The Getaway opens with a fantastic cut-scene with dialog and character interactions that feels like it was pulled straight out of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Team Soho has successfully combined a movie and a game, making an extremely unique gaming experience.

The Getaway puts you in the shoes of a “retired” mobster, Mark Hammond, who has been desperately trying to put his former life behind him. He starts to settle into his new life by purchasing a nightclub, and moving into a small apartment with his wife and his young son, Alex. However, a big-time, old school gangster by the name of Charlie Jolson had other ideas for how Mark was going to spend his retirement. Charlie sends some muscle to the Hammond resident to kidnap Mark’s wife and only son, only to encounter some resistance from Mrs. Hammond; the thugs shoot Mark’s wife leaving her to die in the streets of London. Mark hearing his wife’s screams for help rushes to the murder scene to hold his dying wife in his arms, leaving behind his dreams of a new “legit” life, as well as, all sorts of forensic evidence, as he rushes after the people that killed his wife and kidnapped his son.

The Getaway’s controls are similar to another PlayStation 2 title by the name of Grand Theft Auto, but that is where all similarities between the two titles cease. Controlling your character is done with the either the left analog stick or the D-pad, but at times walking can be a laborious chore, especially during the many high paced combat sequences. At times your character reacts slowly, and sluggishly to your commands, which becomes a pain when the action heats up. During combat, the Getaway, implements some truly original gameplay ideas and concepts. For example, you have no health or ammo meters, so you have no idea how healthy you are or how many bullets you really have. Of course when you are shot your character becomes injured and begins to limp and stammer all over the place; the premise is a simple one, the worse you are hurt, the more useless you become. Also in combat you have the options to use the auto-targeting or the manual targeting. The auto-targeting is performed simply by pressing the R1 button, and it works quite well. The only gripe I have about it is the lack of auto tracking after you have downed your opponent. Simply put, instead of automatically tracking to the next opponent you have release and press the R1 button again. Doesn’t seem like much, but once you are getting shot at by eight or nine enemies simultaneously, you will see that it slows down your ability to attack during crunch time.

The controls when you are driving are much more responsive and tight, but of course us North Americans have to get used to driving on the other side of the road. Again Team Soho does something a little different with their driving interface in the Getaway. There is no map in the corner of the screen to guide you, but, instead you use your car’s blinker and your own memory to guide you to the next destination..

Graphically the Getaway is truly a mixed bag of nuts; the models and backgrounds in the game are sometimes disappointingly rendered and animated. However, the Getaway simply has the most realistic and detailed looking faces in any game that I have played on the PS2 to date. Faces that show emotions and reactions and faces that show the personality of the characters in the Getaway, both of which really helped in the deliverance of its complex and compelling story.

Now where the Getaway truly excels at is in its presentation. The atmosphere that this game creates with its dialog, character interactions, and its intriguing story set in the real life city of London is completely amazing. People buying this game hoping that they are getting a “GTA killer” will be in for a mighty let down. The Getaway is a far more structured story driven game that has the unique feel of “underground” mobster flick. Many years in the making, with loads of real actors portraying the many personalities in the Getaway, Team Soho has successfully delivered a game that has happily married the art cinema with the art gaming. If there is one game on the market that truly deserves to have a movie made of it, the Getaway is that game. Cheers.