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Review:

28th December 2002:
The Getaway
Blimey Guv'nor, the Getaway has arrived but does the hefty development price tag and the ridiculously long development time live up to all that we were hoping for?
Posted by John Wasabi - PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe

Too long has the hype of 'The Getaway' held us in its grasp and now that it is here, the words in which to describe the game are few. I will, however try, for 'The Getaway' has been in development for a long time (4 years to be exact) and with an estimated budget of around Ł5 million thrown in for good measure this has to be one of the ambitious games ever conceived.

For a start, 'The Getaway' is a game of two halves told in an intricate, absorbing and highly atmospheric manner. Initially you take control of ex-mobster Mark Hammond as he witnesses the murder of his wife and kidnapping of his son. Framed for the murder of his wife with no one to turn to, Mark Hammond has no choice but to take orders from the kidnappers if he ever intends to see his son again. Such orders include killing rival gang members, torching a restaurant or instigating riots and the best part is that you feel involved if not responsible for it all. As the story progresses and the plot twists kick in, you switch to a cop by the name of Frank Carter whose ultimate goal is to bring all the gangs down which is a nice touch on variety and gameplay.

The two stories are linked beautifully and you'll often experience the same events but from the perspective of the two different characters. So with such a well-executed story, it is easy to understand why Sony and Team Soho insist that 'The Getaway' is a title that blurs and infuses the boundaries of videogame and Hollywood action movie like no other game that has come before or tried. This game really captures the feel of a gritty British gangster movie and all credit to the developers for creating what must be one of the amazing outdoor environments seen in a videogame. About 40km of London has been painstakingly recreated in detail, anyone who knows the capital well will know what I mean and will surely find it hard to be unimpressed.

The control of your character in the game is best described as a mix of 'Max Payne' gun fights (minus bullet time) and exciting car chases GTA 3 style (Except the roads in London are far tighter so don't expect any highways for a quick ahem 'Getaway'). Expect plenty of good laughs and fun with the control system, however they are far from perfect as a lot of niggling technicalities are present. For a start the character movement are not as responsive as they should be and ultimately lead to a lot of frustration. For example the gun fights can be completed with a simple formula which goes something like this- lean against wall, jump out, shoot targets and lean back against wall... Repeat until all are dead. You will die in some parts of the game and when you do it is not due to a lack of skill on your part, it is more to do with the fact you did not know the maps well enough and hence the gun fight sequences become a case of trial and error and memorising where each bloody potential hostile is hiding. It truly is a shame for we were really hoping that the fight sequences would be what GTA 3 should have been and better but instead it is a totally different experience which opens up a whole new can of worms. On the plus side, the driving scenes are done really well with flashing indicators on your vehicle to point you to your next waypoint (even though it may not necessarily be the quickest way there) plus you get realistic vehicle physics which is a double-edged sword, as some will like it while others wont.

Ultimately, 'The Getaway' whether it likes to or not will forever be pigeon holed as a GTA 3 style game. What this game has over GTA 3 is quite noticeable right from the offset such as fluid and realistic animation, proper swearing with f*** words, slightly better combat system if not repetitive and finally the all important storyline. However, one of the most important elements that are not quite as good is 'FUN'. 'The Getaway' at times really lack this vital ingredient and hence loses some points against its rival, heck there were some really awful glitches and bugs which although is expected in all games is truly shameful to be found on this one with so much money pumped into it. We found crashes while loading, glitches with speech samples and bugs that will have you have you forever unable to pass certain missions just because you did something you were not supposed to with the only option being to reload and watch the 'UNSKIPPABLE' cutscenes again. Another minor quibble I just have to mention is the lack of 'people' roaming the streets of London, it really feels like London had been hit with the plague with only a handful of survivors left to roam the streets. Never in a million years has the Capital felt so empty and this just really dampens the atmosphere as you then wonder about all the promises for 'realism'.

'The Getaway' has its good, bad and plain ugly. I cannot help but feel a mix of emotions when playing as the attention to detail on environments, fantastic storyline and brilliant visuals will wow me one minute only to be shocked with horror by unresponsive controls and terrible set pieces in gameplay that are just plain ridiculous. This is one game that needed to live up to all its promises. 4 years in the making with a development budget of epic proportions it has delivered that promise in some areas but in the back of my mind, I cannot help but expect more and want more.

John Wasabi

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Review Summary:

'The Getaway' has its good, bad and plain ugly. This is one game that needed to live up to all its promises. 4 years in the making with a development budget of epic proportions it has delivered that promise in some areas but in the back of my mind, I cannot help but expect more and want more.

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