The Getaway (video game)
A London-set action-adventure with licensed vehicles and no HUD.
Last updated
The game is often labeled as a Grand Theft Auto clone due to similarities to that series.[1]
Making and release
The game's launch date was 11 December 2002.[2] Originally intended to debut alongside the PlayStation 2 in 2000, the game's release was postponed by more than two years because accurately rendering extensive London areas in high resolution proved challenging.[2] The project transitioned to a PlayStation 2 title; the original code was preserved, and there was consideration of including it in the final product, though this ultimately did not occur.[3] Reconstructing 16 square kilometers created significant technical difficulties that might have pushed back the game's release by multiple years.[4]
The development team needed to refine an engine capable of continuously streaming three-dimensional geometry and texture information.[4] By the time the game became playable at E3 2002, the project's development budget had been surpassed many times over.[5] Production costs for The Getaway reached £5 million, while its marketing campaign had a $10.3 million budget.[6] Upon its December 2002 launch, the game achieved strong sales throughout Europe, with particularly high numbers in the United Kingdom.[6]
What the cited sources add
A BBC report stated that Sony agreed to edit the game after BT complained about a mission where the central character poses as a BT employee and guns down police officers.[7] A Sony spokesman said the changes had been made and amended versions would soon be in shops, with no plans to recall remaining versions.[7] A 2017 retrospective noted that the game started as a spiritual successor to Porsche Challenge, merging open-world driving with Italian Job-inspired gameplay nicknamed "Minis in a Field"[8] The team took over 500,000 reference images to capture London streets and locations used in the game.[8]
The grooves on the back of The Getaway disc are a digital map of London.[8] The Getaway was the 100,000,000th disc to go through Sony's DADC supply chain.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "The Getaway (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Reparaz, "Battle of the GTA clones: The Getaway", GamesRadar+, 28 March 2007; Cavalli, "Getaway, Eight Days Cancelled", 6 April 2008; Millsap, "Getaway, Eight Days Cancelled", Comic Book Resources, 28 January 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Getaway (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sony backs US launch of The Getaway with ad blitz", BrandRepublic, 15 January 2003 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Getaway (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "E3 2002: The Getaway Interview", IGN, 23 May 2002 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Getaway (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "How pioneering open-world blockbuster the Getaway squeezed London's criminal underworld onto PS2", 12 December 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Getaway (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "E3 2002: Getaway impressions" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Getaway (video game)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Parisi, "Game points", August 10, 2004; "End games", The Guardian, October 25, 2002, p. 23 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Gangster video game upsets BT", BBC, 2 January 2003. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
- "How pioneering open-world blockbuster the Getaway squeezed London's criminal underworld onto PS2", 12 December 2017. facts only, no text reused. blog.eu.playstation.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article The Getaway (video game) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: The Getaway (video game) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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