The Getaway: Black Monday (2004 Video Game) User Reviews

The Getaway improves....

[jamiecostelo58 · 7/10 · 3 January 2007]

The original Getaway was seriously flawed. This sequel is still flawed, but the storyline as a whole is much stronger and more interesting than the first game. However, the game-play is little improved from the prequel, which probably has a bearing on why I completed this game just three days after purchasing it for an expensive £31.99. The Getaway: Black Monday is absolutely no different to the first game in that it's still set in London, although a few extra roads and alleyways have been added. Nice to see a greater range of vehicles to drive too, including motorbikes. They don't handle particularly well when driven fast though.

A highlight is that the player has to portray three different characters, all of which are (obviously) connected to the (good) storyline, which has a satisfactory ending. We also have a wide variety of driving games to choose from when not in story mode, even if the taxi driver mode is utter trash....

London is an extremely busy city, full of hubbub. Why is Black Monday's London so bare? If this game had incorporated the usual hubbub life that London always sees (Oxford Street in particular) I think it would have been more enjoyable and realistic. But Black Monday is definitely improved over the first game. 7/10

Black Monday .. Getaway and buy it!

[London_callingyou · 10/10 · 29 June 2006]

What a brilliant game! i recommend that you play this game! don't go and hire it.... go and buy it! it will give you hours of thrills. so don't just sit there.... go Getaway and buy it! John the cleaner... what a nice guy and what happens to him in the game will put you off playing snooker! The graphics in the game is as good as the first game.. if not... better! the story is great and i don't want to tell you too much about the story itself but when you play it you will see what a great idea and game it is. i liked the way the story unfolds and goes back and forward. you have to be a bit clued up on the story to see what is going on. but once you start.... you wont be able to stop playing till you finish the game. take it from me.... its a Black.. a very black Monday! hehehe!

Games have moved on, this hasn't.

[abarsby · 19 January 2005]

The main selling point of The Getaway series – the photo realistic representation of London – is also it's main weakness. You see, the developers; Team Soho have invested thousands of man hours and huge amounts of Sony's money in creating this digital London, all with the correct shop signs etc etc, and so they are going to try and milk their little cash cow for as long as possible.

You would assume this would not be a problem for us consumers, HOWEVER, Team Soho's beautiful looking and seemingly ingenious cash cow is seriously flawed in that it is based upon a concept that was fresh in 1997 - with the the "Driver" series of games. Things have moved on greatly since then in terms of interactivity in digital metropolises – think GTA San Andreas. It's not now enough to merely be able to drive through a city; you want to be able to interact with it, and be a part of it. In this respect The Getaway series fails utterly miserably.

In this game you soon become aware that you are merely driving through what are effectively a road system bordered by giant billboards with photo realistic shop fronts bitmapped onto them, like a series of tunnels ! The perspective is skewed so that no matter where you are, you can never see the roof of a single building. So immediately you know, that Team Soho can never update their baby to take San Andreas game mechanics because it would have to go and re-photo London's roof tops – which would never be allowed in this current climate of fear. So we are stuck forever, or until people get wise, with them re-releasing the same game over and over.

Black Monday IS almost the same game as the original. Same map, just with different character locations for the plot added. The game now has three main playable characters, each with individual skills; Mitch the gun totting cop, Eddie the boxer; who has some nice combo punch moves, and Sam, a girl with Lara Croft like climbing abilities and a neat line in stealth.

The licensed car models are slightly improved, and they do look fantastic, and once you get used to their over-sensitive controls then they are fun to drive. The motorbikes however, are truly awful. They silently weave and lurch uncontrollably from once accident to the next. The character models also look fantastic, and have real time shadows as they run (or waddle to be precise).

THE most infuriating thing about the original game, and you would have thought it would have been resolved for this game, is that the abilities each character has – especially the ability to jump over fences, would be implemented in "Free Roam Mode". But NO, it is not. The Millennium Wheel is still cut off, the Houses of Parliament are still inaccessible, ditto EVERYTHING of interest is inaccessible because in Free Roam Mode, you CAN'T jump over walls !!!! Eddie – the boxer, can't even punch in Free Roam Mode !!

Free Roam Mode also has new game modes, Black Cab Driver, Chase, and Race, which are unlocked by finding key fobs on the floor in story mode. These enable to you to play Free Roam Mode as different non playable game characters. But all that really means is that you start on the map in a different location. Apparently there are also garages where you can store one vehicle dotted around the map.

As for the actual story mode, it is SO confusing, full of flashbacks and flash forwards, and seems to basically involve how the three main characters come to make enemies of stereotypical Russian arms dealer Viktor and his lock stock of movie cliché sidekicks Yuri and Dimitri. But it is SO SHORT !! I finished it in one sitting. And why is it called "The Getaway" ? The original game had a Getaway driver, but not this game ? They think consumers are stupid, truly they do. Another problem with the story mode is, as in the original, you often have absolutely no idea of what you are supposed to be doing, and countless times you will fail missions because you do not know what you are doing. In one mission where you are chasing a helicopter through the streets, a radio message comes over that says "stop the black Brabus". I had no idea what the heck a "Brabus" was – it is a Mercedes car apparently, so on a road suddenly chock a block with black cars, how could I know what a Brabus looks like ?

