THE GETAWAY (PS2)


Snatch, Lock Stock, The Getaway

By TOM FAHEY

As a reward for an extremely long and tedious wait, PS2 gamers have finally been granted with The Getaway.

Much like Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, The Getaway simulates the streets of London in the most vicious, heartless, and definately the most enjoyable way.

Sadly however, like all other games of this genre, it's bound to be compared with the all-mighty Grand Theft Auto...

For so long, we have enjoyed the attitude, the speed, and no doubt the killing sprees of the many GTA's. But I must ask this: Can The Getaway be a worthy rival for the old time favorite GTA? Well, if I were asking me, then the answer would be... yes.

Don't pass them off as exactly the same game however, because there are some differences. The main one being realism. The Getaway has many additional actions other than simply stealing cars and popping caps in people.

Furthermore, the atmosphere that the graphics and sound create simply feels real. On the other hand, GTA is more comical and unrealistic, which is one of the reasons why it's so God-damned fun!! But I must say, it's a very nice change, and one that deserves full attention.

You kick off as Mark Hammond. Mark enjoys breaking the road regulations in stolen cars, shooting persistent female police officers on the streets, and watching Sesame Street in the morning with his son. He's also an ex-mobster who vowed never to return to his old lifestyle.

However, like most other anti-heroes, he's a victim of some very nasty circumstances that draw him back into what now seems to be his inescapable past.

Forced to run errands for mob overlord Charlie Jolson, he is actually the dude whose head you would like to rip off.

Interestingly, as the story progresses, you gain control of the police vigilante, Frank Carter. Frank likes to hunt down and kill mob overlords, pistol-whipping suspects rather then making an arrest, and flower arranging with his grandmother on Sunday afternoons.

He's also hell bent on bringing Charlie Jolson to justice, and as a result of this he crosses paths with Hammond. Though they are on opposite sides of the law, they strive for the same thing: To bring an end to Jolson...

Now, the only short way to describe the gameplay of The Getaway is a cross between Grand Theft Auto and Metal Gear Solid. I know that's a big wrap, but it's true!

To be a little more specific, there are two main pieces to the puzzle: The driving side of things, as you would presume, is like GTA, and when you're out of the car, running around town, or sneaking through a thug-infested building, you strive to be as cool as the legendary Solid Snake from the MGS series.

So, you can run up to a car, press an appropriate button, and tell the driver in the nicest possible way to, and I quote, "GET THE F**K OUT OF THE CAR!!"

Indeed, some gamers may find such sound bytes offensive, and a note to concerned parents: Lots and lots of naughty words are exchanged throughout the course of this video game.

Back to the review, and from there your joy ride begins. Or not-so-joyful as the case may be, because controlling a vehicle traveling at approximately 100 miles per hour (that's 160km/h) is difficult to control at times, believe it or not, especially when it's traveling down one of the many busy streets in London that you would probably recognise from your Monopoly game board.

Now, as you would imagine, traveling by car is the quickest way to arrive at your desired location. If you're not too familiar with the streets of London, then don't worry, because the game comes with a nifty foldout map with a cool poster on the back!

Now, in game, there are no maps. As you don't know were you're going, then this could be looked upon as a problem.

But don't worry, because good old Mark Hammond knows the streets, and is kind enough to put on his car indicators to assist you. Keep in mind that this is just about his only exception to breaking the road laws...

Once you remove yourself from the vehicle, grab a gun, and start thinning out the population... With style. There are many "stealthy" actions that Mark and Frank can perform.

For instance, pressing your back up against a wall, shooting around a wall, which sacrifices accuracy for protection, or jumping out from the wall for a surprise attack are all good.

You can shoot over a box that you're ducking behind (again, without looking), sneak up behind people and getting them in the famous sleeper hold where you can knock them out, kill them, or arrest them (albeit only with Frank).

So there is many a tricky move to be done, and as you get shot quite a bit too, it's wise to find a nice quiet area and lean against a wall for a minute or two and get your health back.

There are little glitches in the game world at times, but hey, no game apart from Final Fantasy VII is perfect (I heard Daikatana was dope - Ed). But it really is to be expected when you think about how extensive the two aspects of the game are.

The car sides of things are of a lot better standard than most games dedicated to cars alone, and sneaking around killing people has almost never been this much fun, though I would rate the MGS's and the Tenchu's as the best sneaking games ever.

Graphics... Well, well, well. Aren't we clever? But I'm not falling for it... Sorry, you all probably don't know what I'm talking about... Well, let me fill you in. Sony obviously wanted a 100% awarded to graphics whether they earned it or not.

You see, in one of the many cut scenes, there is a stripper dancing in the background, and I know at LEAST a dozen guys who would pay good money to be the pole she was performing with... Catch my drift?

Well Sony... you should be ashamed... What am I saying?!?! This is the first game I've ever known to have proper nudity. Apart from that dodgy 16-bit game called Leisure Suit Larry or something.

And, of course, there is Duke Nukem 3D, but the graphics were all dodgy and up close the stripers were pixilated and blurry. Okay Sony, ten points for effort!

Sorry, back on track now. The character models are awesome. Seeing that they modeled them from real people, they look ultra realistic and the motion capture is fairly good too. When you're actually performing an action of some sort, the movements that are executed look really accurate, but there is something amiss that at first I couldn't put my finger on.

But it soon came to my attention that everything is shaking. And I'm not talking about an earthquake. It seems that every action has a very subtle wobble to it, but to the untrained eye, this would go unnoticed.

The car models are good too, though it is a shame that they didn't extend the variety a little. After all, I doubt all of London is driving one of only about twelve different models of car. But there are a couple of sports cars that go really fast, so I really shouldn't complain too much.

Cars also start to burn if you bash them into one too many buildings and the like, and the flame effects are very cool. The graphics are especially satisfying when you run over people in the streets, as the bodies go flying!

Sound effects are good, but when up against GTA, they are nothing too special. I mean, you can't listen to the radio, but hey, the game is a lot more serious, so it's understandable.

Our hero is grieving over a dead wife and kidnapped son - I don't think he would be in the mood for some music or a talk-back radio.

Gun sounds go BANG! Car sounds go VROOM! What else can I say?! Apart from the speech of course... The speech is very, very good. With the all-out British accents, and well scripted speech, the atmosphere of the game gains so much merit from the dialogue alone.

You would swear that the scriptwriter of Snatch had some input here. It really is that good.

At the end of day, night, or any other time that you can spend playing this game, it doesn't take much to realise that The Getaway is somewhat of a delicacy on the PS2.

Sure it has flaws here and there, but which games don't? Although we have seen games of this nature before, this is of the very refined variety, which although isn't that original, it brings together two natures of games, which have never before been combined.

Warning to the politically correct brigade out there: This game does have a lot of explicit language, so if you'd like to spare your eardrums, then you'll sadly have to look past this title. To everyone else... enjoy!!

ORIGINALITY 85%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 85%
PLAYABILITY 75%
ADDICTION 90%
ENJOYMENT 90%