Monday, 31 March 2008

Retrospective - The Getaway

  • Game: The Getaway
  • Console: PlayStation 2
  • Developer: Team SoHo
  • Publisher: Sony
  • Released: 2002
I found The Getaway earlier today, stashed at the back of my games collection. It was a game I remember quite enjoying. The gritty urban London back-drop synonymous with the films of Guy Ritchie (Lionel's brother and Madonna's wife), or at least his two good films, only with the humour replaced by awful textures.

In The Getaway, you play as Mark Hammond (Richard's brother), an ex-gangster-cockney-wide-boy with a boring name, a boring face and a boring voice. As the game starts you see his wife get shot in the chest after a tussle with a couple of gangsters who then proceed to half-inch his only borne son. Like some kind of fucking idiot who has never watched an episode of CSI, Mark picks up the gun that put a bullet in his wife's chest as she lies dying in his arms, thus framing him as the murderer. This is the main crux of the story, as the mob-boss who orchestrated the kidnapping, Harry Johnson (yes, all of the characters have rather mundane names), uses this, and the life of his son, as a bargaining chip to procure Mark's 'talents' in killing and 'feevery'. Cue Mark having to do a bunch of things he doesn't want to for someone else's gain. The story, though, is just an excuse to tear-arse around London shooting up cockneys. Quite fun it can be, too.

What makes The Getaway stand-out other than the setting is the fact that there is no user interface. Instead of a health-bar, bloodstains appear on Mark as he loses health. To rejuvenate him, you have to lean up against a wall until he gets his breath back. Although not completely realistic, it certainly keeps the game's movie-like qualities thanks to having nothing but the game on-screen at all times.

The controls are God-awful, though. Mark is a complete chore to control and the fact that the difficulty is quite punishing makes it quite a frustrating game. The missions you embark upon are quite fun, but the trial and error gameplay is less so. Driving is also fun, but dodgy-handling and loose turning can make these sections as much trial and error as the missions you are driving to and from.

All games in this genre come under scrutiny and are compared to one series of games. Grand Theft Auto. Seeing as The Getaway was released in 2002, it'd be harsh to compare it to any GTA game that post-dates it, so, in regards to GTA III (and GTA III only), how does it come out? Not very good. Although it can be quite enjoyable, and the fact that you are driving around a city you might have actually been to (or even live in) and are doing things you'd never be able to in real-life is really quite refreshing and intriguing. However, the game only offers you the main-story. No side-quests, no shops, nothing. A game that could have easily have peaked at about 50 hours gives us merely 10. It seems pointless to have mapped London out so painstakingly only to leave 95% of it unused.

But the thing that shocked me more than anything else when I booted it up for the first time in about 4 years is just how much the game had aged. It looks pretty horrendous. The character models are quite good, but the background textures are washed-out and stretched. I remember quite a good looking game. I think my Xbox 360 is spoiling me.

With all that said, The Getaway was a nice change of locale for fans of the free-roaming-shooty-drivey games. A very British game, and one that took inspiration from the thriving British film industry. Despite its short-comings, it should be regarded as a high-point for the British game industry and Sony and Team SoHo should be applauded for it.

Sunday, 30 March 2008

Final Fantasy XII - Will My Second Time Be More Successful?

I love the Final Fantasy games. I own FFI, FFII, FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, FFX and FFXII and have played through the majority of them, clocking up hours and hours of gaming.

"Yes, but have you completed any of them?"

Is the question I believe you might very well be asking.

My answer … no. A travesty, I know. It's just that, it's either these games get way too hard, way too annoying or I get a new game because I buy games often, and Final Fantasy games can take an absolute age to complete.

So, I've given the Final Fantasy games their very own scoring system, based on the reason why I didn't complete them.

Final Fantasy VII: Play the game for an absolute age, get incredibly far, go to a dungeon and get killed by an enemy in one fatal swipe.

