The Getaway (video game)

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The Getaway

Developer(s)	Team SOHO
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE)
Release date(s)	'The Getaway' - December 2002 'The Getaway: Black Monday' - November 2004
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature (M) BBFC: 18
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Media	DVD-ROM

The Getaway is a driving/shooting video game series, developed in the United Kingdom by London-based Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) subsidiary, Team SOHO, and released in December of 2002. Both the original game and its sequel are set in London and take their cues from British gangster movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

[edit] The Getaway

The Getaway follows Mark Hammond (played by Don Kembry), a former member of the Soho-based "Collins Gang" who, after five years in prison, decides to quit the gangster scene and settle down with his wife, Susie and their son, Alex. One day, Hammond awakes to find his wife murdered and son kidnapped by a large rival syndicate known as the "Bethnal Green Mob". Rushing to his family's aid, he picks up the murder weapon (incriminating himself - for the rest of the game, the police suspect that Mark is responsible for the murder of his wife) and witnesses his son being forcefully dragged into a nearby car. Consumed with rage, Hammond frantically tails the car to a warehouse operated as a legitimate transportation business front by the head of the "Bethnal Green Mob", Charlie Jolson (played by Ricky Hards), who takes Hammond's son hostage. Jolson uses Alex to coerce Mark into his "employment", forcing him to undertake virtual suicide missions almost always single-handedly. Hammond's payment? The promise of his son's safe return. Charlie Jolson, explains the "game" he intends to play with Mark:

“

Let's play a little game. I ring you, you do the job. You don't do what I tell you, the kid dies. You don't do it when I tell you, the kid dies. You talk to anyone, you're late, or you let me down, the kid dies! Do I make myself clear?

”

Mark Hammond undertakes several jobs for Charlie, including burning down a restaurant owned and operated by his former colleagues, and ambushing a prisoner transport convoy to free Jolson's nephew, "Crazy" Jake Jolson (Dave Gold). The game then shifts the player's role to that of Flying Squad officer, DC Frank Carter (Joe Rice), as he attempts to take down Jolson and his gang. Carter's scenario takes place parallel to the events of Hammnond's scenario, causing the two to come into contact on several occasions. Carter's partner, Joe Fielding (Vic Robinson), is shot by Jake Jolsen at the beginning of the game, leaving Carter alone and without immediate armed assistance. After having finished the game completely, players are then able to select an additional option: "Free Roam", which gives the player the option of driving freely around London without mission objectives, time-limits or threat of attack by gangsters and/or law-enforcement officers (unless provoked by the player).

The game allows players to carry out each mission with about forty available vehicles. Unlike vehicles available in other games, such as those used in the Grand Theft Auto series, The Getaway features real vehicles, created by real manufacturers such as MG Rover, Saab, Renault, Citroën, Mercedes-Benz, Lotus, Nissan, Lexus and Mazda and takes players across a sprawling virtual representation of London. Compared to similar games, the variety of weaponry available to the player is limited. Weapons include: the Glock 17 pistol, the AK-47 assault rifle, the Remington M870 Tactical shotgun, and the Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun. Some of these weapons, such as the Glock 17 and the AK-47, are extremely common, whilst others, such as the MP5, are very rare. Melee weapons are also available, although said weapons are usually very ineffective in combat as the majority of opposing gang members and police officers carry firearms.

The game's soundtrack is complimented by a title song and cutscene soundtrack which can only be described as a jazzy and unmistakably "gangster" sound, performed by the London Session Orchestra. The story unfolds through the well-scripted, acted and detailed cutscenes mentioned above, with the player assuming control of currently selected character after each cutscene.

[edit] Development history

The game originally began life on the 32-bit PlayStation, off the back of Porsche Challenge. After having made an acclaimed circuit driving game, Team SOHO - like many other developers at the time - felt that a free roaming vehicle game was an interesting concept worth exploring. The title was prototyped [1] and playable missions were made, but it then evolved into a Playstation 2 project. However the original code was kept and there was talk of including it on the finished game, which would ultimately not happen. Apart from several screenshots printed in the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, the original version would never see release.

In moving over to vastly more capable hardware, the scope of the title expanded. As did its ambitions. Bizarre Creations were generating a lot attention due to their successful result in reproducing the streets of central London for their Sega Dreamcast racer Metropolis Street Racer (or MSR). As MSR was being hyped and primed for release as one of the Dreamcast's so-called "killer games", SCEE felt compelled to attempt to steal Sega's thunder by promising the creation of a PlayStation2 title which would re-create a massive 113 square kilometers (70 square miles) of London, displaying the ferocity and length at which SCEE was willing to attempt to challenge its veteran competitor. The final creation actually only yielded an area of 16 square kilometers (10 square miles).

However, re-creating even 16 kilometers proved a daunting task and a technical nightmare; factors which may have delayed the release of The Getaway by several years. In the case of the latter, the programmers had to perfect an engine that could constantly stream three dimensional geometry and texture data; of the areas of London the player was currently in close proximity to. At no point was the entire city loaded into memory, as it simply wouldn't fit. Unlike Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto III, it was not an acceptable option for the Team SOHO developers to break the city up into separate regions and impose a loading time delay when crossing between areas.

The hype surrounding the project began in earnest just before E3 2000, when a series of screenshots [2] [3] [4] [5] were published online. They revealed an amazing level of detail, clearly showing the very identifiable streets near Team SOHO's studio. Though it has been argued that these shots were actually mock-up pre-renders, it is possible they were taken from actual code. Only perhaps code which received further detailed vehicle and character models, higher resolution textures and also anti-aliased the final output.

