The Getaway
Team Soho's nearly four-year journey into the crime-ridden underbelly of London is over, and we've played the fruits of their labor.
Published: February 4, 2003
"Stupidly Ambitious"
This simple two-word mantra hangs below the Team Soho logo in the back of The Getaway's manual, and it's perhaps the most perfect way to sum up the experience of the brainchild of dozens of folks' three-plus year effort to meld the world of cinema with that of the videogame. The result is not without faults, but it can't be denied that the boys and girls at Team Soho worked their butts off to deliver a gaming experience that is truly unique.
Alas, you can only be so ambitious in light of the current hardware without trying to accomplish something that probably should have happened in a couple more years. As good as the Getaway is, it needs more powerful hardware to really deliver the kind of punch the game has the potential to administer. Add to this the fact that there are some seriously buggy moments that may make you throw the controller down and pick it up to play the game again, and you'll come away with very mixed feelings about the whole experience.
The Getaway's story is the meat and potatoes of the experience. It's the driving force behind your actions as either Mark Hammond, retired gangster, or as Frank Carter, Detective Constable with one of London's most high-profile squads. For the first half of the game, you play as Hammond, then switch off and finish the story as Carter, experiencing the same events from different perspectives until things finally come together in the end. The story is constantly criss-crossing the two characters paths, sometimes ending one up right after another and on rare occasions letting the two fates intertwine for a moment or two. It's a brilliant way of delivering a fuller story experience and it absolutely must be given a go at least once.
The story itself centers around Mark, who wakes from a midday nap to the cries of his wife and son being kidnapped. In the scuffle, Mark's wife takes a bullet in the gut and as he rushes down to try to save her, his son is dragged into a car that quickly applies ample rubber to pavement. It becomes Mark's singular goal to rescue his son and find out who killed his wife. After a run-in with Charlie Jolson, one of London's oldest gang lords, he quickly finds that if he is to find his son, that he'll be dragged – kicking and screaming and cussing – back into the life of crime he'd thought he left behind.
With no choice but to go along with Jolson's demands until he can find his boy, Mark is forced to work as Jolson's angel of death, turning London into a war zone as he sets buildings ablaze and sends countless old friends and enemies alike to a long dirt nap. It's hard to reveal any more without giving away some of the game's most enjoyable plot twists, but suffice it to say that the seemingly random tasks you're forced to carry out (both as Mark and Frank) are anything but random, and the payoff in the end will bring everything together in a spectacularly executed climax.
At first glance, The Getaway seems to have very much in common with a certain other three-worded series that features gangs and massive city sprawls, but while in initial impressions might lead to comparisons between Team Soho and DMA Design's work, further play proves that The Getaway is very much its own beast. Yes, you can jack any car. Yes, you can pick up different types of weapons from the bodies of enemies you've slain. Yes, you have a massive city to get to know. However, the story is the focus of the game, not an open-ended, free-roaming world where you're free to do what you want. The Getaway is fiercely linear for the most part often applying a time limit to your actions and always putting pressure from rival gangs and police on you to keep you working towards the story's finale.
For the most part, if you've played Rockstar's crime epics, you'll be at home here. The buttons are switched around, but the actions are typically the same. Circle will get in and out of cars (when getting out, the direction you press can let you get out on either side, a nice touch), triangle draws guns or puts them away (or drops a rifle or shotgun if you're carrying one), square fires your guns or pistol whips an enemy when your guns are out, and executes someone after taking them hostage, while X is a context-sensitive multi-purpose action button. If you're on the move, pressing X will make you roll; if you're near a wall, pressing it will back up to it, where you can then peek out and fire as you see fit; if you're near an enemy, you'll take them hostage. R1 will lock onto an enemy (tapping it cycles targets, but clumsily, something that extends to many facets of the controls), while R2 will let you free look/aim.
The problem is, when Mark or Frank are on foot, they feel sluggish, as if they're being held back somehow. This extends to button presses, which sometimes feel a little unresponsive. Add to this the fact that the X button can be wiggy at times, rolling you out into the open when you meant to back up to a wall, and things can quickly get frustrating. The cars themselves drive decently enough, with obvious differences in top speed, acceleration, damage, etc, but it can seem like there's little variety in the types of vehicles you can jack (even though that's hardly true; if you see it moving, chances are you can jack it, including forklifts and dockyard cranes).
