The Italian Job

"One of the last great games for the Playstation."

With the surge of new Playstation games coming to a halt, finding one worth playing can be a bit tricky. Luckily though, you really have nothing to fear in this game. For anyone in search of a good challenge without having to shell out the big bucks, this is one game you’d be crazy to pass up. This game just proves that you can’t judge a game by its price tag.

The game has several different modes of play, and as soon as the title screen appears, you'll know exactly what series inspired the creators of this game. The menu screen seems like a carbon copy of Driver’s, except with lively '60's colors and a British feel. You can either go ahead and begin the Italian Job, adjust your options (which is where you'll have to save and load your games), take a Free Ride, or play some games. In Free Ride mode you start out with only one car and one city, London, unlocked. After you've beaten a few levels you can control some of the faster and better handing cars, and eventually unlock the city of Turin. Although the last 2 levels of the game take place in an area named 'The Alps', you won't be able to Free Ride in it because it's not really connected at all, and wouldn't be worth it. Also, hidden in each city are a few mini games that can be found without much work while in Free Ride. The one in Turin is particularly rewarding. To get the fastest car in the game to tear up the streets with you'll have to beat the entire Story Mode through. Also, for those of you who have played Driver 2 or any of the Grand Theft Auto games, you'll be disappointed to know that you can't steal other cars in the Italian Job mode, or in Free Ride. This is only a minor letdown though, because most of the cars you'll encounter are hardly worth stealing anyway. Still though, it's something that should have been included and just hurts the game in the long run.

The goal behind The Italian Job is simple: steal 4 million in gold bullion through a massive traffic jam in the heart of Turin. Most of the game revolves around gathering the right men for the job, and preparing for it. Led by Charlie Croker, fresh off a 3-year prison run, you'll begin on the streets of London, performing various missions to persuade certain people to help you out with the heist. These missions range from simply meeting up with someone who could help you out with the funding of the trip, to busting an expert driver out of prison to help out with the getaway. Each level feels different from the one before it, and the difficulty sharply increases very early in the game and you will often find yourself retrying the levels over and over again until you figure out the best way to accomplish your goal. Anyone familiar with the Driver series will instantly recognize the ideas behind a lot of the levels, so prior experience with those games will definitely help you out here.

The entire story, being as the game is based on a movie, is planned and executed rather nicely. It probably won't take you more than a few days to get through it, but you'll likely want to spend another day or two beating it again because it deserves to be completed more than once. The levels start off slow at first. You'll perform little jobs here and there, getting things ready for the big heist in Italy. Even after arriving in Turin there is still much to do before everything can go down. But, when all the planning and preparation is done and it's finally time to make the big getaway, you'll love every second you spent brushing up on your wheelman skills, because you will definitely need every last one of them. This level is without a doubt one of the coolest levels you will ever see in a game like this. Every stunt and massive jump you could think of, rolled into an escape worthy of a video game emmy. You'll love it! Every level in the game has a simple objective, but it's the timer and the cops that will most often cause you to have to repeat a level several times before you complete it.

Throughout the Italian Job, your character is never defined. In the first level, for example, you'll be driving as Charlie's girlfriend as you pick him up the day he's let out of jail. In another mission you'll be driving as a man, so you're never given an exact identity. You just go with the flow. Between levels Charlie will talk to you directly while explaining the next mission, but other than that you have no name.

The Challenge Mode games can only be unlocked once you've beaten through the game once, and they do offer quite a challenge! You'll have to master the basics of jumping, braking, and overall car control in 10 different challenges. They could have been a bit more useful had they been available from the very beginning, but even after you've unlocked them they won't exactly be a piece of cake. In Destructor Mode, the goal is simple: kill cones. You basically follow a series of cones, knocking them around as you go until you've destroyed the needed amount before the time limit is up. Sounds simple, but it can be very challenging given the various maneuvers needed and the strict time limits. You can also race against the clock in Checkpoint mode, or play with a group of friends in Party Play. Anyone looking for a nice diversion to the main game will find plenty here to do.

While London isn't quite as large as the sprawling city of Turin, it's still pretty nice to drive in, especially considering the fact that it'll likely take you a little while before you're completely used to zooming past traffic on the wrong side of the road. Don't get too comfortable though, because you'll be driving back on the right side of road after London. You can visit several of the city's major landmarks, like Big Ben and King's Cross train station, but don't expect the city to be an exact copy of the real thing.

Speaking of Turin, I cannot help but to mention how incredibly large this city is! While I'm not sure how it compares to some of the cities in the Driver games, It's safe to say this is one impressive layout. Even after beating the game through, you still probably won't completely know your way around the city, making Free Ride all that more important! There is no shortage of things to do in this level, and the many ramps and jumps littered throughout the city will keep you busy for a while. Definitely the better city of the two.

The controls are part of what makes a successful driving game, and I'd say The Italian Job did very well in this area, though at times they can be a bit sluggish. You can accelerate, brake, and reverse, like in every driving game, and the turning in the game is very sharp. I suggest that you rarely use the handbrake when turning, because it's very likely you'll end up backwards and spinning out as you try to accelerate out of it. I suggest use of the Analog sticks throughout the game, as a hard flick to your left or right should send you sliding through those turns very nicely. Each of the cars has a certain unique feel to it, with some of them being extremely fast while others have awful handling.

