Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: The Getaway

Written by Adam Woolcott on January 16, 2003

Hands-On Preview: Charlie Jolson makes Tommy Vercetti look like the Citizen of the Year.

Fiveаyears in the making, The Getaway is finally here. This Tuesday will be the unveiling of one of Sony's most ambitious games ever Ц one that's been treated to solid, but not exceptional reviews since the European release last month. With the US release just days away, we've managed to get a hold of some playtime with the early part of this much-anticipated PlayStation 2 game, to see if Team Soho's baby lives up to all the pomp and circumstance. Before going too deep into the game, however, know this: The Getaway is far, far from a Grand Theft Auto clone.

The build of the game we've been playing lets you play the first couple of missions out of the 24 missions in the full game. The game begins with a bunch of British Mobsters sitting in a car, talking (and tossing the F-bomb around like it was going out of style), waiting for a female mobster to get in the car so they can get moving. However, they don't get moving too quickly, since this female mobster winds up pumping some lead into another woman, then kidnapping the young boy with her. This is where the star of the game, Mark Hammond comes in Ц since it's his wife, and his kid. Mark is a former mobster who got out of the game, and is desperately trying to stay that way Ц despite intentions such as these to force him back in. From here, Mark hops into his car, and goes on a massive chase through the streets of London.

When you hit the road, you see the first signs of a very different video game. Besides the fact that you have to ride on the left side of the road (something that us stoopid Americans would struggle with), you'll notice the lack of a map, or any other kind of a HUD (head's up display). The only way to know what direction you need to go is by the turn signals on the vehicle you're driving. While that does completely kill any kind of non-linearity, it doesn't take too long to realize that freedom wasn't the complete point here. Once Mark does reach the destination, his 4-way signals will flash, so get out and get on with it.

When on the road, there are similarities to GTA, but the familiar things should be common anyway. You can run down pedestrians, and smack other cars, and your car can explode if you take way too much damage. Naturally, you can УborrowФ any other car on the street, but be careful, since the police will chase you around if you do something in front of them. A huge difference is important to note here Ц if you get hit by a car, it's game over, you're dead, do not pass go, do not collect $200 dollars.

When arriving at the destination, Mark goes into Max Payne mode. Like the driving mode, there is no HUD, so you have no clue how much ammo you have, or how much life you haveЕsorta. If you get shot up really bad, Mark will start bleeding profusely, and limp around like a guy on his last lease. All you need to do is find a place to hide though, and Mark will start healing until he's 100%, and then you may continue on in the mission. As for the ammo situation, there's always plenty around from guys you kill, so it's not a huge dealЕthough it would be nice to know how much is left in a particular weapon.

The initial action level gives plenty of chances to learn the various tricks in the game, like stealth moves such as leaning against walls and peeking out, taking hostages, breaking necks, and so forth. It also lets you get acquainted with blowing up gasoline drums for a nice fireworks display, and take out a horde of baddies at that. Unfortunately, the controls do take some time to get used toЕit took me a while to realize you have to hold down R2, then press the fire button to shoot at someone. If you've played Max Payne, however, the action portions will feel very familiar, and once you do learn the controls it gets very intuitive. There's no auto-aim for firing your gun, nor is there a crosshair, so that winds up being the biggest challenge of all, as well as knowing when to hide and heal up.

When you finally reach the destination of the 1st mission, you encounter Charlie Jolson, the leader of the mob for 30 years. Mr. Jolson makes Tommy Vercetti look like a Boy Scout Ц a very ruthless and just the kind of guy you'd like to take outЕwith a nice shiny bullet. He makes Mark work for him, and from then on, you kick into the rest of the story.

The full version will also feature missions from someone on the other side of the law, and his and Mark's missions meet up at the very end in a huge climax, like any good Hollywood movie.

And Hollywood is the direction this game hits. The Getaway, more than any other games, feels like a true interactive movie, right down to the great voice acting from some great UK actors. The lack of all the HUD stuff is just a taste of how movie-like this game feels, and while it's a fairly linear game due to this, being able to take alternate routes is possible if you manage to learn the city somehow (which is a possibility, I suppose). The only place The Getaway feels like GTA is in the driving portion, and even then, it's different enough to feel totally new. It doesn't hurt that all the cars are the real deals Ц so you'll find a Range Rover, a BMW, even a Lexus on the road for you to steal, amongst many more.

The one place The Getaway was hyped was graphically, and the visuals of the game don't disappoint, even if they're not as pretty as the likely touched-up shots of a couple years ago. 40 square kilometers (don't ask me to translate it into milesЕlet's say it's one freaking huge city) of London have been recreated, and apparently perfectly (apparently since I've never been there). Within the walls of London you'll find well-animated people, highly detailed cars, and tons among tons of buildings & landmarks, faithfully re-created. The different characters are a bit on the zombie side (weird ass faces), but animate well in motion, especially Mark's different expressions when injured. While you can see the game is very much ahead of its time (for PS2 anyway), there's no doubt The Getaway looks very good.

To create a movie-like atmosphere, you need good music and good voices, and The Getaway has both. The music that played in the early missions was well-fitting, perfect for a mobster movie. All the voice acting was great as mentioned before Ц apparently UK actors don't find it embarrassing to do a video game, unlike our arrogant stars of Hollywood (except Liotta, he's cool, being Vercetti and all). Other ambient effects are here too, like yelling pedestrians and police yelling for you to surrender. However, this game maintains a very serious tone Ц none of the humor and irreverence from Grand Theft Auto is to be found.