The Getaway: Black Monday

by Sony

Product Features

• Three playable characters, each with their own agenda, strengths, and resources -- for a variety of gameplay options in one continuous game experience
• Exciting driving missions as you burn up the city streets in the fastest cars in Europe
• Dive into the world of organized crime in London, piecing together the whole story from different perspectives
• Play out all kinds of wild driving missions as you explore a virtual London, filled with shady characters and deadly challenges
• Multiple endings and outcomes depending on which missions and players you choose

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005YXW7
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 8, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,471 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Game Informer Review

If Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino collaborated on a crime film, only to realize that they hated each other's guts halfway through filming and wanted nothing more than to sabotage the project, a cinematic failure along the lines of The Getaway: Black Monday would likely be the result. Amid hardhearted action sequences and vulgar cockney dialogue, the plot unfolds through flashbacks, flashforwards, blurring time periods, and maybe even some wormhole-related anomalies. I applaud Team Soho's grand scope and attempt to bring ambitious storytelling to the video game front. With beautifully animated and well-acted sequences fueling every second of the story, it definitely feels like an interactive motion picture. Sadly, it's also a bit hard to follow, and not nearly as gripping as Charlie Jolson's twisted mind games from the original entry in the series.

Additionally, you never really get the impression that the three playable characters are connected to the events at hand. In the original title, you really got the sense that you knew who Mark Hammond was, and would go to any length to help him exact revenge on Jolson. In this entry, Sergeant Ben Mitchell's personality is paper thin, Eddie comes across as a cheap attempt to diversify the action with hand-to-hand combat, and Sam's hard-edged ways just gnaw at your nerves. It is nice that you can alter the events at hand to bring about multiple endings, but as you can imagine, my disinterest with the plot to begin with didn't necessarily transition into the desire to see different outcomes.

Without a truly engaging story to fall back on, it was up to Team Soho to create a thrilling gameplay experience. Sadly, the game is still firing blanks and driving on four flat tires. Team Soho did little to improve upon this series' shoddy gameplay. Targeting is still incredibly frustrating, your character movements are very mechanical, the vehicle physics are painfully inaccurate, and although improved, the enemy AI is still prone to blindly running right into the barrel of your smoking gun. The changes or new additions that Team Soho has implemented are minimal at best. The game now boasts a pause screen map system, you can fire a gun while driving, and motorcycles can be jacked. The game does have moments of brilliance, and I was impressed with the diversity of missions, but in an age where Grand Theft Auto continues to improve with each passing release, a mediocre Getaway sequel gets beat down in a bad, bad way.

Concept:
A hard-boiled British crime caper that will make you scratch your head in confusion over the plot twists, and shake your fist over the shoddy gameplay

Graphics:
London's gorgeous details are diminished by the bumbling animations of its occupants

Sound:
The only area of the game that doesn't have faults. The voice-acting and score are perfect

Playability:
Bollocks!

Entertainment:
Very ambitious, but also very disappointing

Replay:
Moderate

Rated: 7 out of 10
Editor: Andrew Reiner
Issue: February 2005

2nd Opinion:
As always, the English are living in the past. In keeping its bad targeting and camera, as well as the awkward movement of its characters, this game has all the grace of the Queen of England getting drunk and stripping for pounds – just like the first Getaway. The simple and repetitive action is sharply contrasted by the explicit care put into everything from the stellar voice-acting to the cinematic cutscenes. Although I like the philosophy behind the HUD-less interface, I often wanted a little more direction during missions to complement the impressive wide-open environments. Rue Britannia!

Rated: 7 out of 10
Editor: Matthew Kato


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Product Description

Engage in ruthless story as it unfolds from three perspectives, one strugggles to keep London from the clenches of organized crime, one becomes an unforgiving vigilante over-night and the other is looking for the big payout. A brutal devious gangster forces their paths to violently intertwine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Flawed, but strangely addictive., January 31, 2005

By 

sporkdude "sporkdude" (San Jose, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Getaway: Black Monday (Video Game)

When the first Getaway came out, it was naturally compared to the revolutionary Grand Theft Auto 3. It was the first game similar in the city re-creation aspect to follow GTA3. After years of creation, it was released with much fanfare and a lower price of $39.95. While it wasn't a failure, it sure did not live up to the hype.

Now the sequel has been released in a much more subdued launch, with much lowered expectations, and though it is extremely flawed, it's an enjoyable game. It's a strange game. In terms of gameplay, in terms of problems, and in terms of wasted potential, this game should be terrible. Despite all that though, for weird reason, I couldn't put it down.
Even though it has the City of London to traverse through, the game is mostly a third person shooting game with just a smaller part consisting of driving or chasing missions. You play as three different character in 22 chapters, a cop and a criminal, and a teenager.

