"We've all been killed before.

I played a lot of The Getaway yesterday. A lot. I rarely stick with a game for more than one or two hours at a time, but last night...more than five solid hours of driving and shooting my way through through the London underworld.

Five. Hours.

That may not sound like a lot to you, but it's rare that I spend five hours doing anything these days. I'm usually just waaay to busy for that (being Mr. Important and all). So the game's good, which is strange, because it has so many problems that it really shouldn't be. It's lacking basic things like a health bar and ammo count; it's incredibly difficult to navigate through the city sometimes, because the only indication of direction is the car's blinkers - which may not even work, if you've been tailgated; you can't skip the cut-scenes, some of which go on for ever; and the on-foot controls are often iffy.

Despite all of this, however, the game really does work. I don't know if it's the story - which is rather good (for a game), and well acted too (for a game) - the fact that you've got all of central London in there - looking damn close to reality, though rather empty at times (maybe it's Sunday morning) - or if it's just the fact that I love jacking cars and shooting people. Considering how much I love the recent Grand Theft Auto games, it may be the latter. But The Getaway is certainly better than some reviewers have claimed. It takes a while to works its charms on you, but when it does...five hours. Straight.

I have two missions left on my first runthrough, so even though it's a sunny and beautiful day, I think I might stay inside for a bit.  ¶ 12:13