The Getaway - PlayStation 2

The mission of the game is this: in what's becoming a post-Sopranos, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels stereotype, you're a tough guy, with guns, of course, and a fair amount of attitude. Having formerly worked for the British Mafia, you're looking to exact some brute force/we-ain't-no-James-Bond revenge on the boss. You jump in your car (or any car, really) and the turn signals let you know the path to follow your enemies. By the next scene, you're off and shooting, throwing out and receiving British slang and curses (e.g., "Look out! This guy's a nutter"). This pattern--car and shoot, shoot and car--is repeated over and over as you complete more missions. There's clearly a great deal of technical expertise in the game's design: knock the car door and it swings open wide, altering the aerodynamics and causing drag on that side of the machine.

Is The Getaway a good game? Yes and no. If you're a die-hard fan of GTA, you'll most likely be annoyed that you have no health meter, that the famous GTA humor is missing (Getaway is pretty dour), and that the missions are fairly linear and exacting. If you're not a rabid GTAer, you may actually like the fact that there's no health meter, since the idea is, after all, authenticity. In real life you wouldn't exactly have a "low life level" meter ringing in your ears in the event of a scuffle, after all. There are no maps and no ammo counters--causes of concern to some players--but again, the idea is: "real life." The superb photorealism (40 square kilometers of London were carefully mapped out with cinematic quality) goes hand in hand with this pursuit of reality above all else. Stylish and intentionally minimalist in its game mechanics, The Getaway is likely to have more than a few die-hard supporters (otherwise known as "mates"). --Jennifer Buckendorff

Pros: London, looking really cool UK one-way streets, any which way you want Notable array of vehicles Catchy/cute Britishisms Cons: Parents beware: the F word is in use Lo-o-o-ong cut scenes. Getaway thinks it's a movie. Nope, no strafing Enforced camera angle

Amazon.com Product Description
The Getaway offers shooting and driving action in gigantic London environments, from busy streets to gritty warehouses, that are re-created in obsessive, photorealistic detail. How gigantic? One of the developers boasted that it takes 15 minutes of real time to drive from one end of the city to the other. The game follows the story of an ex-bank robber, a vigilante cop, and their battle against Charlie Jolson, a notorious crime boss of London's East End. This game will inevitably draw comparisons to Grand Theft Auto III and Max Payne, but its ambitious scope puts it in a class by itself.