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Not A Great Game, But Not A Bad Game Either

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: April 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a review of this product: The Italian Job (PlayStation video game). Amazon may display this review on the page of another version of this product, for which this review may not apply. After reading this review, please click on the link so that you can be assured that the product this review applies to is the same one you thought it was for.

(This is a review that I originally wrote on 07/27/2002)
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The Italian Job is based on the 1969 movie starring Michael Caine (as Charlie Croker), Noel Coward (as Mr. Bridger), and Benny Hill (as Professor Simon Peach). Interestingly, the movie is being remade for a 2003 release with Mark Wahlberg (in the Michael Caine role), Edward Norton, Charlize Theron, Seth Green, and Donald Sutherland.

The plot of the movie and the game is very simple: A gang of crooks steal four million dollars through a traffic jam, while avoiding the police and mafia. HOW they do it is the fun part!

The game contain 16 missions across three different locales. Eight are in London, six are in Turin, and the final two are in the Alps.

I'd like to preface these next few paragraphs by telling you that I saw the film in it's original widescreen format (aka letterbox) on the Speedvision cable channel. Although this is a commercial channel, I presume the film was not edited. If it WAS edited, some of what I'm about to write may be incorrect.

Out of the eight London missions, only two are directly based on the film: "The Ambassador's Car" is implied in the film (they don't explicitly show you driving from the prison directly to the garage to pick up your car). "Peaches For Peaches" is also implied in the film (we see the h-o-o-k-e-r-s outside in Charlie's car while at Peach's place, but we never see him actually pick them up and take them there). The other six missions are completely made up using characters from the film.

The first mission in Turin is completely made up. It's just there to help you locate the places that you'll be visiting in later missions. I don't know why they make you visit the police station, since it is never visited in the game (or the film). The other five missions are directly based on the film (although the game maker's had to take a few minor liberties to make them work in the context of the game). Both Alps missions come directly from the film.

This is the only game that I can think of based on a film (or TV) license that makes PERFECT use of that license. To have a game this faithful to it's license is extremely rare.

GAMEPLAY

Before you even get to play any missions you have to deal with an extremely long loading time of about 30 seconds for each mission. This could be enough to turn some people off, and make them turn off the game, but I had enough patience to wait out each of these loadings.

Some of the missions are extremely fun, some are downright annoying, and one or two are hard as heck. Since I couldn't pass a few of the missions, I had to use the in-game cheat code to unlock all of the missions. This was great because it allowed me to play all of the missions (or at least attempt all of them) and I could keep playing my favorite ones.

"The Getaway" mission in Turin is one of my favorites even though I could never pass it. The reason why I couldn't pass it is one of the game's few faults: the cops. They are completely annoying, but are a lot better than the cops in Driver 2. As you get their attention, they (of course) pursue you. The only way to get the cops off your butt is to drive fast enough and take enough turns so as to lose them. When you have a timer counting down and a mission objective to take care of, this is a major annoyance. As if that wasn't bad enough, while they're chasing you, the cops are trying to write down your license plate number. If they get your whole number, you're busted (or "nicked" as the game calls it). Although this is a major improvement over the way the cops deal with you in Driver 2, it has one major flaw. Logically, and in real life, even when the cops get your entire license plate number, you can still drive away and have them chase you. For the game to simply have your mission end because the cops got your entire license plate number is ridiculous. Most often the cops are the reason why you'll fail missions (such as why I couldn't pass "The Getaway").

Using a walkthrough found at GameFaqs, I went into Free Ride mode and tried to recreate the path of "The Getaway." Although it didn't have the thrill and excitement of the actual mission, for the most part, I was able get a sense of what that mission is like ... and that was a lot of fun. It was because of that that I got interested in seeing the film (I first played the game without having seen the film). I wanted to see if the cool getaway in the game was just as cool in the movie. I never thought I'd say this about a game based based on a film, but the game's getaway was BETTER! The film cuts back and forth between the getaway chase and scenes that take place elsewhere at the same time. This completely throws off the continuity and excitement of the getaway. Still, a game that will make you want to see the movie it's based on is a good thing indeed (especially for the studio that owns the film and the license).

