What can I say about a game that strives to recreate a real-world environment in a video game? While the city may be a general recreation of London in Team Soho’s The Getaway: Black Monday, the details that would be found in the real world just aren’t there. The insides of buildings are very generic, and to an extent, so are some outdoor environments. Character models have detail, but are very disproportionate. I swear I had to do a double-take to make sure that I didn’t have a “Big Head” code entered the moment I saw Mitch’s gigantic melon.

On the other side of the fence, Team Soho must have spent every last cent they could on audio... because they’ve delivered in a big way (just not as big as Mitch’s head). The music and sound fx are grand, but what makes Black Monday sound so great is the incredible voice acting. If you can get past all of the four-letter words, the story is what drives this game to have any appeal at all.

Black Monday is without a doubt a story-driven action game. In fact, it is the presentation and story that allows this game to climb into the positives when it comes to a rating. While you may normally buy a game for its gameplay, this title is more of a playable movie than it is a standard video game. And while I’m all about a great storyline, this second Getaway just doesn’t have great gameplay content, which is sad because it has so much potential as a video game.

I really hate to be cliché and compare every game of this genre to the Grand Theft Auto series, but guess what... I’m going to! Is Black Monday on par? Not even close. The gameplay of Black Monday is very linear in nature as opposed to the free-roam style of GTA. In fact, most areas are actually quite short. Other than having to often use a “trial and error” method of playing each level, the cut-scenes are usually longer than the actual gameplay.

While this sequel does sport a ton of weapons, as well as real-world cars and motorcycles, the game itself is plagued with issues. You’ll actually take control of three playable characters, each with their own abilities. In a pseudo-GTA style, you’ll be able to hop into any vehicle you choose at the touch of a button. While driving, the camera actually is handled pretty well. You’ll even have the ability to shoot in four directions as you drive with a quick press of a button in conjunction with the right analog stick. However, when your characters are on foot, be prepared for some extreme frustration. The camera is handled in a similar way as when you’re driving, which means that you can only look to the side as if you’re turning your head, giving no overall camera control to the player. When out in the open, this can sometimes be tricky, but it is more so when in tight areas like stairwells or any time you are walking through a doorway.

Actually, Black Monday has a few pretty slick elements to it as well. The ability to duck behind objects and perform a diving roll offers a bit more interaction than a typical run-and-gun shooter. Of course, you can do the latter as well, but you’re only allowed a certain amount of health to recharge your body. Unfortunately, aiming in Black Monday gets a bit tricky when it needs to be done quickly. With the lack of a crosshair, you must use the tip of the gun to do your aiming. However, performing rolling tactics and firing as you stand makes the enemies tend to miss you all too easily.

Since the enemy A.I. really isn’t all that smart, Black Monday’s levels can sometimes be quite easy. Once you get past the frustrations of the game, the linear levels make enemies appear in similar places. What this means is that much of the game comes down to trial and error, and replaying the same levels time and again. But the lack of difficulty doesn’t end there. Another horrible example of the Artificial Intelligence being lackluster is that when handcuffing and arresting a villain, the other baddies will often stop shooting at you until your arrest animation is complete. So instead, they miss an easy opportunity to blow you away.

While the buttons used in playing this second game in the series are adequate, Black Monday’s camera is not. As described above, any tight situations reveal a horrible camera angle which makes it impossible to get a good view of what’s in front of you. What’s more, you can actually end up walking/running toward the camera, and you’re forced to stop and let the camera catch up or forcibly make the camera follow you.

The Getaway: Black Monday’s gameplay just didn’t thrill me as I had hoped it would. There are a lot of frustrating aspects of the game that, in fact, get in the way of the overall experience. With a great story and even better voice acting (although the overuse of the “F” word got annoying), it is quite possible that Black Monday would have made a better short animated movie than a video game.