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The Getaway for PlayStation 2
In The Getaway for PlayStation 2, Mark Hammond is forced back into London's underworld when his son is kidnapped. You drive through recognisable streets, pursue suspects and enter buildings where armed men are waiting. The missions connect car journeys with third-person gunfights. A damaged vehicle can make your escape harder, while busy traffic forces you to find a way through. You constantly move between the role of driver and that of a father being hunted.
The screen stays strikingly clear: there is no permanent city map, health bar or ammunition counter on display. Your car's indicators help you follow the route to your destination. Blood on clothing and your character's posture show how badly you are hurt. By standing quietly beside a wall for a moment, you can recover. During gunfights you seek cover, aim at opponents and choose when to emerge from a safe position.
Later you see the same events from policeman Frank Carter's perspective, giving earlier encounters a different meaning. You play the campaign alone with a DualShock 2 controller; the two protagonists do not form a local co-operative team. The game follows a fixed sequence of story missions, even though you can travel the streets in different cars. Free roaming becomes available after completing the game. London's façades, real car brands and conversations in distinctly British accents shape the atmosphere of this crime thriller.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 2 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
This edition of The Getaway has a PAL case with an Australian MA15+ age-rating sticker. You will therefore receive the photographed packaging, which differs from our standard packaging for the European market.
Manual
The Getaway for PlayStation 2 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of The Getaway
Team Soho developed The Getaway for Sony Computer Entertainment. The game appeared in Europe in December 2002, followed by its North American release in 2003. The project began on a much smaller scale: an idea about getaway driving grew into a London gangster film in which you drive and shoot yourself. According to the original developers, studio head Brendan McNamara saw the PlayStation 2 as an opportunity to connect a large city with an unfolding crime story.
Recreating London required extensive location research. Artists collected photographs of streets and buildings, while programmers built technology that continually loads nearby districts from the disc. This meant a car journey did not have to stop at each district boundary for a separate loading screen. That technical decision was directly linked to the presentation: the team wanted the city and action to remain on screen, without a permanent map or collection of gauges demanding attention.
The cutscenes were also intended to evoke a British crime film. Actors performed scenes together while their body movements, faces and voices were recorded. This connects the arguments and threats with the driving and shooting you carry out yourself. The Getaway received a sequel on the same console in 2004, Black Monday, with new protagonists and branching storytelling. This listing concerns the first PlayStation 2 game, not that sequel or a later adaptation.
Similar games for PlayStation 2
The Getaway: Black Monday on PlayStation 2 returns to London and likewise combines car journeys with gunfights inside buildings. The sequel divides its story between Mitch, Eddie and Sam and lets certain choices influence the ending. The Getaway follows Mark Hammond and Frank Carter along a more fixed path. The similarities lie mainly in the city and cinematic approach; Black Monday adds new perspectives, motorcycles and separate driving challenges.
Driver: Parallel Lines for PlayStation 2 uses car journeys, escapes and on-foot combat within a crime story, just like The Getaway. You drive through New York in 1978 and 2006, with greater emphasis on collecting and customising cars. The Getaway stays in contemporary London and ties its journeys closely to the kidnapping of Hammond's son. Both alternate driving and shooting, but the time jump and vehicle management give Parallel Lines a different structure.
Grand Theft Auto III on PlayStation 2 also lets you take vehicles and carry out jobs for criminals in a busy city. Liberty City is fictional and offers many separate activities between story missions. The Getaway uses a recognisable London and keeps its focus closer to a fixed crime thriller. In GTA III you also read a radar and clear gauges; in The Getaway you must pay more attention to indicators, traffic and your character.
True Crime: Streets of L.A. for PlayStation 2 shares the idea of a real city as the setting for driving and shooting. Nick Kang works as a policeman in Los Angeles, with fighting techniques and police work playing a larger role. The Getaway gives a voice to both a reluctant criminal and a police officer. Both connect pursuits with cinematic scenes, but True Crime offers a branching path and greater freedom to deal with street crime along the way.
Mafia on PlayStation 2 likewise tells a crime story through car journeys, encounters and gunfights. You follow Tommy Angelo in the fictional Lost Heaven of the 1930s, where older cars and organised crime set the pace. The Getaway uses modern London streets and the immediate pressure of a kidnapping. Both place considerable weight on their characters and fixed missions, but the period and slower vehicles make Mafia a different kind of gangster story.
