Approximately 30 square kilometres of painstakingly accurate, action packed London streets, 29 of the most commonly viewed cars in London, along with photorealistic graphics.

Despite this, however, The Getaway falls agonizingly short of greatness. The game isn't particularly, bad, as much as it's disappointing. Way back in 2000 was when most PS2 gamers caught downwind of "The Getaway," and since then anticipation has been growing. The first screenshots released from Team Soho were, to say the least, misleading, but more on that later. Many gamers had just got into the PS2 phenomenon at the time, and seeing these gorgeous, if not pr-rendered graphics got people's hopes up that the PS2 had a bright and rosy future ahead of it.

Well, now it's 2002, and the Playstation 2 has enjoyed a prosperous life so far, which at the moment, shows no sign of slowing up. What also shows no sign of slowing up, is the desire among gamers to play, "The Getaway." Oh! Of course! So that's why TS told us about their new love-child so early on. It's quite clever really.

So anyway. As I write, as in, right this second, I can actually see a copy of, "The Getaway." To be fair, when I first set eyes on the case, I was as excited as no doubt many of you will be. So the main question is, how does it play? A question normally answered by now, but I thought it unfair to not mention the insane build up, "The Getaway" has received.

The actual gameplay is split into two parts, one half of the game played as Mark Hammond, the other as DC Frank Carter. When the game begins, you are dropped in right at the deep end, having to follow the car which contains your abducted kid, and the fiends that murdered your wife. As you continue through Hammond's story, the plot doth thicken, and you find that Charlie Jolson is holding your kid as ransom until you have finished doing jobs for him.

Hammond's exciting adventures end, somewhat predictably, when you have slayed the dragon (or gangland's leader), rescued the kid and got the girl. However, just as you sit back in pride of the fact that you have beaten the game, you get to play the whole thing again from the perspective of DC Frank Carter, and his obsessive pursuit of Charlie Jolson. This does prove to be very interesting, as many things that didn't make a great deal of sense as Hammond, suddenly dawn on you, and you find yourself exclaiming, "ah!!!" As well as people staring at you. Again.

So the storyline is clever, and the game is technically sound, so why does it not quite manage to amaze? Well, the problem is that team Soho made the game so much more realistic, much more so than, "GTA : Vice City," but forgot to make it as much fun. For example, when driving through the streets of London, you can't simply powerslide Picadilly Circus, as you would on VC, as this cause the car to career off the road uncontrollably, before smashing into a lamppost. Very realistic. Very much not fun. Can be very irritating.

That, said, after driving where you need to go, you need to get out of the car. Obviously. Usually, you get out of the car, and then because of the fact that there are no meters on the screen (damn realism), you are not given any clues on where to go or what to do. So the easiest way to combat this, is to just keep cappin' ass until you trigger a cutscene, and the plot tells you to drive off again. Well what is so wrong with that? I hear you scream. Well nothing. At least in theory. Whilst concentrating on the bowel excavating shoot out going on around you, you have to also keep an eye on the way your player is walking. Yes. The way he is walking. For this is the only way you can work out your health. Then after you have finally guessed that your character is in pain, there is the small matter of getting the health back again. How do you do that? By leaning against the scenery, of course!

While the health system does, indeed take some getting used to, once you know how to use it properly, you will learn to plan your approach to every mission, taking into account health stops. One thing that hasn't been covered is the actual walking about part. Well, it's probably best summed up with an example. There you are, in a yardie drugs house, you have fought your way onto the second floor, with absolutely no trouble. You stop to catch your breath, and realize the next room is slightly more challenging. In the next room, awaits twenty-odd yardies working on their happy-plants, whilst holding flame-throwers. So excited at the prospect of using the AK-47, you run into the room. All of a sudden, for some inexplicable reason the camera flips, and there you are face to face with your own character. There's a problem here. Before long you have been roasted, and you have to start the mission all over again.

Whilst over the course of the game you can learn to live with many of the minor problems in the game, it's inexplicable glitches that ruin a game that is undeniably pretty good in places. Put simply, "The Getaway" is a bit of a geezer behind the wheel, but give it a gun and it will probably shoot it's own foot off.