The Getaway: Black Monday will place players in the lives of three individuals, each one with their own path, desire, trouble, and history. However, although each individual contains their own separate story, the overall saga will show players that each individual story is in fact connected in its own special way. Players will be given the opportunity to truly understand the overall plot when the entire game comes to an end.

      So how does the entire story start? Well, players will be placed in the hands of a stressed out, loner cop named Sergeant Mitchell. Why he’s so stressed and depressed is beyond me. I mean from what I could make out through all the cussing and babbly dialogue, Mitch accidentally shot some kid in the back and killed him. Ever since then, Mitch has been very edgy, blunt, rude, and stubborn. Oh well, all the more reason for me to go in and just shoot everything that moves. After a few runs with Mitch, players will then be thrown in to the life of amateur boxer Eddie, who you’ll soon find has his own inner demons to deal with.

      As Mitchell you are given a many different types of missions; each one with its own specific deed that needs to be done in order for it to be considered a success. Some of the missions will consist of clearing out an entire building of gunmen while others will require you to follow or chase down vehicles before it reaches its destination. No matter what character you end up playing as, the missions will always revolve around the types of missions mentioned above.

      Now if I wanted to be really rude and hell bent on pickiness I could do some major damage to this game, but I won’t…yet. Unfortunately, Black Monday, is one of those games where it screams out at players from behind the glass case saying “Pick me, Pick me” and after taking it home and playing a few hours, it turns into “Pick me apart, pick me apart!” So allow me to do the honors of picking apart some of the bigger problems that I have encountered when playing Black Monday.

      First off, the camera angles are far from satisfactory. I mean seriously now, if your mission is to go into a building filled with tight corners, the Russian mafia loaded up with pistols and machine guns, and they give you nothing but terrible camera controls then you’re really asking for it. Don’t even get me started on the countless number of times I got shot, slapped and tackled from behind just because I couldn’t see around the corner quick enough. It can become quite frustrating; I mean honestly, what a sad way to die. I even caught myself a few times literally trying to get a better look around the corner by tilting my head to the side. In the Getaway: Black Monday, the camera angle is very limiting to how far and how much it can turn. I can’t stress just how important camera angling is when it comes to third person shooters. Definitely something that could be improved.

      Another idea that comes to mind is the power of a map. When driving on the street, a map is available for players to see which turns will lead to short cuts; I can’t tell you how many times it’s saved me time and gas.  However, when given missions where traveling on foot into large buildings with armed men is required, the map is gone. There are no hints as to where to go or where to meet up with hostages or other allies. Getting lost in a bank after successfully stealing the money will totally kill the fun after a few minutes of running around. And don’t think that the mission objectives are going to help much either; being that they are a bit too general when giving ‘hints’ as to what to do next, like, “Leave the bank” or “Find Chuck.” With the mixture of general objectives, hazy directions, and map-less buildings the game play is truly down graded and even annoying at times.

      Although there are times when I rather getaway from the game then play it I admit that Sony and London Studio definitely did a nice job when putting together the driving aspects of the game. The controls are extremely responsive, the cars look very nice, and the fun factor definitely goes up a lot when driving down the streets of London.

      I always get a kick out of running into the middle of the road to stop a car, only to end up hijacking it for your own cause; good or bad. The best is when Sgt. Mitch takes custody of a car by saying “This is the police, I need your vehicle” then peeling off after the bad guys in a nice Benz. When given a little freedom I personally recommend that you drive around and crash into pedestrians, hijack other cars, stop traffic or just shoot away on your machine gun.

      Besides just running into other innocent bystanders on the street and shopping for cars that look good, the actually missions that require car chasing is extremely fun and breath taking. Definitely a nice change from the boring fire fights that you get into with other gang members. Just hop into a nice convertible, fly through down town London at 95 miles an hour, on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, and chase some gangsters. I promise you, it’s a biggest thrill you’ll get throughout the entire game…that’s right…that will be the highlight.

      The Getaway: Black Monday is a fun and fast paced game as long as the controls stay on the street, but be cautious when the missions take you to buildings and factories because then you’ll be treading on uncontrollable waters. You’ll find yourself loving some parts and absolutely loathing others, so consider what it is you’re looking for before purchasing this game. If you love driving nice cars and don’t mind bad camera angles too much then by all means get this game, but if you demand for more, then this game isn’t going to be your cup of tea.