Right from the title and opening cinema screens it's pretty obvious that The Getaway: Black Monday was built upon the same philosophy as the original; To be a highly cinematic action game. The storyline is really the focus of the game, and the well scripted real-time cut scenes and voice acting are arguably the most important aspects. The twisting and intersecting plot is once again centered around London's shady underworld and the story follows a few tortured souls who's lives have just been turned upside down.
Sgt. Ben Mitchell's first day back on the force and it ends in carnage. A police raid goes bad and sends a signal that London's undergoing a dangerous transformation - organized crime has returned. On the other side of the city, boxer Eddie O'Connor is getting a severe beating. The bank heist failed and his crew was slaughtered. He's in way over his head and the body count keeps rising. His only way out may lie with an ex-associate, Sam, a brilliant street-tough girl.

It was easy to compare the original The Getaway to Grand Theft Auto 3 because at that point in time Rockstar's blockbuster was all the rage. The Getaway offered a different experience than GTA did, and the same could be said with Black Monday. The game eschews variety and open gameplay for motion picture-style storytelling and structure. Some of the core elements are in place, such as driving missions, shootouts and the very occasional car-jacking, though The Getaway: Black Monday really focuses on the cinematic aspect of the genre. The tone of the game is also very serious throughout, and besides a few small bouts of dry British humor (humour?), the game is extremely focused and story-driven. In the main game mode, there are no mini-games to distract you, items to find, side jobs to take on, or anything optional to do what-so-ever. It's cut-scene, action sequence, cut scene, action sequence, and so on. After the insanely wide-open San Andreas the experience feels very restrictive. In any game that offers it, I personally prefer to play through the "story mode" before messing around with all the extras anyway, so it didn't bother me all that much (more on that later). With no miscellaneous B.S. to occupy your time, all of the other game elements better be pretty good to keep your attention. Thankfully, they mostly are.

First and foremost, the real-time cut scenes are some of the absolute best seen on the PlayStation 2. Most of the body and facial animation were motion captured using real actors, and I have to say that the results are stunning. Small nuances like blinking eyes, wincing faces and especially the transitions between unlike sequences (like running and then going up a staircase) are impressive. The characters are extremely well rendered, with a lot of attention given to the faces, facial motion and expressions. The mouth movements are also perfectly synced to the complicated dialog. The facial expressions and emotions border on looking creepy-realistic, and the PS2 does quite well churning out all that detail in real-time. About 25 square miles of London was faithfully recreated for the game, and it also looks fantastic. Unfortunately real-life London is not as interesting as Liberty City, Vice City or San Andreas. There are also many more indoor areas in Black Monday and they also now include rooftops and the tube (subway).

As mentioned earlier, the voice work and writing is excellent and professional and totally motion picture-worthy. The musical score also follows the same path, with various dynamic scores chiming in during certain situations and moments.

From movies and screenshots it may look like the game plays similarly to GTA, but it really does not. The gameplay is more stealth based, and things like sticking to walls, taking cover behind low objects or doorways, and defensively rolling are important elements. Peeking through a doorway or around a corner to scan the situation is invaluable for planning a strategy. Weapon and attack controls are more familiar, though the abilities change depending on which character you are playing as at the time. Sergeant Ben Mitchell can use a pistol or assault gun, throw smoke grenades, perform a simple combo, or arrest suspects. The boxer, Eddie O'Connor, can grapple, string together combos, perform knockout moves, wield two guns simultaneously, or use various stick, bats, pipes, pool cues found in the environment. He can also grab an enemy and use him/her as a human shield while shooting it out with other enemies. And lastly, Sam the hacker/thief can climb onto overhead objects, crawl under certain areas, and sneak quietly around the environment.

The driving controls are mostly plain vanilla, with decent physics and control all-around. The cars, mostly modern cars and bikes you'd find in London these days, very rarely flip, jump or explode. There's no way to switch camera angles, so you're stuck with a medium zoomed out view the entire time. One thing that takes some getting used to is driving on the other side of the road. It becomes second nature after several hours, but even towards the end I'd find myself heading down the wrong side when turning onto a side street.

One interesting feature that the series is known for is the GUI or lack thereof. While playing the game, there are absolutely no on-screen indicators of any type. No map, ammo or health readings, lock-on indicator, crosshair, speedometer, or anything of the sort. You need to pay attention to what your character says in regards to ammo/health and even more specifically, how he/she physically looks or moves as far as health is concerned. Having no weapon crosshair or lock-on icon is an interesting twist, and you really need to pay attention to the direction your weapon is pointed in order to hit targets. When driving, the only real indicator on where to go is your vehicle's turn signals. It's a little bit confusing at first, but once you get used to the scheme, it works well. Occasionally the signals seem to blink just a split second too late which usually leads to having to make a U-turn or take an alternative route to get back on track.

The game is broken up into chapters, with the first half of the story focusing on Sgt. Ben and the second half on Eddie and Sam. As in the original the storylines are running in parallel and will occasionally intersect. Depending on who are playing as at the moment, you may witness parts of same scenes but from a different perspective. It worked great in the first game, and works even better here. The story wraps itself up nice and neatly and you feel like you haven't missed much. Missions are quite varied, but don't go off the deep end like a lot of GTA's. It stays fairly realistic. With Ben, you and your A.I. police squad will raid an apartment complex, chase down gangsters in your police cruiser, and arrest criminals. With Eddie and Sam, you'll sneak into a high rise building to steal an expensive piece of art, and track down a Russian gangster on location at a porno shoot, for example. Towards the end of the game, the story does branch off somewhat, and different cut-scenes and situations will arise. In the end, there are two endings.

As mentioned earlier, The Getaway: Black Monday is very focused on telling a story. It's a little bit longer in length than the original, and the branching storyline adds some depth, but it is no where near as difficult as the first title. There are several special modes such as Black Cab missions (think Crazy Taxi), Chase, Free-Roaming and Racing and a "Making Of" featurette. The special missions are not all that interesting or long lasting and won't keep you busy for long. There are hidden "keyrings" scattered about the environments (one per mission), though picking them up is usually on accident since they are easily confused with a pistol or ammo clip. You can replay any mission as many times as you like to find the keyrings, but all they do is unlock more courses or missions within the special modes section.

All in all, the 22 missions will only take a few days to complete. The story and setting are interesting and involving, the gameplay is solid enough, and the visuals and audio are polished. The only real thing the game is lacking is length and replayability. Hopefully The Getaway 3 will have a little more of both.