The Getaway: Black Monday

"Surprisingly good, despite bad press."

Introduction
I have played the previous game of this series, and found it to be ok. Left it a bit late to get this game, as the reviews were putting me off. But I found the game cheap and decided to try it anyway.

Much like the first Getaway, Black Monday is another cutscene based crime game. Same city, but a different story and characters.

First impressions
After being somewhat disappointed with free roam, I began the first mission. I was surprised how good it was, and how well they depicted the problems on these estates. Didn't get the story, but it was good enough to keep me playing the game to the very end.
7/10

Storyline
This didn't seem to be as gripping, or scary, or understandable as the first game. The ending wasn't very good either. You play as a cop (Mitch) then a boxer (Eddie) and then as a girl (Sam) who's only redeeming feature is stealth. Each character's missions didn't seem to intertwine as well as the previous game.
5/10

Gameplay
This is another of these action crime games, similar to the GTA series, True Crime, Driv3r etc, but based in London. The car controls seemed very sensitive, but on foot you didn't feel 100% in control. Not as difficult or frustrating as the last game, but it is even shorter.
7/10

Graphics
Not much different from the last game. The city, and the vehicles look flat, and dull. The characters look far too plain as well. In fact, everything is so dark, you might have to push the brightness of your television all the way up just to see what you're doing.
5/10

Sounds
The gun fire sounds ok, not excellent though. The same with the vehicles. The instrumentals that accompany you through the game are ok, but I swear every single instrumental seems to be based around the same riff.

On the other hand, the characters accent and languages are unique based on their nationality. Very impressive.
6/10

Missions
If you found the last game a bit too challenging and frustrating, this one isn't at all. However, all the missions are very fun, and the cutscenes are enjoyable. The missions themselves are similar to other games like this, but are unique.
9/10

Features, and new additions
Again, like the last game, there is no map, no HUD, no health and weapon bars. However, this time if you press Start, you'll see a full screen map, with your destination marked. And it seems the car indicators take into account the street layout this time. The character will shout out "Low on ammo" and the controller will vibrate to let you know when you run out. When blood appears on your clothes, you have to lean on a wall to recover health, but there's a limit this time. But there's the occasional health pack lying around too.

Each character has unique features. The cop has his submachine gun and pistols, and the ability to arrest, but he can't fight or pick up new weapons. The boxer can fight, and pick up any weapon, and the girl can only use stealth and cannot fight whatsoever.

Yet more features. Each level contains a secret key that will unlock something for free roam. The free roam itself is open from the start this time, and more keys gives you more characters to roam about the city in. They also give more Black Cab locations (another new feature that lets you be a taxi driver), more street races, and more police chases. There are even garages to save your favourite vehicles in.

But did they do anything about the awful views? Of course not. You can only play from third-person perspective. I personally cannot drive whatsoever from third person view. Furthermore, in the previous game, the buses and trucks had a viewpoint from just behind the driver. This time its from behind the vehicle, like everything else. This means you cannot see ahead of you at all. But they did add a new feature here, holding L2 or R2 allows you to look to the left, and to the right of the vehicle. Those are pressure sensitive, the more you press, the more the camera turns. Holding both allows you to look back. On foot the right analogue allows you to pan the view behind the character just a bit.

Shooting is the same as the last game, you can auto or manual aim.
7.5/10

Despite all the new additions to this game, it is only a very minor improvement to the original Getaway game. The story is far too short, even the fact that there's two alternative endings doesn't work well.

The autosave feature is very confusing. You have to save manually first to get it to work, then it only saves after you start the next mission. I hope they get rid of this before the next game.

More improvements they should take notice of:
Please make London a bit brighter. Make the area a bit bigger, or move it to a different part of London, or even the UK.
To be able to drive in first person view.
We want to access the London Underground. One mission based there is not enough. It should be all there for us to explore. And a feature where we can choose to be a bus or train driver in free roam.
Make the game less linear, and more open.

If you enjoyed the first game, get this. If you enjoy similar games, this one's worth a try. I have a feeling the next game is going to be even better.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/16/05