A promising game ruined by poor design

The Getaway is a third-person action-adventure game that was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2002. The game takes place in a fictionalized version of London, and follows the story of former criminal Mark Hammond as he attempts to rescue his kidnapped son and clear his name. The game is an open world GTA style game set on the cold streets of London, and is fairly accurate for the time, taking into account the game engine limitations.

One of the most notable aspects of The Getaway is its focus on realism and authenticity. The game’s version of London is recreated in painstaking detail, with recognizable landmarks, accurate street layouts, and realistic traffic patterns. The game also features a cast of British actors, who deliver their lines in authentic accents and help to bring the game’s world to life. The game has a story mode which puts you in control of Mark Hammond, a cockney gangster who was recently out of prison and is looking to start a new life until his kid get kidnapped and his missus is shot. With his kid being abducted, mark is sent upon various missions against former rival gangs in the interest of staring a gang war on the streets of London.
There is also a second half of the story, being set from the perspective of a police detective, Frank Carter.

Playable characters

Mark Hammond: Mark Hammond is the main protagonist of The Getaway. He is a former member of a London gang called the Collins Crew, who retired from a life of crime after serving time in prison. Mark is portrayed as a tough and determined, with a willingness to use violence when necessary to achieve his goals. He is also shown to have a softer side, particularly when it comes to his son, and is motivated by a desire to protect and care for him.

Frank Carter: He is a police officer who becomes involved in the game’s central conflict, which revolves around the kidnapping of Mark Hammond’s son.
Frank is initially assigned to investigate the murder of a fellow officer, but soon becomes embroiled in the larger conspiracy surrounding the kidnapping. He is shown to be a skilled detective and a dedicated police officer, but also has a somewhat rebellious streak that puts him at odds with his superiors.
Throughout the game, Frank works with Mark Hammond to uncover the truth behind the kidnapping and clear Mark’s name. He is a key ally to Mark, providing him with information, backup, and assistance when needed. However, Frank is also grappling with his own personal demons, including a troubled marriage and a secret drug addiction.

But whilst the story is intense and gripping, the gameplay has some serious downfalls:

Main complaint the lack of a HUD (heads up display). There is no ammo indication. No mini map, no health meter, nothing. Now I get why this seemed attractive in theory since its gives the game a cinematic feel to it, but it makes the game a whole chore to play.

The lack of a mini-map is a serious ballache, driving around the streets of London, I had no clue where anything was. The only hint is the vehicle indicator that flashes whilst you are driving around, it flashes either left or right which shows the direction you need to take to reach the objective. Except it does not always appear, and sometimes it would send me down one-way streets most of the time.
Mini maps are a common utility with these sorts of games, Grand Theft Auto had one, Driver had one and that was on the PS1. Missing this feature was a horrible decision, at least give the player the option to display the mini-map .
I mean this sort of shit would make sense on the Dreamcast with its VMU display but not on the PS2.

Also there is too much fucking traffic, its like living in India rather than London considering how overpopulated the city must be. You are constantly crashing into and having to avoid other cars.

Also the player controls are an issue, with Mark randomly spinning around when your trying to move in the specified direction. I tried this with several controls just to see if this was an issue with a specific controller, but it seems to occur. The problem is this game make use of the analogue face buttons, where the pressure applied makes use of how your character reacts, the sad news is 20 years old dualshock controllers have quite a bit of wear and tear and the buttons themselves are a bit mushy after years of use, making button commands unpredictable. This is worse in the mission where you have to move carefully to avoid setting off the laser beams.

Mission checkpoints are poorly implemented, in some most cases if you die, which is very easy to do in the game, its back to the mission start you go. Only after a cut scene does the game save a checkpoint.

Some missions are timed, which makes sense and have been a staple of these types of games, expect The Getaway neglects to inform you the mission is timed, or what the status of the timer is. The only indicator is a music ques that sound when you have 10 seconds left.
How hard is it to include a two digit indicator on the screen, seriously, this cinematic experience can suck it.

Outside of the story missions there is not really much to do. You have a free roam move where you just drive around an overcast London, no side missions to build up the character development or to improve your stats. At least with the GTA games you could complete the ambulance missions to help increase your health.

There’s also no control of the camera at all, that right analogue stick is pretty useless except for accelerating whist drive your vehicle.

Some of the missions are incredibly hard, which is increased when you take into account the issues mentioned above. Partially with Mission 12 which had both the gangs and the police trying to ram into you.

Lastly, I don’t know if this was me being a dumb fuck but when you boot up the game, an animation sequence plays after the company logo’s. At first I assumed this was some sort of loading screen but it turns out it’s the equivalent of the press Start screen, except the game does not tell you to press start.