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A Very Pale Imitation of Driver In Every Way!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: March 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you have any of the Driver series then forget this game it's just a poor copy with a very old film license tagged on the end to try and sell it to the public
I have to warn you that graphically The Italian Job is terrible. It contains so many of the flaws that have progressively been eradicated on PSone over the last few years, which is inexcusable. The pop-up is embarrassing, loading times excruciating, regular freezing frames, grainy textures, see-through scenery.
What I find indefensible in this type of game is the lack of a rear view mirror, or at least a look back button. How on earth you're supposed to lose the cops when you can't even see roughly where they are is ridiculous. The omission of a map screen also gives the impression of a loose `job'
All in all don't bother.

BAD POINTS

The Loading Time Between The Missions Was A Joke

Most Of The Missions Were Too Easy

A Very Pale Imitation of Driver In Every Way

Lack of a rear view mirror, or at least a look behind button

The omission of a map screen

Lack Of Camera Angles

Can be completed very quickly (a few hours)

GOOD POINTS

The cars actually handle ok

Sub Games In The Cities And All The Numerous Jumps And Stunts You Can Do

Sound effects

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.

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.

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

The Italian Job - PSone By Sanjay Schrapel

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: April 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well, I can't believe you Americans still haven't got The Italian Job yet. Here in Australia we have had it for about a year, and I have to say it is the best driving simulator out there, next to Gran Turismo 2. The game consists of 16 challenges based in Turin, the Alps and London (Why the movie was even called The ITALIAN Job I think is a mystery) where you must drive through a certain area without getting arrested, chase another car or deliver a car or other item to another place in a set period of time. However, the handling on all the cars except for the Bus is legendary, and abosultely rocks using a Thrustmaster Ferrari Challenge Racing Wheel. The multiplayer games are very cool, with the ability to play 8 player (2 multi-taps) versions of the side games, including Checkpoint (where the driver must reach certain checkpoints in a set period of time). Unfortunately, this game is nearly impossible to find on the shelves here, with the last copy I saw being in Christimas 2001. If this game is to go Platinum, we will have to rely on sales in countries other than Australia. ...

The Italian Job

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: March 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have to disagree with the last review.
I think this game is highly entertaining & good fun to play.
While I do agree with the graphics looking a little shoddy on the ps1 & yes, there isn't a rear view angle - This somewhat adds to the excitement of the chase with the law & doesn't spoil the game at all.
The Italian Job plays just like the cult film -Yeah we all know the ending -but getting there is enjoyable & does want you to go back for more.
If you are somewhat put off by graphics of the ps1 version I have personally seen a PC version of The Italian Job which is coming out very soon & I can tell you that it looks as sharp as a sharp thing in a very sharp shop!!
Driving several different cars that handle well is a challenge & getting in your Mini Cooper & having to handbrake around the various levels to the excellent soundtrack of the film has you coming back for more.
The Italian Job game isn't as classic as the film is,how could it be!But it sticks to the storyline very well.
The several different modes are great fun & a game that isn't quite as demanding as the Driver series makes a nice change & is overall a game that is as enjoyable as picking up a good book or watching a favorite film again.
Also it has a party mode that when you come back in from the pub with your mates is a laugh in itself.
It's a shame that the last review didn't give this game the justice it deserved - After all is was number 1 in the Playstation charts in the UK for 5 weeks & how many games can claim that?
I would recommend this game not as an essential for the collection -But at the budget price is a MUST!
I can assure you - You'll have fun playing it & it'll make you want to watch the film again soon after!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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