The Italian Job for
Playstation 2 follows the events of the recently released movie: The Italian
Job. The game follows Charlie as he exacts his revenge on his former partner
Steve. Throughout The Italian Job you play some of the movie’s biggest chases,
while also doing some of the driving the movie didn’t show you.
The Italian Job has four
different modes. The first on the list is Story Mode, which follows the story of
The Italian Job and is narrated by Charlie. The next one is Circuit Racing and
places you against other racers on a closed course through a certain area of the
city. You must race against the other cars to the finish. Stunt Driving has you
navigating through complex and challenging courses that involve a lot of
balancing and quick turning. In my opinion Stunt Driving is the best part of the
whole game, but there are only five courses. Free Roam is the final option and
allows you to roam the streets free of time limits or objectives.
In Story Mode you take on
the role of the characters from The Italian Job and do the driving for them.
Some of the chases and missions are straight out of the movie, and it’s kind of
fun to relive them in the game while adding your own twists since now you’re
behind the wheel. Between each mission, Charlie (the star of the The Italian
Job, but unfortunately they didn’t get Mark Wahlberg to do the voice) keeps you
informed on the current events. Whoever did the voice for Charlie has a very
monotone, boring voice. After a few of the little narrations I couldn’t take
much more of it. I mean, there aren’t even cut scenes. You just listen to
Charlie talk as the camera pans around the city.
Each mission gives you an
objective to complete. Objectives range from driving to a certain point within a
time limit, driving to a certain point within a time limit while running from
cops, or race someone to a certain point within a time limit. Oh, and there are
some missions where you have to follow another car. Not much variety or
creativity there. After each mission you’re graded on your performance. Grade C
or above moves you on to the next mission and an A even unlocks a car or new
track. Overall you can have a whopping total of 11 cars! Wow.
The graphics really need
some work. The cars that you drive are acceptable, but everything else looks so
plain. Textures are boring, there are absolutely no pedestrians, and slowdown
lurks around every corner. Even though your car takes damage, it doesn’t show at
all. Other cars don’t show damage either.
The sound is very
unrealistic. Collisions sound slightly realistic, but the engine noises get
pretty annoying. The voice acting gets really boring and almost painful to
listen to, as well.
As far as unlockables go,
The Italian Job has got plenty. From movie stills to concept art to extra
vehicles, it’s all there. It’s kind of cool to see all the behind-the-scenes
stuff like concept art. The new cars are fun to mess around with, and the stunt
and circuit racing courses add a bit more replay.
In the end, I really hate
to see a game with such high potential fall short. The Italian Job is a great
license for driving games and Climax studios just rushed this one out. Too many
things were left out, like bigger levels, damage modeling, better textures, etc.
The driving engine is great, and it’s a breeze to get used to the controls, but
all the other factors drug it down.
Gameplay: 6.5
Driving around is
great fun. The driving controls are very easy to get used to, but with so little
to explore it gets boring fast. The cities have no depth; they’re very small
with few (yet very obvious) shortcuts. The missions get old after awhile too,
due to little variation in goals. However, some missions can put you in exciting
and entertaining situations.
Graphics: 4
The models of the
cars you drive are pretty good, but all the other cars are so plain. The
environments are plain as well, with plenty of slowdown to boot. No damage
modeling on the cars is also a huge drawback with almost every racing game these
days having very detailed and realistic car damage. I’ve seen worse graphics
before, but not on a driving game on the PS2.
Sound: 5.5
Aside from the
bad voice acting, the sound effects aren’t terrible. The engine sounds can get
annoying at times, but other sounds like cars honking, skids, peel-outs, and
collisions sound pretty good.
Difficulty: Easy
The cars handle
very easily, and most of the missions are a piece of cake and require very
little skill. Even the circuit races are easy, but the stunt courses can be
tricky. After a bit of practice, though, anyone can master them all.
Concept: 5.8
Well, first of
all The Italian Job has already been done as a movie and a game. The first game
was on the original Playstation and was a pretty good game considering its value
and the system it was on. Making a game chronicling the events straight from the
movie is a pretty good idea, but for those of us who have already seen the movie
it’s not that exciting.
Multiplayer: 5.5
The same issues
you find with the solo game are in multiplayer too. Slowdown will make frequent
visits, which by the time I played multiplayer it was to be expected.
Multiplayer doesn’t add too much, but I always find games a bit more fun with
friends.
Overall: 5.0
Instead of trying
to add something to the driving genre, they take away from it. The Italian Job
is a step down from all driving games on the recent systems, and even some from
the older ones. The driving engine is good, but sadly, that’s about it.