So essentially Black Monday, is like a stereotypical supermodel; beautiful to look at, but ultimately shallow and un-involving once you get to know her. Time has moved on, and so having gaming expectations.

Rent, don't buy.

A game you might look at

[DcheatB · 4/10 · 18 October 2007]

Black Monday, something you might hear from a movie title. This game has a fantastic plot and they really put a lot of time into the character development. The City is also something to be noted for it's massive scale, every street is different in someway and the graphics is something you should like. The gang AI is something else, If you shot at them they will duck for cover, If you show a gun to the police they will fire. But the problem with this game is...well, How can I move left when the guy want's to go right? The controls are hard to get by and I had to do three tries on each level just because I stepped in some guys way! And I always wanted to ride a motorcycle...too bad every time I touch something I flip off the bike and have to wait 5 seconds for the police to hit me into submission. The city itself maybe large but there's nothing to do! The Freeroam thing was a bad idea to me because there is nothing to do! I drive around a bit, shoot some stuff up, wait for the police to come and shoot you to death, And boom! You do it again! The game is something you should rent, Not buy. Black Monday deserves to be made into a movie instead of a too boring game, The game deserves a 4...out of 10

What a let down!

[e3hammer · 31 December 2004]

Thinking back to the original Getaway before you open the case to the new one and you're thinking that London's map will be bigger, more to do and the game-play will be easier to control with a lot of added parts to the game! Well all starts off when when you're watching the Old Bill driving to an estate in central London. Looks awesome when you arrive there to. As soon as you get the option to move, you realise they haven't adjusted the controls to the game, that's not so bad, at least you can get to grips with them if you remember the first one.

As the game progresses, you feel as if 'Team Soho' have just rushed it. London's not much bigger if at all. I realise that they can't fit in the whole of London, but if they wanted to use the same city, why not use other famous places eh? The villains you play are from the East End of London, yet the game's never involved in that area at all (other then Shoreditch). No Bow, Mile End, Whitechapel, Bethnal Green etc, but these places would be far more interesting if they were featured. Same with north, south and west London. As I said before I know they can't fit everything from Bow to Bermondsey in, but a different area would't have gone a miss.

As far as the characters, the early indications were good. I liked Mitchell. He came across as a remorseless copper and defined the world filth. What he turned out to be was the opposite. A personality less character who as I continued bored me.

Eddie O'Conner was obviously the main feature of the game. A hard East End boxer getting into a situation way over his head. The Best character to play as and one of the pluses to the game. A man who just wants things to go back as they were, to have his trainer and best mate Danny alive again. His life seems f**cked, but he's determined to pick up and carry on because of Sam and her plan. These two characters moulded well together, even though she could be annoying at times and also the same goes for her missions.

Compared to the Getaway, it's really shoddy. The fact that they had to compete against a game that made sure it was so different from any other game in the genre (GTA & LA Street Crime). It had the realism and most of all a cast who pulled off a fantastic job. I'll never forget Mark Hammond and especially 'Crazy' Jake Jolson. Black Monday lacked characters like that.

Another fault was that although The Getaway series is its own game, they really should take a leaf from the GTA book and make it bigger and more open. With the GTA's you can go into shops and visit places. In this game you can't even go back to places you've been in before trhough doing the missions. free roam seems pointless and pathetic because you have no new areas to explore.

Overall I give it about 6/10 compared to the 9/10 the original got. It's still miles better then LA Street Crime, but miles behind GTA Vice City & San Andreas. I hope if they do another on of these, that they really try and improve on the game and the location. London is still fine as it's a big city and being an East London boy myself I'd appreciate seeing the East End. What about Manchester, Liverpool or somewhere in America? Just as long as the Cockney 'hard man' still has the lead role, because I doubt anyone outside the UK can understand a Scouser or Manc! Also, stick Upton Park in there so us West Ham fans get to run around Green Street and a mission where you travel to Bermondsey and have to take out Millwall's stadium (and fans).... wishful thinking eh!

not the best, but average.

[caparica1 · 5/10 · 30 July 2006]

I don't normally like these shoot em up games, but i will have to make an exception for this one.Not one of my favorites from my collection, but it's alright. I haven't completed all the levels yet, but so far is satisfactory.

I haven't played the first game yet, so I can't compare. vehicles are way too slow, and the race cars blow up too easily!

my favorite level is the one in victor's apartment. i wouldn't suggest buying it, but rent it out for 5 days, at least. I can't complain about the price, because mine came free with my PS2.

story is a bit boring, though.