Getaway, The

GamerWeb Sony

This game deserves a look at, even if just to admire the scope to which Lindon was recreated and the movie-like feel.

Game Informer

It's definitely the closest video games have ever come to capturing the essence of a kick-ass action flick. [Feb 2003, p.92]

GamePro

In between some breakneck driving and intense gunplay, you get plenty of tough guy angst, wicked doublecrosses, and excruciatingly brutal thuggery.

GamingTrend

Approach this game like you would to watch a good action flick and you will be well entertained.

GameNow

An immensely cool game that pushes frustration to its boundaries. [Apr 2003, p.51]

TotalGames.net

The game’s full of such annoyances, but it manages to (almost) balance up its frustrating nature with the weight of its truly black heart, good looks and the questionable joy of emptying out a Soho ponce bar to the sound of an AK-47.

Gamer.tv

At times The Getaway is spectacularly cinematic in the best way imaginable, ie in game, rather than through cut-scenes... you can see why people are going to enjoy The Getaway.

Media and Games Online Network

The gameplay though is sometimes too realistic for its own good.

AtomicGamer

The Getaway is a pretty decent game with a few bad design decisions but some cool driving and action.

Absolute Playstation

Even the cockney pedestrians fail to hold back the punches with gems such as “Oi, get off the road you fu**in’ w**ker!” It all adds up to a game that rolls along at the speed of a Guy Ritchie movie (minus the humour) with a couple of "Reservoir Dogs" torture scenes added for good measure.

XGP Gaming

Bottom-line: Team Soho deserves every ounce of credit for having some of the best voice acting in a game ever!

TotalPlayStation

As good as the Getaway is, it needs more powerful hardware to really deliver the kind of punch the game has the potential to administer.

Official U.S. Playstation Magazine

There is brutality here that will shock some of you with its dispassionate nature... There's a sense of claustrophobia and fear you experience in The Getaway that's unlike any other game. [Mar 2003, p.104]

GameCritics

Getaway isn't a shining beacon for all to follow, but its greatest contribution is that it is a ray of light that brings progressive ideas and expressions to the gaming conscious and deserves credit for it.

GMR Magazine

So dark, gritty, and uncompromising, it makes "Vice City" seem much more like a cartoon than you would have previously considered it. [Mar 2003, p.62]

Maxim Online

If the ensuing police brutality doesn’t mold you into the model Wheelman, then having to endure those whiny English cop sirens surely will.

Total Video Games

A great action title... The problem is that we had such high expectations for the game, expecting a true next-gen title to really push the genre forward, in this respect The Getaway falls short of the mark.

FHM

Not just a little similar to "GTA III" in look, feel, and gameplay, it's nonetheless worth sleeping in front of the game store for this one. [Dec 2002, p.150]

Gamezilla!

The graphics are stunning and character movements, in the game and cut sequences, have a fluidity and realness that immerses you in the game action.

PSX Nation

Speaking of gameplay this is where the title just can't manage to break out from the norm. What we needed here was something full of new ideas, not just a revolution of the ideas already given in previous games.

Eurogamer

On a technical level it’s a major achievement, with a superbly realised graphics engine, but on a gameplay level it’s neither the best driving game, nor the best stealth-based shooter, and some of you will have issues with the hammy voice acting.

Weekly Famitsu

8 / 7 / 8 / 8 - 31 silver [Vol 780]

Game Over Online

During that transition from one medium to another, a clunky targeting system, unbelievable AI and pathetic camera were attached to this edgy property, significantly dulling it.

Electric Playground

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.

Gaming Age

The atmosphere that this game creates with its dialog, character interactions, and its intriguing story set in the real life city of London is completely amazing.

GameZone

Although the cinematic story is supposedly one of the most compelling elements of The Getaway, it is merely decent by film standards and only fair by video game standards.

GamingWorld X

To be honest, you’ll probably be disappointed with The Getaway once you reach the end for the first time, as it takes a feeble four hours to finish, having played through with both characters to get the whole story.

Gamers' Temple

Worth checking out just for the driving sequences through an ultra-realistic London alone. However, the gun fighting action just does not deliver the same level of gameplay.

GameSpy

Forgive its design and technical shortcomings and you'll be in for a treat -- let them bother you and you're in for a frustrating ride.

Gamer's Pulse

Too much of it feels clunky and "bloody amateurish", as a certain character is fond of exclaiming. For what it's worth, however, there's really nothing quite like The Getaway in terms of a truly gripping adult gaming experience.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

If you're a fan of films like "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch," you'll feel right at home with this twisted tale. [Mar 2003, p.122]

Yahoo! Games

It has a lot to live up to, and although it does manage it on several counts, the frustration from its down points tends to grate just a little raw on fractured nerves.

eToychest

The driving missions are decent but frustrating, as it is sometimes difficult to know where the game wants you to go without a map.

IGN

Amazing and infuriating in roughly equal measure.

Cincinnati Enquirer

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.

PSM Magazine

A curious mix of brilliant artistry and some less-than-brilliant game design. [Mar 2003, p.41]

GameSpot

Though The Getaway's combination of driving and on-foot shooting sequences is occasionally entertaining, and the production values are impressive, usually the game just isn't fun--in place of almost every gaming convention The Getaway boldly tries to defy, it offers a significantly worse alternative.

Armchair Empire

The Getaway has an intense storyline with very little in the way of humor.

XenGamers

The efforts put into the acting and story deserve a game with better graphics, less glitches, and more refined gameplay.

Into Liquid Sky

This turned out to be a "good mediocre" game. It would have been so much better if only the basic features such as adjustable camera angles were an option here.

Cheat Code Central

Nowhere near as engaging as "GTA 3," "Vice City" or even "Max Payne."

Gamestyle

Unfortunately during this gargantuan effort, someone along the production line forgot to say this: Fackin’ hell, these control’s ain’t ‘alf fackin’ dodgy, guvnor!

All Game Guide

Often frustrating due the limitations associated with a linear narrative, its lack of incentives to replay missions, and its stubborn attitude in not providing clear visual feedback on how well the player is doing at any given stage.

G4 TV

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.

Game Revolution

Simply aimed too high, and fell short. The basics of the game, like control and fun should have been figured out before anyone tried to make it into a movie.

Gaming Maxx

Horribly stiff and unfriendly controls, a tedious plot with unskippable cutscenes, a graphics engine that slows down with alarming regularity and a general lack of the magic that makes a truly excellent game.

Cinescape

It’s too realistic, not responsive enough, and far too easy. That’s my biggest problem with the game – it just isn’t fun.

Play Magazine

In a game that is billed as a "true filmic crossover," neither the story nor the play provide any pull, and their inability to work in tandem reveals the cracks even deeper. [Mar 2003, p.44]

Entertainment Weekly

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]