Although the prototype game was constantly shown behind closed doors, the public was not privy to the its results for at least another year. It was only finally made playable at E3 2002. By then the project had ballooned, exceeding its development budget many times over. SCEE however had a range of other titles in development, but the decision was taken by Phil Harrison to cull many of them; perhaps to allow yet more funds to be poured into The Getaway. As a result of this, the axe was to fall on two of its studios, SCEE Manchester and SCEE Leeds.

But this "all eggs in one basket" gamble did pay off. When the game was launched in December 2002, it was a huge seller across Europe; especially in the United Kingdom.

One alteration that Team SOHO did have to make was the removal of a vehicle which appeared in the initial release of the game. During one of Hammond's missions, a BT van is used in a mission in which Hammond must kill the driver and take the van to assassinate a corrupt police officer. BT was far from impressed with the role its vehicle played in this mission and the BT van was replaced with the Ford Transit. The earlier version of the game containing the BT van can still be purchased second-hand.

[edit] The Getaway: Black Monday

[edit] Development from 'The Getaway'

The Getaway: Black Monday was a sequel to the original released in October 2004. In this game, Hammond and Carter have been replaced by three new playable characters: Eddie, a boxer and small-time thug; Sam, a female hacker; Mitch, a cop with SO19.

Black Monday starts two years after the events of the Sol Vita (end mission of The Getaway), Nick Collins (leader of the Collins' gang) was killed and now Jimmer Collins, Nick's little brother, has taken control of the Collins' gang. Jamahl survived the events aboard the Sol Vita, his gang thrived after the downfall of the Jolson's and the Bethnal Green gang.

Interestingly enough, Black Monday, despite being billed as a proper sequel to the original game, actually has nothing to do with The Getaway from a storyline perspective (although there are some recurring characters such as Jamahl). There are three main players in this story, each of whom has his or her own playable section and unique plot twists. Players start out the game as a cop by the name of Sergeant Ben 'Mitch' Mitchell. Mitch is a fairly morose fellow who, as shown in the opening cutscene, is suspended from the police force after shooting a young man in the back. Upon his return from suspension two years later, Mitch is met with little more than trepidation and vitriol from his former police brethren. Later in the game, Players take on the role of Eddie O'Connor, a boxer who now works as hired muscle and, as revealed in game, a bank robber. Eddie is similarly rough-and-ready, though he's obviously on the other side of the law. Finally, Players also find themselves playing as a teenage girl called Sam, who is an expert at hacking illegely into almost any computer system. She ties into Eddie's sections of the story quite heavily. Like the first game, Black Monday was heavily criticised for its continual cursing and swearing.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Sgt Ben 'Mitch' Mitchell

Mitch has been accused of being trigger-happy after an incident when he shot a young man in the back, which happened two years before Black Monday is set. He is an operative of the Organised Crime Squad of the Met police. His mood swings sometimes unnerve his colleagues, however, his commanding officer, Inspector Munroe, trusts his methods of operation. Always focussed on the job in hand, to him, an order is an order but sometimes his own judgement takes control.

[edit] Eddie O'Connor

With Eddie, what you see is what you get. A down-to-earth bloke, born and raised in Bethnal Green, he has inherited the Old East End loyalty and value of family. He has boxed at Danny West's gym since the age of eleven and is now a star amateur boxer. Danny taught everything Eddie knows and they have a close friendship. In the game, Eddie develops a crew for a bank heist, but in the end it goes horribly wrong.

[edit] Sam Thompson

Slight, agile but hard as nails. Sam, a nineteen-year-old girl, is a computer hacker. She is more comfortable with stealing money from banks behind a computer than getting into the 'nitty gritty' of it all, like Eddie. For those certain traits, she is exploited by Eddie and his mates to help with a bank job.

[edit] The Getaway 3

A third Getaway title is in development (with a working title ) of The Getaway 3 or The Getaway Working Title by Team SOHO for the PlayStation 3. A technical demo featuring Piccadilly Circus was demonstrated in May 2005, but this was not directly from the game. It has been confirmed that a third game would again be set in London; however, rumours have been circulating that the game could also feature a city in northern England, such as Newcastle or even one in Scotland, such as Glasgow or Edinburgh.

[edit] Gangs of London

Main Article: Gangs of London

On March 1, 2006, it was finally announced that The Getaway would be coming to PSP and it also showed a few screenshots of the game on IGN. It is a spinoff to The Getaway and has a completely different storyline to the first two Getaway games. Set in London again, the player can decide how the story will unfold as they can play as the leader of one of the most prominent gangs in London's underworld. The player can chose between the Yardies, Cockneys, Triads, Pakistanis or Russians and the gang the player chooses to be leader of must gain a better reputation and own more territories than any and all of the other gangs in around 60 missions in order to become the next "Mr. Big" of the UK's capital. Each gang will have unique styles, weapons, cars, strategies and even clothes. e.g. while the Triads may be able to use the fastest import sports cars to quickly escape from the scene of a crime, the Russians may be able to use heavy, bulky Transit Vans in order to ram their enemies and police cars off the road. On the 1st of September, Gangs of London was released across Europe, and is scheduled for release on the 3rd of October in the United States for PSP. According to IGN.com, "The Getaway, Gangs of London" was an unofficial name for this game, and its real name would simply be "Gangs of London". In July 2006, an internal beta was leaked and has since become available on many torrent sites. The final name of the game in the UK is Gangs of London.