First, the bad. The most glaring problem are the camera angles. In many missions, the camera is the toughest enemy. Close quarter angles are just terrible. This is mostly an indoor shooting game, and much of it relies on stealth and looking over corners . The camera just doesn't want to cooperate. It's just bad. I can't stress that enough.

This brings up the stealth missions. Now, with the camera described above, it makes it annoying. While doable, you'll be spotted, but you'll never see who spotted you. While a nice change of pace from the constant gun firing, the camera ruins it as you can't see half the stuff you need to. It's also sometimes pretty unintuitive to figure out where you need to go.

The game is short, which is what I prefer, but the reply value is virtually non-existent. You get to roam around London, go back to missions to find keys to I guess unlock more stuff, race, or drive a cab. I had no inclination to do any of those except drive around London, and that was dull after twenty minutes.

Finally, what good is reproducing London if it's really just a gateway to the missions? In the original GTA 3, the city was always an integral part of most missions. In this game, it's just a place to drive through. There is a lot that can happen, but Team Soho didn't bother to take full advantage of their years of work. I can only imagine a shootout in Hyde Park, or snipers on the Tower Bridge.

Now to the good. As with the first game, the graphics are great. London is as, well, Londony as ever, the graphics for the indoor parts of the missions are smooth, polished, and capture the ambiance of warehouses, office buildings, slums, etc. Unlike the first game though, the map is really useful, as it tells you where you are and where you're headed, so there is no need to rely on those horrible blinkers from the first game. Even if don't use the map, the blinkers actually perform much, much better than the first game. Team Soho saw the weakest part of their previous game and tackled it.

Though I think most cut scenes are usually game filler with no redeeming value, the cut-scenes compliment this game very well. They're much shorter than the first game, and describe a particular event from three different perspectives. They intermingle well with the game and add to the gameplay, not detract from it.

Finally, it's just addictive. I got it Wednesday, thinking I would have something to play over the weekend. I finished the second half of the game in one sitting on Friday night. A game has great flow and is addictive when someone like me, who can't sit still for an hour straight, can play this for almost five hours straight without even realizing it.

Don't expect miracles, in fact, expect some flawed gameplay. But still, it was a fun game.

Pros:
Could not put it down
Story and gameplay splicing is perfect
Improved map and handling was a drastic improvement
Great flow with little frustration
Great graphics
No backtracking and little repetition

Cons:
Camera is perhaps the worst I've seen on PS2
Stealth missions don't work
Up close aiming not as fine tuned
Doesn't really use the city of London
Extras are useless

Time to Complete: 10 hours

Frustration Level: Low

Difficulty Level: Low

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Amazing tour of London, but annoying gameplay, January 29, 2005

By 

Lisa Shea "medieval swordfighting enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Getaway: Black Monday (Video Game)

Getaway - Black Monday is the sequel to the Getaway game. This is set in an almost photorealistic version of London, with cops and robbers trading bullets.

For better or for worse, everyone is going to compare this game to GTA - San Andreas, as well as to the first Getaway that came out several years ago. So it's a strange situation in that the game is truly amazing in its own right - but it is very weak when held up to the standards of today's gaming.

First, the amazing parts. You literally are driving around the actual streets of London in this game, in real cars. If we had shown this game to gamers 5 or 10 years ago, they would have been blown away. Every detail of the streets is paid close attention to. If you played this game for a few weeks and then visited London, you would know your way around. That is an amazing achievement.

The game is very much like an interactive movie. Often the cut scenes almost seamlessly merge into your action. The shadows and movements in game are quite impressive. Some say the cut scenes are too long - but again this isn't a game about blasting away. It's about being drawn deeper and deeper into the story.

The graphics are very impressive, with tons of details. For example if you pick up dropped ammo, you actually stoop down and pick up something that looks like ammo. If you're in a car that is hurt, it goes more and more slowly, and the smoke obscures your vision.

The sound equally draws you in, from the various accents of the characters to their dialogue and background sounds. Also, unlike most of the games of this style on the market, you're actually playing 'good' most of the time. Instead of just killing people for fun, you are able to handcuff them and only take out the truly bad guys. That's a refreshing change.

Now, for the not-so-great aspects of this game. The one that really drives us crazy is the camera angle and controls. There are ALL sorts of times that the camera actively impedes your gameplay. Maybe we've been spoiled by Splinter Cell - but interpersonal combat is very clumsy here.

