The Getaway (video game)
|
|
| The Getaway | |
| Missing image The_Getaway_German_pal-front.jpg The Getaway Gamecover (Germany) | |
| Developer(s) | Team SOHO |
| Publisher(s) | Sony |
| Release date(s) | 2001 |
| Genre | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (M) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
The Getaway is a driving/shooting video game series, developed in the UK by SCEE Team Soho. Both the original game and its sequel are set in London and take their cues from British gangster movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
| Contents |
The Getaway
You play the game with Mark Hammond, a former gang member, who decided to quit the gangster scene and settle down with his wife Susie. One day, Hammond awakes to find his wife murdered and son kidnapped by a rival gang. Rushing to his family's aide, he picks up the murder weapon and incriminates himself and sees his child carried away in a car. He follows the car to the local hide-out of gang leader Charlie Jolson who holds Hammond's son. Jolson uses Hammond's son as leverage over Mark and "employs" him for particularly risky and dangerous missions. Hammond's payment? His son.
The game lets you drive with about forty existing vehicles, (Saab, Renault, Citroën, Mercedes, Lotus, Nissan, Lexus, Mazda, etc.) and takes you from one side to the other of a photorealistic copy of London. The number of weapons is a bit on the low side, you can shoot a handgun, a Kalashnikov, a double-barreled over-and-under shotgun and an H&K MP5.
When you finished the story with Mark, you can play it again with another character: Frank Carter, a cop with the Flying Squad. You can now see the story through his eyes. After having finished the game completely, you can select the option: roaming around, which gives you the possiblity to drive around freely in London.
The music is basic tunes that help create a typical atmosphere; when the levels get more exciting, the music changes as well. The cars are realistic and have a nice damage-model. Graphics are interesting and get the job done. The story plays out like an interactive movie. The player sees the story elements of the game play out on well-scripted cutscenes and then takes control of the main character when the action starts.
The Getaway: Black Monday
The Getaway: Black Monday was a sequel to the original released in January 2005. In this game, Hammond and Carter have been replaced by three new playable characters: Eddie, a boxer and small-time thug; Sam, a female hacker; Mitch, a cop with SO19.
Interestingly enough, Black Monday, despite being billed as a proper sequel to the original game, actually has nothing to do with The Getaway from a storyline perspective (although there are some recurring characters such as Jamahl). There are three main players in this story, each of whom has his or her own playable section and unique plot twists. You start out the game as a cop by the name of Ben Mitchell. Sergeant Mitchell is a fairly morose fellow who, as we are shown in the opening cutscene, is suspended from the police force after shooting a young perp in the back. Upon his return from suspension two years later, Mitchell is met with little more than trepidation and vitriol from his former police brethren. Later in the game, you take on the role of Eddie O'Connor, a boxer who now works as hired muscle and, when we meet him, a bank robber. Eddie is similarly rough-and-ready, though he's obviously on the other side of the law. Finally, you'll also find yourself playing as a young girl (and crook) named Sam, who ties into Eddie's sections of the story quite heavily.
The Getaway 3
A third Getaway title is in development (with a working title of The Getaway 3) by Australia-based Team Bondi for the Playstation 3. A technical demo featuring Picadilly Circus was demonstrated in May 2005, but this was not directly from the game, and it has not been confirmed that a third game would be set in London.
External links
- The Getaway: Black Monday Review (http://games.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=32945) The Getaway: Black Monday Review
- The Getaway: Black Monday (http://www.blackmonday.co.uk) Offical Site (UK)
- Speak Getaway (http://www.speakgetaway.com) Offical Site (US)
- Category at ODP (http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Driving_and_Racing/Combat/Getaway,_The/)