Graphically, there are things that The Getaway tries (and in most cases accomplishes) that I'd thought were impossible on the PS2. The overall design of the game is obviously too ambitious for the PS2's hardware, but the texture variety, massive world and insane car list does keep things looking pretty. The engine is doubtlessly rendering more than most games on the system, and it chugs rather often.
The first thing you'll probably notice (or may never notice) is that there's no interface in the game. No life bars, no targeting retacle, no clocks, nothing. This gives you an uncluttered view of the action, but more importantly gives you a graphical representation of the things that we've been seeing as bars or numbers overlaying the screen since the days of Pong. We needed life bars in the past, but characters these days aren't displayed with low-res sprites; they can show damage and let you know in real-time how close they are to death. Such is the case with The Getaway, where aural and visual cues let you know just about everything you need, and it's done with striking ease.
Speaking of aural cues, the audio in The Getwawy, from the voice acting to the music to the sound effects, is easily some of the best that have ever been created for a game. Team Soho's decision to use real-life actors to deliver the lines works like a charm, as there's never a single instance where you don't absolutely buy the on-screen characters words or actions. Likewise, the effects work is top notch, lifting pitch-perfect effects for shotgun blasts, AK bullet bursts and squealing tires. You'll have all the comments from other drivers and cops memorized by the end of the game, but that's about the only sticking point I can think of.
The soundtrack is also some of the most simultaneously subdued and intensely moody music that's ever graced a game. For the most part you'll usually only hear a bassline punching through with a couple light notes accenting things. There's a running theme of a wailing wind instrument that punctuates a couple songs (and a slight twist when you die), and the entire aural experience, from shootouts to getaways to casual driving is absolutely spot-on for the story and gameplay at hand. The audio team deserves as much credit as the visual folks for crafting such an engaging story.
The story, again, is the core of the experience here. The game is certainly buggy (I've died randomly for no reason on more than one occasion, driven through a wall and into nothingness, been unable to fire while going down stairs… The list is extensive), and that alone dings the score, but just as in the case of GTA3, the overall experience manages to outweigh the faults. Unfortunately, the scales aren't tipped too heavily in the game's favor.
This simple two-word mantra hangs below the Team Soho logo in the back of The Getaway's manual, and it's perhaps the most perfect way to sum up the experience of the brainchild of dozens of folks' three-plus year effort to meld the world of cinema with that of the videogame. The result is not without faults, but it can't be denied that the boys and girls at Team Soho worked their butts off to deliver a gaming experience that is truly unique.
Alas, you can only be so ambitious in light of the current hardware without trying to accomplish something that probably should have happened in a couple more years. As good as the Getaway is, it needs more powerful hardware to really deliver the kind of punch the game has the potential to administer. Add to this the fact that there are some seriously buggy moments that may make you throw the controller down and pick it up to play the game again, and you'll come away with very mixed feelings about the whole experience.
The Getaway's story is the meat and potatoes of the experience. It's the driving force behind your actions as either Mark Hammond, retired gangster, or as Frank Carter, Detective Constable with one of London's most high-profile squads. For the first half of the game, you play as Hammond, then switch off and finish the story as Carter, experiencing the same events from different perspectives until things finally come together in the end. The story is constantly criss-crossing the two characters paths, sometimes ending one up right after another and on rare occasions letting the two fates intertwine for a moment or two. It's a brilliant way of delivering a fuller story experience and it absolutely must be given a go at least once.
The story itself centers around Mark, who wakes from a midday nap to the cries of his wife and son being kidnapped. In the scuffle, Mark's wife takes a bullet in the gut and as he rushes down to try to save her, his son is dragged into a car that quickly applies ample rubber to pavement. It becomes Mark's singular goal to rescue his son and find out who killed his wife. After a run-in with Charlie Jolson, one of London's oldest gang lords, he quickly finds that if he is to find his son, that he'll be dragged – kicking and screaming and cussing – back into the life of crime he'd thought he left behind.