Next, gameplay is *incredibly* short. With games existing that take months to solve and explore, you could literally finish this game in a day or two. Now, if this had been the first release, I might have understood that. After all, building the incredible map of London was quite a task! But this is the *sequel* - meaning all of that hard work was done. All they had to do was maybe enhance the graphics, and add new missions. To add on missions that were so quickly solved seemed a shame.

I really love open ended missions, but this game makes it border on the edge of truly annoying. Sometimes you can kick open doors - but other times you can't - and there's no rational as to why. I love the no-health-meter interactive aspect - but you lean against walls to insta-heal? How about carrying a health kit at least? You don't have an ammo meter - again to make this immersive - but you can't actually see your gun's ammo levels.

I appreciate greatly that you can handcuff bad guys instead of just killing everyone in sight - but for some reason you just tap a guy and he dutifully lets you cuff him without a fight, and everyone else nearby pauses in their shooting until you're done. I would rather have some sort of mini-game that lets you cuff them in more of a challenging fashion.

A LOT of this game requires an intimate knowledge of the streets of London. Of course if you played the first game, you're pretty set here. If you aren't, make sure you take as much time as you can to learn them. It often spells the difference between success and failure.

And finally, as much as every game in modern times seems to involve swearing, this one goes over the top. The cops and bad guys seem to swear every third word. Sure, half of them are "English" swears so maybe don't carry the same weight in non-English countries. But it is still pretty incessant.

This really could have been an incredibly excellent game, but the combination of bad camera and short gameplay make it more of an exercise in frustration. You get periods where you really get into things - and then periods where you are swearing as much as the characters on-screen are. Maybe if they get around to a Getaway 3, they'll finally find a good balance.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not As Good As The First, January 15, 2005

By 

M. Morris - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Getaway: Black Monday (Video Game)

The reason I liked the first Getaway, other than the fact that you're operating in the realm of a real city, is the way the game flowed. The game wasn't too fast paced, the storyline was engaging and suspenseful,and the missions were original and cool and actually gave you a tourist's view of London.

The tempo of Black Monday started off so fast that I didn't get to absorb the storyline or the ambience of the game. If you are looking to buy this game you should really do it with the knowledge that you'll actually enjoy this game more once you've completed it. The game pace was too fast and I didn't understand the storyline really until the end and even then I didn't buy into it. Plus I thought the missions were either boring, unoriginal or too drawn out, except for level 17 & 18 I believe (the ones with Eddie).

The first Getaway was a little better because there were more high speed driving missions, stealth missions, major gang shoot-outs in places like an art museum, a hospital, a multi level car park, and a huge ship. There were cool objective missions like setting fire to a building, dropping off a dead body, asassinating the police chief inside the police HQ, going into different gang hide-outs and searching a booby trapped house. You also knew what the main characters were about, and the difficulty level was a little higher. The originality and methodical pace is absent in Black Monday I believe. But the movement of the characters and visuals were slightly improved from the first one.

There are also annoyances with camera problems, movement, AI, and glitches. There is also no "London experience" like there was in the first game. The other thing about this game is that it is full of huge glitches! There was one mission where Levi was somehow stuck in the top subway car in the junk pile where I couldn't arrest him, and I had to restart the mission. In the next mission, where I was chasing Levi by car, he hit a car and got jammed in between the car and a street pole and was unable to get to the building I was supposed to follow him to! Also, in the subway level the other cop on the mission with me was standing at the top of some stairs and a bad guy was standing a few feet next to him and neither of them started shooting at each other until I reached the top of the stairs.

But, on the positive side, the great thing in this game is the free roaming mode and I don't think some people understand why.

I played the free roaming mode for about 2 hours before I realized that there are actually cool hidden side streets behind wooden planks and objects where cool cars are and there are car ramps also. And these are for each character in each section of the city. So once you find these hidden areas you can go from alley to alley for about 20 minutes (for each character) discovering these new cars. And you can store a car in hidden garages all over the city, only one car though.

At first I was annoyed by the fact that the cops are on your tail for everything in free roaming, but after a while I thought it was cool because it takes away the monotonous aspect of just driving around, and the cops can't really do much to you or chase you, unless you start hijacking a lot of cars, then beware!

Also you can venture into the buildings that were featured in the storyline but there is no real point to it and you don't have access to the entire building. The motorcycles are cool too especially when they hit another car at high speed and the bike and passenger go flying...sweet! There are more sweet cars in this game also. The hand to hand combat part comes handy when you don't have a gun and have to get one from a cop. But no gangs to beware of in free roaming mode. Also if you play as Mitch the cop you can subdue and arrest people. I'd like to figure out if you can get into the subway somehow also. If they ever make a third rendition maybe they can make use of the tower of london and other points of interest. I wish the taxi mission part was longer also.