The car physics in this game aren't very good, even for a Playstation game. You'll bounce off buildings and buses as though your car was made of rubber. One cool thing I noticed about this game was that if you manage to fill your damage meter all the way up, you'll actually loose a tire! You'll see the detached wheel roll down the road while you desperately try to maneuver your limping vehicle around the city. Depending on which side of the car lost the wheel, the car will constantly lurch in that direction, making it incredibly hard to control. After a few more collisions, your other front wheel will fall off, and you're vehicle is wrecked. Sadly though, other than that, your vehicle never even so much as dents when you collide with vehicle after vehicle, making it even more unrealistic during the massive collisions between you and the trolley headed at top speed in your direction. Don't expect much in the form of realism here.

A few letdowns to the game include the fact that you can't look behind you or to your left or right as you drive. This is very disappointing considering the fact that the buttons had no other use, and I doubt it would have been really hard to just throw that feature in. Another fault I found with the game is the fact that there are no in-game maps! The only maps you are supplied with can be found in the back of the game manual, and can barely be seen and offer little to no direction or guidance in the game. Considering how large Turin is, I would have thought there would be some type of map available for use in the game. In the Italian Job mode you'll have an arrow at the top of the screen showing you where you need to be next, but many times I would rather have opened up a map and found the quickest route than relying on a single arrow. This also makes the Free Ride frustrating because it's harder to get back to places you've been to before because you have to memorize the area that spot was in, rather than just check a map. As I previously mentioned, you're are limited to one car in the Free Ride and story missions, so you better take good care of it. Another thing I found quite annoying is how long the load times are. Seriously, you might as well stop and get some homework done between levels, because it really is that bad.

Other than that, though, the gameplay in this game matches up perfectly with the genre. Each location has a unique feel and a nice flow of traffic, although in the different levels of the game you'll begin to notice that much of the traffic has a set course. You'll encounter certain cars at certain times, which means you'll know exactly where the cops are hiding, and what cars are around each turn. Within each level you'll find ramps placed throughout the city which you can use to shake the cops, or to simply put distance between you and the pavement. Most of the time when you hit a ramp or other large jump, the game will switch to a cinematic camera angle which looks very nice and gives you a great view of the jump you've just made, while adding style to the game. It's not likely you'll ever lose control of your vehicle through any of thee jumps, but you should still pay attention to any cars that may be in your way when you come down from the jump.

One interesting thing in the game that I should mention is the way you're caught by the cops. Unlike the Driver games where you're vehicle has to be destroyed for the cops to nab you, in The Italian Job all they have to do is read your license plate number. Yep, you heard me right. Once a cop begins the chase, his goal in to stay close enough to you to remember your tag number. Oddly though, once you've accelerated enough to put distance between you and the police, they start to forget your number. Although this does seem weird as you're playing the game, I'm sure the difficulty would have been ramped up even more had the coppers been blessed with a better memory. Very unique, but because of the tight time limits in some of the levels it can be very frustrating trying to lose a tail near the end of a mission.

When observing the game from a graphical perspective, one could say the game is neither terrible nor excellent. Certainly when compared to a next-gen game like Gran Turismo 3, the graphics and textures in this game are enough to make you cry. Playing this game after exposure to any of the newer consoles will certainly be a disadvantage, as you may have a hard time focusing on the road in front of you at first. But, this isn't a next-gen system, and when compared to the Driver games I'd say this game stacks up very nicely. While driving through London or Turin, you'll notice some pop-up, but not enough to criticize the game for. The cars are nice looking, but a little on the grainy side with no shine to them at all. The streets and buildings look nice, and repeat very seldomly. When you scrape against buildings and other cars, sparks will fly, and maybe even a few paint chips as well. As stated earlier, the textures aren't that great. Jaggies are abundant, so don't get too excited.

The music you'll hear throughout the game is pretty bland, but very fitting for the setting of this game. To describe it I'd say it's mostly bluegrass with a lot of harmonica, and maybe a little western thrown in. It never varies by much, and starts to get a little annoying after a while. The engine noises are average, as is every other sound effect in the game, aside from the sound made as you drive through water. Horrible is one way to describe it. The voice acting is pretty good, although Charlie does most of the talking in the game. Sometimes his accent makes it a little hard to understand some of what he's saying in the briefings, but most of the time he does a good job of it. The other voices are nice, but nothing amazing.

Overall, I really enjoyed playing this game. The story wasn't the slightest bit hard to follow, and it was something I could easily get into. The time limits can be very tight, and you will become frustrated with it very easily. The ending isn't anything special, but it will definitely leave you on the edge, quite literally.

In closing, it's safe to say this may be one of the last great games to grace the PSX. Sure, its got quite a few flaws, but what game doesn't? Despite what it could have been, it's still a great purchase and very deserving of a spot in your collection. If you've moved on to a more powerful console you might not want to bother with it, but anybody with some spare change lying around should try to find this game. Compared to the Driver games it certainly isn't the best, but it sure comes close enough.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/03, Updated 02/02/03