Lately there has been a
pattern with movie to video game conversion: they all are sub par. Can any game
break this never-ending trend? The Italian Job was just released for the Xbox
console, and while it isn’t the worst game, it really isn’t the best either. To
be perfectly honest, I did have a lot of fun while playing this game, but the
main problem is that this particular game feels like it should have been an
arcade game, and not a full length console one. Read on to find out why!
For those of you who did not see this great movie, here is a short rundown of it
because the game is based directly off the same events. Charlie Cooker is in a
gang of highly specialized thieves. Their target is a safe that contains gold
brinks that are worth millions of dollars. After they successfully pull off this
job, Steve Bandell shoots and kills John Bidger, the old man who was going to
retire after this heist. Charlie and the rest of his gang are stuffed in their
van, and pushed into a freezing lake in the Alps. A year later we find out that
Charlie and everyone else survived and are out for Steve’s blood. Steve has
changed his last name, and is living a life of luxury in LA. The time has
finally come to get even with Steve, the question remains can you do it?
The Italian Job has several modes of play: story, circuit racing, stunt driving,
and free roam. The Story mode takes play through fifteen missions as Charlie and
his posse of thieves try to take down Steve and take back their gold. Players
will be able to control myriads of different cars that each handle differently
throughout the wild streets of LA. As players complete each mission, they are
given a grade, the higher the grade, the more bonuses that players will unlock.
Circuit racing is for people who want to take a drive around town with other
cars to see who is the best driver. Stunt driving allows players to complete a
course without getting off the coarse. The object is to see how many insane
stunts can be done in the time limit. The last mode is free roam, which allows
players to just take a stroll around the streets of LA without worry about any
missions or time limits.
The game has a very arcade feel to it; to put it bluntly it feels a lot of like
Crazy Taxi. This is a good thing, as the cars are really fluid and great to
drive. Throughout the course of the game, players will have the option to drive
more than just the MINI’s, and each car feels slightly different from the others
form accelerating to braking. The missions are easy enough to figure out, get to
point B from point A in a certain time limit.
The Italian Job looks pretty good. What is an extreme disappointment is the lack
of car damage. I crashed in to a lot of things, and the only thing that happens
is the car smokes for a while. Other than that minor complaint, the game has a
lot going for it, crisp graphics, high polygonal counts, and no slowdown in
sight. The environments have a lot of detail as well and are nicely textured.
This game supports in game Dolby Digital, which is a good thing, but this game
doesn’t support custom sound tracks. This is a huge disappointment as this game
would have been perfect for them. Instead we are stuck listening to some tunes
that get old after a while. The sound effects are nicely done, but they do lack
the “oomph” that other car games have.
The Italian Job is rated T for Teen for mild violence. It supports in game Dolby
Digital and HDTV 480p support.
Gameplay 8.0
It has tight controls extremely easy to learn and master within minutes.
Graphics: 7.5
All of the cars and environments the players will encounter look really nice.
Sound: 6.7
Why doesn’t this game support custom soundtracks. We have full Dolby Digital
support, but we are stuck listening to some lackluster music. For shame!
Difficulty: Easy
This is one of the most frustrating things in the game. Sometimes the missions
are so easy you can do them blindfolded. The only thing that you will have to
worry about is trying to actually find the location within time. When the police
are chasing you it is another story, it is hard to get to the place you need to
be because they hit you and block you, which makes you start all over from the
beginning of the mission. The cop AI is cheating a lot, and it is extremely
obvious.
Concept: 7.0
It has a “been there done that” feeling, since a lot of other games have had
this concept and done it much better. I gave this a higher rating as this is one
of the best movie to video game conversions in a while.
Multiplayer: 7.3
This will allow up to two players to race around the city. There is nothing
really special here.
Overall: 7.1
The Italian Job feels like it should have been an arcade game due to its length.
If the game was a little bit harder, longer, and just better overall this would
have been one of the best movie to game conversions in a while. At least give
this game a rent.
