The Getaway: Black Monday PS2 Review

The Getaway: Black Monday PS2 Review - Page 1 from TweakTown's online gaming review, article and guide content pages.

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The Getaway in our opinion was a very under rated game and Team Soho did an incredible job not only recreating the actual city of London, but putting together one of the best cinematic masterpieces available for the consoles of this generation. The game did have some problems however and never really lived up to its full potential but in a credit to Team Soho they have gone back and tried to build the game again fixing its problems and creating an entirely new storyline. Unfortunately, the game still does not live up to the full potential and has even had some more problems added, but overall its a decent title.

The Getaway: Black Monday is set in the actual city of London, so if you've been there you are in for a real treat. Like the previous game, it contains multiple storylines. The first is Mitchell, a SWAT officer trying to get over shooting a young kid the year before and his colleague's taunts. The other storyline revolves around two characters, Samantha and Eddie, a young girl and boxer. The storyline is actually set across one London day, and both storylines lead up to each other and the final assault.

The Getaway: Black Monday is played from a third person perspective but most of the time you won't be on foot. The entire city of London is your playground, more so when your playing as the police officer as you don't have the filth on your back. You can free roam anywhere you like, however the game is closer to Mafia than the aforementioned title. This is because the game forces you to take on the next mission once the previous one is complete. The missions are all part of the storyline, and one thing which may be confusing is that the criminal storyline actually begins before the police one in terms of time of day.

The three characters you play as throughout the course of the game have very different abilities. Mitchell can commit a certain level of crime without being brought in, Eddie is more a general character while Samantha the hacker, can't attack. Her missions are primarily stealth and some of the toughest in the game. This is a change from the previous game where only two characters were playable, and the criminal storyline played out first. The game is relatively easy to complete in a day and even in the criminal missions you will wonder at times just where the law enforcement is. Missions range from bringing in a criminal, through to storming a building or spying on some police activity. Once the game is completed you can free roam the city and drive a cab amongst other things.

One feeling you may get from the game if you have played the original through is that it feels like an expansion pack. There is a number of reasons for this. The first being the game can be completed rather quickly in about seven to eight hours of play and there is no difficulty setting to make the game harder. Playing it through a second time can pick up clues and information you may have missed the first time so it is worth doing. The other problem is that the game is again set in London. It is updated but London is still London and really the whole city is pretty much the same as the previous title which definitely gives the structure a expansion pack feel. The whole city is unlocked from the outset as well.

As mentioned, Team Soho have once again recreated the city of London and many of its landmarks. One puzzling thing is that after they put all the effort into creating the landmarks, they have chosen not to mark them on the in game map. The city itself has been updated with new cars to drive and updated character models. It's not hard to get the police on your back, even a road accident can get you in trouble.

Visually as mentioned before the game has had an improvement and is a full living updated London. The character models are more detailed than the previous title but it has some serious frame rate issues sometimes. The voice acting is incredibly well done and they have again provided some great cinematic moments in the game and captured the true essence of their subject matter. It's worth playing the game just to see this.

The Getaway: Black Monday is a decent game that feels more like an expansion pack than a full new game due to a number of aforementioned reasons. Team Soho however have once again built a virtual London extremely well and the cinematic style and presentation of the game really is quite impressive. Those who liked the first game will like this, but there isn't much new to find for those who didn't.

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Simon joined the TweakTown acquired 3DAvenue in 2003 as the senior console writer, and quickly worked his way into more managerial roles on top of his writing responsibilities, such as managing most PR contacts and organising new content for the website. Although Simon is more acquainted with the console market, he also likes the odd crossover, and will occasionally check out the latest PC gaming has to offer. Simon, our senior gaming editor, will continue his responsibilities from the former 3DAvenue via regular reviews.

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