu gave it a score of two eights and two sevens for a total of 30 out of 40. Detroit Free Press gave it a score of all four stars and said that the game was "nearly perfect with its graphics that often look close to cinematic scenes and a whole host of strategies for nailing the bad guys." The Times similarly gave it all five stars and said, "Even by the high standards already set, Pursuit Force is an astonishing title... The best PSP title yet." However, The New York Times gave it an average review and said, "Apparently the designers were afraid the game might just be too much fun, so they compensated by making the missions brutally, mind-numbingly difficult." The Sydney Morning Herald gave it a score of three out of five, saying, "Streamlined controls make performing outrageous stunts easy. But car handling is overly rigid making tight bends difficult to negotiate." Despite its innovative gameplay, Pursuit Force was criticized for its punishing difficulty. In response, the developer reevaluated the gameplay and made sure the sequel was more playable. References External links 2005 video games Helicopter video games PlayStation Portable games PlayStation Portable-only