The Getaway

The Getaway Review

The Getaway Feature

• Wild, multiple storylines and intriguing characters
• Advanced lighting modes and special effects
• Blood, drug reference, strong language and sexual content, and violence

To get it out of the way: yes, The Getaway is a by-the-book knockoff of the massively successful Grand Theft Auto series. It is, even if it was started five years ago. (Did anyone at Team Soho play the London expansion pack for the original GTA?) But Ms. Pac-Man was a clone too, and no one complained about that. Ripping off ideas is as old as the idea of gaming, period, so this fact alone is not a sin. The Getaway carries through on its mission well enough, if falling a bit in the shadow of its predecessor.

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

In The Getaway, you're a reformed criminal who's been blackmailed into returning to his old ways -- and he's going to do whatever it takes to stop it!