STAR RATING: ***** Jodie Marsh **** Michelle Marsh *** Kym Marsh ** Rodney Marsh * Hackney Marsh
Retired gangster Mark Hammond (Don Kembry) is jolted into action one morning when he hears a gun-shot from outside his home. He races outside to find his wife lying dying on the ground and his son being kidnapped. When his wife dies in his arms, he races off to chase those responsible and to get his son back, only to leave the murder weapon behind at the scene and for a witness to see him in a suspicious position. The chase leads him to the warehouse base of aging local crimelord Charlie Jolson (Ricky Hards) where he learns the reason behind his son's abduction- he is to visit a haunt owned by his former associates, The Collins Crew, and 'let them know they're no longer friends' if he wants his son returned safely. Fearful of the wrath of his former friends but hellbent on getting his son back, Mark agrees and does the job. But then he learns that this is to be just the first of a series of 'missions' that Charlie wants him to do in exchange for his son's life that will see him hitting all of the city's most feared crime gangs, including The Triads (14K) and the brutal Jamaican dope peddlers The Yardies, that by the end of the day will have him the most hunted man in London- on both sides of the law!
Meanwhile, Detective Frank Carter (Joe Rice) of London's Flying Squad, is on a stake-out with his partner, who ends up fighting for his life in hospital when him and Frank get involved in a shoot-out inside one of Charlie's badly run-down old brothels. This sets the loose-cannon Frank on a hellbent mission to bring Jolson down, only to encounter suspicious interference from some of his superior officers. By the end of the day, him and Mark Hammond's paths have crossed- and it all builds up to an explosive final showdown!
To be honest, I can't remember the last video game I managed to play all the way to the end and, in turn, really derive the most enjoyment out of, so The Getaway has been quite an experience for me. As many others have noted, it's as much an interactive movie as a video game with large 'break scenes' in between the levels which play just like a movie. This helps to move the story along nicely and doesn't interfere with the game in any way. The main objectives of the game seem to be chasing and shooting, and it's certainly quite a violent game. Indeed, as Mark Hammond, before I managed to complete each level as him I'd been killed in a variety of different ways, including being shot to death, run-over, burned alive, hacked to death, scorched, stabbed to death, poisoned, crushed by a crate and arrested! Although, to be fair, some levels do require a bit more than simple shooting. There's one or two 'evade detection' levels where you have to skillfully move around places without being spotted by any one as well as a couple of levels where you have to chase after another vehicle down a busy London street and ram it off the road. You must keep it in your sights or lose the game, as well as keeping on top of it and really slamming into it to achieve your objective. These levels are actually quite fun when you get the hang of them.
Yasmin (Anna Edwards), who is re-introduced into the game in Level 7 (though how she became separated from the rest of Charlie's thugs in the first place is a bit of a mystery) is a cool sidekick, sassy, feisty and hard as nails, but as a sidekick she can be a curse as well as a blessing sometimes, because with no way of removing her (and for a supposed professional killer?) she gets herself killed too easily in one or two levels and when you get out your car on chase segments of the game to shoot at rival crooks and cops who just will not get off your back, when you've finished shooting and get back in the car, you have to drive the passenger side of the car up so it's right by her before she'll get back in, when she's shot every crook/cop within a ten mile radius! Another frustration of the game is that there's no way of skipping past the break scenes on any of the levels, so when you've used a memory card to save the level you've reached on, and you're eager to get cracking and have another go at reaching the end of it, you always have to sit past it again and after a while it does grind you down a bit. The Frank Carter levels are just as exciting in their own right but after making it through Hammond's levels and getting to grips with the game, to be honest I found myself just breezing through them, only getting stuck on one or two levels and not for very long.
