The Getaway: Black Monday
by Sony Computer Entertainment
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List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of The Getaway: Black Monday
Customer Review: IF THIS WERE A REPORTCARD.......NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
Summary: 2 Stars
YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT I WAITED FOR THIS.....I COULD HAVE BOUGHT THE OLD GETAWAY FOR ALOT CHEAPER!!!! Customer Review: Better than San Andreas
Summary: 5 Stars
I have no idea why this is game is getting such bad reviews. In my opinion its much better than GTA San Andreas...better graphics, better storyline...better overall game play.
The story of course takes place in London, as it did before, which is meticulously detailed. You complete the story, which plays out like a movie, using 3 characters, which creates different perspectives on the events that take place.
The only issue is the shortness of the game, which can be completed in about 20 hours. Whereas GTA goes on too long with melancholy missions, which take away from the storyline, making it a bit boring at times. This leaves you wanting more.
My only advise is...get this game.
Customer Review: Dreadful
Summary: 2 Stars
I might feel compelled to let more slide had this not been a sequel, and had it not been on a console that's been around for years. I suppose what I'm saying is that there would be some relatively valid excuses for the problems that plague this game. But it is a sequel, and the PS2 has been around a long time, and there's no justification that can explain the horrid end result. The Getaway brought enough originality to the immersive crime/action genre that you could overlook how unpolished, awkward and spotty it was. Two years later, Black Monday can't claim to be original, rather a regurgitation of everything the first was, but it too is unpolished, awkward and spotty. Yes, they addressed some superficial problems with the first. Traffic moves faster for example. But for the most part, the most crippling and frustrating problems of the first are still here, and they're joined by some new ones.
Negatives? The controls and camera angles are terrible. I can only call the differences in play style of the three different main characters "clumsy". Mitchell has the amazing ability to instantly arrest someone, no matter what they're doing, with a single button click. Apparently they're *magic* handcuffs. So when you get tired of shooting back, just run up and handcuff them because that's far more effective. Eddie is fun for a little while, then it's reduced to just mashing the same buttons to beat people up. Sam is all stealth, which wouldn't be so bad if the enemies ever bothered to move. I guess this is compensated for by giving them telescopic vision in the one direction they perpetually face. Her section is painfully boring. Either you sneak past, or they see you. There are no stealth attacks. If they see you, either you're dead, or you hide behind something, they 'reset' and you try try again.
But I have to come back to the first two points again. The controls and the camera angles are terrible. Never before have I been so quickly turned off in the first few minutes of the game. You start by raiding one apartment. Then with nebulous direction, you're sent chasing off after criminals who are trying to escape. You end up bungling around in a pitch black apartment, trying to work around obstacles you can't see (unless they just happen to fall in the path of your narrow flashlight beam -- which, by the way, you have almost no control over because the camera angles suck)... Actually, I don't feel the need to add any more here. This game is borderline unplayable.
Positives? London is spot on.
I almost felt guilty writing these comments until I remembered what I had paid for this game. Please do yourself a favor and don't make the same mistake. I can't even recommend renting it. If you have a friend who owns it, they may well just give it to you to be rid of it, but then I'd wonder if they're a really a friend at all.
I'm giving it 2 stars, only because the city is so well recreated. Judging that aspect alone would warrant 5 stars. However, the controls deserve zero -- wait, it's my review, negative five stars (black monday holes?), the cameras negative five, the interface one, the writing/storyline a four or even five, voice acting a four, audio a two, visuals a two, replayability absolutely zero, innovation one -- I could go on, but the point is that overall, it's subpar. This isn't worth owning at half the price.
Customer Review: The Getaway - Black Monday
Summary: 3 Stars
Played the original Getaway? You won't be surprised here. The camera angles are still dreadful. The swearing flies thick and fast, this is gangland London after all. And the story is a cracker. If these guys could get their script writers together with a better development team this series would be up there with the GTA series.
Again the scene is central London. It's amazingly detailed. I was astounded to spot individual shops and caf?s in the game that I saw when in London last year. It's that accurate. If you've driven around London you'll know exactly what to expect around the next corner.
How does it play? In a word, easily. The driving part is still good, but the only change from the original is that now you can shoot while driving. When on foot, it's fairly easy. To shoot at the bad guys you just need to hold one button to aim (automatically) and another to shoot. Too easy. The camera angles are infuriating - you spend a lot of time looking at walls.
The story is again great. An interwoven piece with multiple playable characters and storylines. The cut-scenes are well played out too, with professional actors providing the foil for animation and the voices. I guess they don't have a swear jar in their sound studio though - this title isn't for kids, with all the "effin' and blindin'" as the Cockney's say.
Overall, it's OK. The gameplay (when on foot) really lets it down though. The driving and the story are fantastic, but it's just not enough.