AUDIO/VIDEO

The music is a top-notch mixing of an instrumental of Quincy Jones' "Get A Bloomin' Move On" (aka The Self Preservation Society theme) from the film, bits of "Rule Britannia" (a traditional song also used in the film), and quirky background music that fits the setting perfectly. I enjoyed the Quincy Jones theme so much that I put the game CD in my computer's CD-Rom drive and extracted the short song to my hard drive for later recording onto a music CD so that I could listed to it with my regular music collection. How often do you want to do that with video game music?!?

The graphics are standard Playstation 1 graphics, though they're actually pretty good. There's nothing graphics-wise that stood out as being really bad or exceptionally good, so there's not much to say.

REPLAYABILITY

After finishing the main game ("The Italian Job" mode) you will have access to the Challenge mode, which consists of short missions with tough times where you will test your skills in braking, turning and jumping. There are five jump tests, but since all five use the same course, this gets boring real fast. There is one break test, but it isn't as hard as it initially seems. A checkpoint race on an icy road, a survival lap around the city, and two destructor races (one on an icy road and another viewed from overhead) round out the rest of the challenges.

Along with "The Italian Job," there are other modes that are unlocked from the start. They are:

-- Checkpoint - You have to reach all of the checkpoints in the allotted time. Each checkpoint you reach gives you a little extra time to make it to the next one.

-- Destructor - Here your mission is to destroy the line of cones in the sequence before the
time runs out.

-- Party Play - This is the multiplayer mode in which you can play with up to 8 people in different Checkpoint, Destructor and Challenge mode stages.

-- Free Ride - Here you can cruise around London and (if you unlocked it) Turin in any car (you start off with one unlocked). You can use this mode to familiarize yourself with the cities, but be aware of the cops. You'll even find some secrets within this mode. Check the walkthrough here are GameFaqs for more info.

As you complete the missions in "The Italian Job" mode, you will unlock extra cars and tracks for these other modes.

The problem with all these extras is that they get boring after a while because it's just the same thing over and over again. At first it's fun, then it's just tedious.

TO BUY OR TO RENT?

Rent. The game is just too darn short to have as a permanent part of your collection, even with the unlockable extras.

ITS ALRIGHT GET IT IF ITS CHEAP

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

THIS game is alright,it is a Clone of the Driver family(not a good,though),though it is the same idea.The `Main Menu` is deffinatly copying Driver because of the way it is set out and the same options,with different names(obviously).The main game is easy but the Police don`t try just to bash you they pen down your Licence Plate no. and if they get it all"YOU`RE NICKED!`.They do actually go after u 4 no reason even if you are driving along the right places ect. they still chase you and they arnt even Patroling they are parked some where so they can getchu.This game is set on the original "The Italian Job" movie that was made by the British movie makers and has the Mike Caine voices in it.This stook more close to the Driver family then to the film and i like Driver 1,2 and 3 better because you get more cities,more miles of road,driving techniques and Some movie style features though you get Driving mini games on this.BYE

u heard me buy it!!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

i am a ps2 owner and i love this game.i have also played this game on the ps2 version and i still think the ps1 version is better. although the graphis are horrid the gameplay is sweet.i love the free ride mode.i also know a cheat that works for getting every level and all cars.it is circle,circle,triangle,square,square.

italian job will be a classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you are a player who likes challenges and racing down streets, this game has it!

The precursor to grand theft auto.

Get good at this game and GTA series driving will be snap.

Slowness is an advantage, but if you are an emulator fan, try that after you finished ps1. However, if you are not GTA hardened, be prepared to get lost until you get a sense of direction.

Try driving without specific goal when too challenged by a scenario. This will keep you from giving up.

As you earn cars and locality, try each car in free ride mode, they arevery different. Enjoyed driving on other side of road
and young
but talented kids loved this game in free ride.