The 28 square miles of London that have been re-created are impressively done, really bringing the city to life in all it's gory glory, from it's glitzy promenades to it's iffy backs-streets. But one thing that bugged me were a few technical problems the game displayed (you seem to see the same people walking down the streets and shooting at you in the villain haunts that you did on every other level!) But what a minor complaint to make on what is generally an excellent game. I hear it's very similar to the Grand Theft Auto series but I've never played any of those games yet and so wouldn't be able to say. But as a game on it's own, it's great fun and a pleasure to play to the end. ****
Retired gangster Mark Hammond (Don Kembry) is jolted into action one morning when he hears a gun-shot from outside his home. He races outside to find his wife lying dying on the ground and his son being kidnapped. When his wife dies in his arms, he races off to chase those responsible and to get his son back, only to leave the murder weapon behind at the scene and for a witness to see him in a suspicious position. The chase leads him to the warehouse base of aging local crimelord Charlie Jolson (Ricky Hards) where he learns the reason behind his son's abduction- he is to visit a haunt owned by his former associates, The Collins Crew, and 'let them know they're no longer friends' if he wants his son returned safely. Fearful of the wrath of his former friends but hellbent on getting his son back, Mark agrees and does the job. But then he learns that this is to be just the first of a series of 'missions' that Charlie wants him to do in exchange for his son's life that will see him hitting all of the city's most feared crime gangs, including The Triads (14K) and the brutal Jamaican dope peddlers The Yardies, that by the end of the day will have him the most hunted man in London- on both sides of the law!
Meanwhile, Detective Frank Carter (Joe Rice) of London's Flying Squad, is on a stake-out with his partner, who ends up fighting for his life in hospital when him and Frank get involved in a shoot-out inside one of Charlie's badly run-down old brothels. This sets the loose-cannon Frank on a hellbent mission to bring Jolson down, only to encounter suspicious interference from some of his superior officers. By the end of the day, him and Mark Hammond's paths have crossed- and it all builds up to an explosive final showdown!
To be honest, I can't remember the last video game I managed to play all the way to the end and, in turn, really derive the most enjoyment out of, so The Getaway has been quite an experience for me. As many others have noted, it's as much an interactive movie as a video game with large 'break scenes' in between the levels which play just like a movie. This helps to move the story along nicely and doesn't interfere with the game in any way. The main objectives of the game seem to be chasing and shooting, and it's certainly quite a violent game. Indeed, as Mark Hammond, before I managed to complete each level as him I'd been killed in a variety of different ways, including being shot to death, run-over, burned alive, hacked to death, scorched, stabbed to death, poisoned, crushed by a crate and arrested! Although, to be fair, some levels do require a bit more than simple shooting. There's one or two 'evade detection' levels where you have to skillfully move around places without being spotted by any one as well as a couple of levels where you have to chase after another vehicle down a busy London street and ram it off the road. You must keep it in your sights or lose the game, as well as keeping on top of it and really slamming into it to achieve your objective. These levels are actually quite fun when you get the hang of them.
Yasmin (Anna Edwards), who is re-introduced into the game in Level 7 (though how she became separated from the rest of Charlie's thugs in the first place is a bit of a mystery) is a cool sidekick, sassy, feisty and hard as nails, but as a sidekick she can be a curse as well as a blessing sometimes, because with no way of removing her (and for a supposed professional killer?) she gets herself killed too easily in one or two levels and when you get out your car on chase segments of the game to shoot at rival crooks and cops who just will not get off your back, when you've finished shooting and get back in the car, you have to drive the passenger side of the car up so it's right by her before she'll get back in, when she's shot every crook/cop within a ten mile radius! Another frustration of the game is that there's no way of skipping past the break scenes on any of the levels, so when you've used a memory card to save the level you've reached on, and you're eager to get cracking and have another go at reaching the end of it, you always have to sit past it again and after a while it does grind you down a bit. The Frank Carter levels are just as exciting in their own right but after making it through Hammond's levels and getting to grips with the game, to be honest I found myself just breezing through them, only getting stuck on one or two levels and not for very long.
The 28 square miles of London that have been re-created are impressively done, really bringing the city to life in all it's gory glory, from it's glitzy promenades to it's iffy backs-streets. But one thing that bugged me were a few technical problems the game displayed (you seem to see the same people walking down the streets and shooting at you in the villain haunts that you did on every other level!) But what a minor complaint to make on what is generally an excellent game. I hear it's very similar to the Grand Theft Auto series but I've never played any of those games yet and so wouldn't be able to say. But as a game on it's own, it's great fun and a pleasure to play to the end. ****