My rating: *drops controller, cries*

Final Fantasy VIII: Defeat Seifer for the third time, have an incredibly hard time doing so, then in the following cutscene, he just gets up and runs off. What's the point in an incredibly hard boss battle only for the boss to get up straight after and run off?

My rating: "Fuck that!"

Final Fantasy IX: I think I've played through this about 3 times, never actually completing it, though, but getting very far. I think I just couldn't be bothered on every occasion I stopped playing it.

My rating: "Ooh, a new game!"

Final Fantasy X: I can't really remember why I stopped playing this. I think the first time, I got incredibly far, but couldn't be bothered. The second time, I have no idea …

My rating: "Ooh, a new game!"

Final Fantasy XII: Hmm. This one is just as puzzling. I think it just got a little too hard for me and I kept dying. It might be a mixture of two reasons, actually:

My rating: "Oh, FFS! I keep dying … ooh, a new game!"

So, here it is. This is why I'm telling you this. I am currently going through FFXII again. Hopefully, I'll get through it. I'm even considering buying a game guide for it. I'm sure you can't complete a Final Fantasy game without one. Either that, or I'm rubbish at RPGs.

So, at the moment I'm only about 6 hours into the game, which in Final Fantasy terms, means I've barely skimmed the surface. When I crack through the surface, or at least make the surface see-through, I'll let you know.

Saturday, 29 March 2008

I Needs Me My Rock Band

The USA have been clacking along to the tunes of Rock Band for a good while now, yet we in Europe have yet to be even given a release date. It's lucky Activision are milking the Guitar Hero cash-cow and released Guitar Hero III before Christmas, otherwise we'd have had to go and play real guitars, drums and learn how to sing.


Well, GHIII has been and pretty much gone (well, that's unfair as there are a fair few downloadable songs on offer) and, well, we need something else to click our strum bars to. Residents of the US have been spoilt for choice, as both games have been available to them for ages now. Lucky fuckers.

EA, Harmonix, get this game over here soon. At the very least give us a frickin' release date. Yes, the exclusive songs are awesome (Hysteria by Muse is a more than welcome inclusion), but they're pretty useless if we don't have the game to play them on. At the mo, they be nought more than mere pipe-dreams.

Pipe-dreams!

Please, EA, please. It's either that or we'll have to buy Guitar Hero Aerosmith.

And no-one wants that.

Thursday, 27 March 2008

Call of Duty 4 - 110 Kills

The Xbox 360. What a console! Call of Duty 4. What a game! Shipment. What a map! If you've played CoD4 for a considerate enough amount of time in multiplayer, you'll know exactly what I'm on about. If you haven't, Shipment is an incredibly tiny map consisting of shipping containers and not much else. It's completely square, completely open and completely mental.


Today, I got 110 kills on that map. The most I'd managed to get before on that map was around the 60-70 mark, so I very nearly doubled my previous best.

I think I've found the perfect custom class for this map.

You will need:
  • M1014 Shotgun (it's automatic i.e. no pumping)
  • 3 Grenade perk
  • Sleight of Hand perk
  • Martyrdom perk
It works a treat.

Wednesday, 26 March 2008

The First Opinion of Foo

Despite the title, this isn't my first ever opinion. Obviously. I have, had and will have many opinions over the course of my life (long may it last). This, however, is my first opinion I've ever posted on the web. Okay, that's not quite true, as I've been a member of many a forum (including my favourite) and I have doused their very pages with my opinion-sauce whether they've wanted me to or not.

So, no, this isn't my first ever opinion, or indeed the first one I've ever posted on the electronic interweb, but my first 'Blog Opinion'. My first opinion on this, my very own blog. Anyway, I'm babbling.

So, yeah. Blog. Woo.

Also, I realise this isn't really an opinion, so the title is completely misleading. But I thought, seeing as I named this blog 'The Opinions of Foo', it would be rather appropriate if my first post somehow replicated the title.

Actually, the above paragraph holds an opinion therein. Sweet.

Also, 'therein' is an awesome word.