Absolutely runs away with the title of most visually and technically impressive game for the PlayStation 2... Unfortunately, the developers shot themselves in the foot with the actual game.
The biggest hindrance in The Getaway involves its user interface - or lack thereof - as the development team attempted to make the game look and play out like a movie.
As a game it's nowhere near as good as Rockstar's GTA franchise, but its excellent storytelling and slick production values make it an experience worth having.
The level of detail is extraordinary... but the slickest graphic presentation can't cover for Getaway's flawed script... In a game infused with more humor and less pretentious aspirations, these flaws would be more forgivable. [24 Jan 2003, p.106]
'The Getaway' is an excellent title that captures the dirty underworld of British crime in the early 2000's.
You play through the 24 mission story list as 2 characters, with 12 missions suited to each. The twist is that the game adds depth to its storyline by making you play from different perspectives of the story, through each character. Mark Hammond; an ex-gangster, is hunted down by an old rival gang boss who uses Mark's skills and techniques to help take down a lot of the crime underworld in London. You will then play as the police officer who sees the story as it unfolds, away from Marks eyes.
The gameplay is fluid and new, with no HUD. You rely on your sense for magazine counts, sound and your own surroundings and awareness. This makes the combat a lot more interesting and different from other shooters of the time.
The driving sequences are... Mediocre, they offer no real change from titles such as 'GTA' and 'DRIVER' . The AI is odd and jerky, but the driving is still interesting as you will see well known stores, such as Carphone Warehouse. And vans like Royal Mail and FedEx this just adds a sense of realism when you are driving around London. If you live in the UK, you will enjoy it even more as you will notice the look of everything, even police cars look very familiar. The absence of a HUD makes it difficilt to know where to go when you are driving, the use of the vehicle's indicators show you where to turn automatically, which is a very nice feature. This also means, no map or objective icon, you just simply pause the game and listen to the audio tape for the objective that is taken from the previous cutscene, genius. To heal, you simply stand next to a wall and rest as your character places his arm on there to catch his breath back. This is a handy feature as you will notice when to heal, by looking at your blood soaked clothing and the way your character moves, whether his arms hang down and flail, or his legs look like they will give in at any moment. This new system really makes the game more immersive and interesting. Overall, 'The Getaway' is definitely up there as being one of my favourite PS2 games of all time.
An action crime game that pulls much from British gangster movies. It's cinematic and experimental, but flawed. There is no HUD, no health packs or city map to assist you. When driving to a location, a vehicle's blinkers will light up to signal where to turn. The story is terrific, the shooting is fun, but vehicle physics are too realistic for their own good. If you love Guy Ritchie or classic British crime movies, you'll like this game. Overall, I would rate this with a 7.5 out of 10.
The Getaway is a fun game, but not in the sense that you will get an exceptional amount of enjoyment out of the act of playing. Its fun because of the obscurity and the fact that you're trying something new. The graphics are astonishing but the gameplay is tiring and boring. This game, if it were a film, would succeed massively. It has an astonishing plot, great voice acting and is well written on the whole. It works very well as a film, but as a game? No. Sorry.
When this game came out magazines and reviewers were saying, the next GTA, amazing game, 10/10. Then I played it and it was all style and no gameplay.. you were constantly fighting with everything you had to controll making the biggest challenge in the game, getting from A to B...Back then the controls were bad , but now they are just laughable. reviewers liked the fact the game was mature and it made them seem less like toy testers, but make no mistake, fun is a long was from what on the menu in this game.
Some really enjoyable elements to the game, but it just feels like a clunkier version of GTA. It's also INSANELY difficult at times which makes you give up eventually and not even complete the game.
SummaryIt's morning in Covent Garden. A woman is shot dead in the street. In the distance, a child screams as a car disappears with a screech of tires. It is a crime that will spark a series of intense events in London and the most notorious gangs are implicated. Mark Hammond is about to be dragged into a life he vowed he'd left forever. DC Fra...