With no choice but to go along with Jolson's demands until he can find his boy, Mark is forced to work as Jolson's angel of death, turning London into a war zone as he sets buildings ablaze and sends countless old friends and enemies alike to a long dirt nap. It's hard to reveal any more without giving away some of the game's most enjoyable plot twists, but suffice it to say that the seemingly random tasks you're forced to carry out (both as Mark and Frank) are anything but random, and the payoff in the end will bring everything together in a spectacularly executed climax.
At first glance, The Getaway seems to have very much in common with a certain other three-worded series that features gangs and massive city sprawls, but while in initial impressions might lead to comparisons between Team Soho and DMA Design's work, further play proves that The Getaway is very much its own beast. Yes, you can jack any car. Yes, you can pick up different types of weapons from the bodies of enemies you've slain. Yes, you have a massive city to get to know. However, the story is the focus of the game, not an open-ended, free-roaming world where you're free to do what you want. The Getaway is fiercely linear for the most part often applying a time limit to your actions and always putting pressure from rival gangs and police on you to keep you working towards the story's finale.
For the most part, if you've played Rockstar's crime epics, you'll be at home here. The buttons are switched around, but the actions are typically the same. Circle will get in and out of cars (when getting out, the direction you press can let you get out on either side, a nice touch), triangle draws guns or puts them away (or drops a rifle or shotgun if you're carrying one), square fires your guns or pistol whips an enemy when your guns are out, and executes someone after taking them hostage, while X is a context-sensitive multi-purpose action button. If you're on the move, pressing X will make you roll; if you're near a wall, pressing it will back up to it, where you can then peek out and fire as you see fit; if you're near an enemy, you'll take them hostage. R1 will lock onto an enemy (tapping it cycles targets, but clumsily, something that extends to many facets of the controls), while R2 will let you free look/aim.
The problem is, when Mark or Frank are on foot, they feel sluggish, as if they're being held back somehow. This extends to button presses, which sometimes feel a little unresponsive. Add to this the fact that the X button can be wiggy at times, rolling you out into the open when you meant to back up to a wall, and things can quickly get frustrating. The cars themselves drive decently enough, with obvious differences in top speed, acceleration, damage, etc, but it can seem like there's little variety in the types of vehicles you can jack (even though that's hardly true; if you see it moving, chances are you can jack it, including forklifts and dockyard cranes).
Graphically, there are things that The Getaway tries (and in most cases accomplishes) that I'd thought were impossible on the PS2. The overall design of the game is obviously too ambitious for the PS2's hardware, but the texture variety, massive world and insane car list does keep things looking pretty. The engine is doubtlessly rendering more than most games on the system, and it chugs rather often.
The first thing you'll probably notice (or may never notice) is that there's no interface in the game. No life bars, no targeting retacle, no clocks, nothing. This gives you an uncluttered view of the action, but more importantly gives you a graphical representation of the things that we've been seeing as bars or numbers overlaying the screen since the days of Pong. We needed life bars in the past, but characters these days aren't displayed with low-res sprites; they can show damage and let you know in real-time how close they are to death. Such is the case with The Getaway, where aural and visual cues let you know just about everything you need, and it's done with striking ease.
Speaking of aural cues, the audio in The Getwawy, from the voice acting to the music to the sound effects, is easily some of the best that have ever been created for a game. Team Soho's decision to use real-life actors to deliver the lines works like a charm, as there's never a single instance where you don't absolutely buy the on-screen characters words or actions. Likewise, the effects work is top notch, lifting pitch-perfect effects for shotgun blasts, AK bullet bursts and squealing tires. You'll have all the comments from other drivers and cops memorized by the end of the game, but that's about the only sticking point I can think of.
The soundtrack is also some of the most simultaneously subdued and intensely moody music that's ever graced a game. For the most part you'll usually only hear a bassline punching through with a couple light notes accenting things. There's a running theme of a wailing wind instrument that punctuates a couple songs (and a slight twist when you die), and the entire aural experience, from shootouts to getaways to casual driving is absolutely spot-on for the story and gameplay at hand. The audio team deserves as much credit as the visual folks for crafting such an engaging story.
The story, again, is the core of the experience here. The game is certainly buggy (I've died randomly for no reason on more than one occasion, driven through a wall and into nothingness, been unable to fire while going down stairs… The list is extensive), and that alone dings the score, but just as in the case of GTA3, the overall experience manages to outweigh the faults. Unfortunately, the scales aren't tipped too heavily in the game's favor.