When it comes to games that make you wonder what might have been, The Getaway is one of the ones that comes to mind. It is hard to believe it’s been 20 years. It was a gritty Guy Richie-esque British gangster movie (minus Vinnie Jones) made into a game. They even took the telling multiple stories approach. The game was made by Team Soho under Brendan McNamara who would later work people like slaves….allegedly while making L.A. Noire.

The Getaway was ambitious as hell, they made a near 1:1 recreation of downtown London. The game was so accurate, I know someone who managed to find their own apartment building. GTA3, SA, Vice City, VI or V came anywhere close to doing this. The next game off the top of my head that did anything like that was Test Drive Unlimited. Then they took licensed cars and put them in the game. I remembered being a 10 year kid being blown away at the fact those were “real cars”. The vehicles took damage and would eventually stop running and burst into flames.

Keep in mind this being done if a PS2

The cutscenes and writing were top notch for their time and they hold up fine today. The game opens with ex gangster Mark Hammond having his wife shot and daughter kidnapped and he chases them to their hideout. Where he’s captured and forced to do various jobs against his former gang. Then the other half of the game you play as the policeman investigating what Mark has done.

So what made me think of what might have been with this game? The camera is awful and this was my issue with many early 3rd person PS2 games, especially ported Dreamcast games, like HeadHunter. The game rotates the camera for you and it turns the whole experience clunky. In the Getaway, they took it a step further not only does it turn the camera for you, in many cases you have to walk around the corner, even during gunfights, for the camera to turn. There is no reticle so gunplay is a pain and you must rely on the games aim.’

Soho were one the first to take that no HUD approach before the 7th gen craze.

You can’t see how much ammo you have. Some missions you may have to use big trucks or buses which goes into this 3rd person cockpit camera which is a pain to use. Plus I like that they tried to keep people from using a map, but their solution failed. The game gives directions to the next mission by blinking your turn signals when you need to turn and doesn’t show the end destination. Many times I’d be circling the same block trying to find where you go. Plus if you wreck or break your vehicle’s tail lights, you have to get another car.

Some people say this game was before its time or too ambitious for 2002. No it wasn’t, the issue was they ignored practical solutions nor explored alternatives that improved what others had done. If I was 10 and could this was a bad solution, obviously devs must know more. GTAlll came out a year before with the 3rd person camera and Vice City came out the same year. They had reticles too.

For the driving to objectives they could’ve used vibrations on the controller for example. Each side vibrates when it’s time to turn that way and the whole thing vibrates when you’re at your destination. Works with no HUD and is intuitive.

Shooting wise they should put a reticle with free aiming in the game. It would’ve been cool for a game like that to have toggle cover. This also goes with a free camera, which was the deal breaker for me.

If this game had just maybe gave you a free moving camera it would be an instant classic in my book. Never seen another game held back by its camera like this. If it had the new direction ideas and reticles it would have been even better. Let alone a toggling button for cover.