The Getaway

Publisher: (SCEE)

Oi, shut it! If you ever wanted to play the lead character in your own London crime movie then look no further. In a virtual version of our capital city, you'll have the opportunity to run amok as a couple of tasty characters. In the first half of the game you're ex-geezer Mark Hammond, trying to go legit only to have the wife killed and his son held hostage until he completes grisly missions for gangland boss Charlie Jolson. Think Snatch meets The Long Good Friday , with a bit of Grand Theft Auto thrown in for good measure. The second part sees you taking the role of DC Carter, a copper who wants nothing more than to take that toe-rag Jolson (Charlie, not Al) down.
The action is divided pretty equally between street driving and combat. The driving's smooth and detailed and, while recreating traffic jams would have been dull, it's scarily faithful to the A-Z. The fighting involves a lot of stealthy neck breaking and Woo-style gunplay with plenty of wide boy, cockney comments thrown in for good measure. Missions go at a good pace and, though there are a few sticking points that might have you throwing down the joypad, seeing the storyline through is one of the most rewarding parts of the game. It's all tied together with fantastic cinematic scenes that give the game the gritty real-world gangster feel it needs. It's definitely not for the kids, as there's plenty of bloodshed, but for those of you who demand their automotive abandon closer to home, it's a real alternative to the sun-soaked mayhem of GTA: Vice City.