An ok game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Sure, this game is only $$$, and I did have fun playing it, but it was greatly disappointing. You aren't able to look behind you, which really hurts the game play, the graphics aren't very great either. It may only be $$$, but it could have been done way better even though it is selling for just that. For a cheap game where you get to run from the cops, I might recomend it, but I'd stick with driver any day.

good but not great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

i just rented this game to see how it is since it is coming out on ps2 in one month but it is worth it. this game is very enjoyable and fun to play. it has an awsome choice of game modes including: free ride, story mode, checkpoint mode, and option mode. this game is great but every game,of course, has its flaws. the controling is just sometimes fustrating. for example: say the cops are on ur tale, and u run into a moving car on the street. well first you would go flying and another is after u hit them u cant just back up, it takes a couple seconds for u to just back up!(this may not sound too frustrating but if u have played gta 3 or gta vice city and this is ur 1st time playing u will understand wut i mean) another flaw is that the graphics. the graphics just suck and after getting used to gta vice city, it is hard to adjust to the ps1 graphics. if those 2 little flaws could be fixed this game would rule. if u have a ps1 get this! but if u have a ps2 i would rent first or wait till the ps2 version is!

Pretty Good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: May 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game has thrills and action, and is perfect for people of all ages. A few of the missions they send you on are kind of hard, but it still is a great game. Please buy it.

Pretty much fun game at a great value

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Those still holding on to their PS1's should definitely give this game a look. Based on the 1969 film of the same name (which starred Michael Caine and late comedian Benny Hill), you get to put the pedal to the medal in different free roaming areas including London and Turin. Your transportation consists of 14 classic cars including the Mini Cooper that was in the film as you drive through the mission-based, traffic congested areas. While The Italian Job is a fun ride, it is not without it's flaws: the graphics are overly blocky and polygon dropout is present aplenty (then again, this is a PS1 game and all that is more noticable now more than ever) and the controls are overly clunky and no matter how fast the game says your driving, it always seems like your going much, much slower than you should. All that aside The Italian Job isn't necessarily a bad game, but newer gamers used to more powerful systems should avoid, but then again, PS1 owners looking for some actual half decent bargain basement priced fun should give this a whirl.

best ps1

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 5
Date: August 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

great fun even for people who have a ps2.

The Best Bargain You Can Get

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: July 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Now that I have finally found the time to sit down and finish the Italian Job, I feel that I can give it a fair review. I would have given it 4 1/2 stars if I could have, but because it has such a great price..., I decided to go ahead and give it five stars. This may very well be the best [$$] I have ever spent.

If you enjoyed the movie The Italian Job, then you will definitely enjoy this game. It follows the movie almost exactly. You get to play through some of the best scenes in the movie, including the crazy Mini Cooper car chase through Turin, Italy.

This is a mission-based driving game, sort of like the Driver series or Grand Theft Auto III. You begin as a guy who just got out of prison and takes a job that involves stealing gold from the mafia in Italy. There are 16 missions: 8 in London, 6 in Italy, and the 2 escape missions through the Alps. There is a good variety in the mission objectives, although it mostly boils down to driving around trying to complete your objective while avoiding the cops. If the cops see you, they take chase and you have to shake them before reaching your objective. If you destroy your vehicle, run out of time, or if the cops get close enough to get your entire license plate number, then you fail the mission. The difficulty level is just about right. There are a few missions that will cause some frustration but they are not impossible.

In addition to the story mode, there are several extra games to mess around with. You can take a ride around London or Italy to get to know the area using your choice of vehicle. Then there are several mini games, like checkpoint races and stunt tests.

The graphics are not fantastic but they are okay for a PS One game. My major complaint about the game is the difficulty of controlling the car. If you are used to the tight control of PS2 games like Gran Turismo and the aforementioned GTA III, you may have some trouble getting used to the sluggish control here.

With all the bad games for the PS One that are coming out now, seemingly rushed just to make a quick buck, this is probably the best PS One game to come out since the PS2. Rockstar did a great job of recreating the scenes from the movie, especially on the getaway mission. All of the coolest segments of the movie chase are here. You get to drive through the subway, up the big dome building, across the river, and through the sewers. Overall, you could do much, much worse for [$$].

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