The Getaway

"The Getaway - How does it fare in 2008?"

The Getaway came out in a time where the GTA franchise was already king. Sony had a mixed track record, only marginally well established compared to other companies in the genre. The game took a very long time to make and just didn't turn much profit, or that many heads.

But let's say you're into 2008 now, and many free roaming crime games have come and gone from your life, and you want more. Let's say you love London and it's surrounding areas, and enjoy Guy Richie films. Let's say you just want to take part in a fun, fair crime caper video game. This is your best bet now, I'd wager. You likely won't be finding this brand new in stores. But, whever, however you pick it up, I'm here to let you know what's it's about and how it fares by today's standards.

This game is rife with violence, foul language, sex, and more, so be aware.

Also please keep in mind I'm a "tourist" here, a yank living in the USA. This is my take.


Graphics - 7 I would only give this a six, but the photorealistic layout of London and surrounding areas really steals the show here, and for many is the main attraction. Being a wide open sandbox game, there are no loading times for traversing the city, and you can go whever you wish and take in the sights. People move well enough. Animation is sometimes stiff but overall realistic enough to get by. Cars look good, very good. Most of the locations are extremely well done as well. This is where that five years in development was spent. Guns look fine, also. Overall, things are a bit grainy, but to be expected at the time.

Sound - 7 It's just fine. It would've gotten a higher score, except for the often repeated music, and at other times where you'd think there would be some, there is absolutely none. Voices are top notch brilliant, and there are subtitles for those of you not familliar with cogney ryhming slang speak, or various dialects seen herein. The music, as mentioned, is decent enough, but we need more, and to hear it more often. I know in many cases in the plotline (especially as a policeman) you wouldn't per se be listening to the radio and jamming out, but maybe just more background score or something would have really worked wonders. Dialouge in the game world (nonstoryline that is) is basically fine, though very often repeated (especially bystanders, ugh). Guns sound great, exactly how they should, there are no sound clipping issues here.

Story - 9 I love noir. I love crime tales. I love them to be realistic. That is something even the coveted GTA series (let's face it, comparison WILL occur in this genre) sometimes gives up the ghost on. This tale is very gritty, realistic, heartwarming, painful, scary, fast paced, hardcore, and many other types of verbs. No punches are pulled on the language, violence, and nonstop action. It weaves a tale from both criminal and police points of view, and brings them both to a very explosive climax. As Mark Hammond, you recently gave up a life of crime in Soho. But just as you hope to get out, an old aquantience decides to yank you roughly back in, by killing your wife and kidnapping your only child. Charlie Jolson, said old "friend" and big time crime boss (rules Bethnal Green with an iron fist) blackmails Mark into doing various dangerous criminal jobs for him, dangling the whereabouts of his poor little boy about him the entire time. He keeps forcing Mark into increasingly more suicidal missions, as the police, the triads, the yardies, and even his old gang of buddies all decide to take him out for revenge, not realizing it's all Charlie's fault. One copper, DC Frank Carter, gets onto this case, having looked to bust the Jolson family up time and again and always failing in the past. As DC Carter you will bust up crack houses, get into vigilante style parking garage shootouts, and abuse your general lawman privligies by driving madly around London, following Hammond's wake and trying to make sense of it all. You will not only clash with all the gangs Mark has riled up and Charlie, but also your own kind, as you unravel an unnerving tale of police corruption on the side. How will it end? What will happen to Mark, his friends and family, Frank, the mysterious female assassin, and the Jolsons?

Gameplay - 6 Now, this is the big selling point for this type of game. Sadly, it falls flat in many areas, and may scare many of you away. This was everyone's biggest complaint, and still is in 2008. The cover system is hard to use. Sometimes driving doesn't feel quite right (slamming into a building corner sometimes rockets you forwrad). Various visual glitches are found in some places. When on foot, running, dodging, shooting etc all feels a bit stiff and cumbersome. The driving is mostly fine though, once you get used to London's traffic rules if you live in the USA or elsewhere. Largely, the on foot and later stealth sections can get very tedious. Especially the stealth. I enjoyed the shootouts, but until you get used to the stiff on foot controls, beware, as the game gets so much harder until you learn to work with them. Overall, you race in your car (sometimes in timed sections, sometimes not), get to location for either A)cutscene, or B)on foot section where you have a shootout indoors or out, and/or a stealth section. There is even one area where you have to carefully make your way around lasers or be gassed to death, but it only occurs once and actually is not that hard. Rinse and repeat many dozen times over and that's the game. Trust me when I saw that while it isn't unbearable to play (and even has a couple amazing car chase moments, as it should with this title), the highlight here is definately the storyline and it's cinematic presentation. Save and checkpoints are very abundant here, so there isn't much frustration in that respect. There is a seperate free range mode and even special cars to hot rod around in. All the cars are real (modern for the time) makes and models. All the guns are real as well, though it doesn't go too in depth there. As for getting around, this is no large map that I could find in game, you must quickly (sometimes not quickly) respond to turn signals the character uses on the cars. This adds realism and new incentive to keeping your car from getting badly beaten up, but can often be more annoying than it is innovative. Use common sense and obey traffic laws unless in a chase, and you'll do fine though. Speaking of traffic laws, the driving sections in the city are really cool. If you hit a pedestrian, you don't automatically have a wanted level and police on you in a minute. A police has to actually see the crime. If you drive wrecklessly on the other hand, they will see you quickly and come at you. These realistic touches really make the game for most. If you're a cop in the game, however, you don't have to worry about any laws period, so long as you don't mow down 100 pedestrians in a row. Following the laws and laying low feels really cool when you're a highly wanted criminal on his way to do business.

In the end, play, even purchase this game, if you love the subject matter, or REALLY love open world driving games with a little on foot tacked on. It's very cinematic, and very fun to watch and mostly fun to play. If you sought out this review in 2008 here and now, you are likely looking for something like this, so enjoy! It certainly isn't unplayable in that reguard.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/08

Game Release: The Getaway (Greatest Hits) (US, 01/19/04)