The Getaway Makes Grand Theft Auto Look Like A Cartoon

thegamer.com:

When The Getaway launched in 2002, Sony made a big deal out of its extreme realism. Developer Team Soho's depiction of London, it claimed, was accurate 'down to the cracks in the pavement', and it did away with all the familiar trappings of a video game. Instead of an old-fashioned health bar, gangster protagonist Mark Hammond would slow down and limp when he was close to death—and leaning against a wall would gradually restore his strength. On the road, blinking indicator lights on your car told you when to take a turn, not a flashing arrow or a GPS line on a minimap. This was ultimately all a gimmick designed to make a pretty basic third-person shooter seem more interesting than it actually was, but it was an effective one. The Getaway was a clunky, frustrating, and incredibly self-indulgent game, but there was something deeply compelling about it.

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This explorable chunk of London isn't quite the 1:1 replica the marketing promised, but it's still impressive. In most open world games—especially of the criminal variety—the world is vibrant, exaggerated, and stylised for dramatic effect. But The Getaway's map is understated, bleak, and surprisingly true to life. If you know London, it's accurate enough to navigate without a map. Even the shops are real. If you're from the UK, it's surreal driving around a video game city and seeing blandly familiar high street staples like The Body Shop, Pret A Manger, and Caffè Nero. The Getaway's London feels like a real city, not a caricature of one, which makes the moments where violence explodes on its streets hit harder. There's a cold, nihilistic brutality to the game's shootouts and car chases that makes Grand