The Getaway: Black Monday

Information

The Getaway: Black Monday is a third person action adventure game, set in London. The game was made by Team SOHO, who are a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Unlike similar games, such as True Crime and Grand Theft Auto, The Getaway features official licensed cars, from manufacturers such as Vauxhall, Renault, and Peugeot. The game is also notable for boasting a story with choices and variations to the endings, though these choices and endings are not radically different. Regardless of the path the player takes the game progresses in much the same direction.

Story

The introduction to the story shows Sgt. Ben 'Mitch' Mitchell chasing after an armed youth. The youth turns around, and aims the gun at Mitch. He then turns to flee again, but Mitch shoots him in the back, killing him. One year later, Mitch is back on the force, and is preparing to assault a block of flats in East London. The team believe that the Collins Crew, one of the gangs from the original game, is storing drugs in a flat.  The flat that they assault and investigate turns out to be empty, though there is a hidden entrance to an adjacent flat. Inside the adjacent flat are the drugs they sought. The police chase down the thugs belonging to the Collins Crew, who begin to resist with guns. Significantly, the game's storyline intertwines between the characters, though the missions are clearly divided between Ben's story and the criminals' story. While they interlink the player does not see this until later in the game.
 
PC Harvey is shot in the leg and incapacitated by a Collins Crew member, and this leaves Mitch on his own. He single-handledly gives chase to the remnants of the gang, shooting his way through to the roof of the block of flats. In desperation a final group of Collins Crew members have taken a woman hostage, threatening to kill her if Mitch approaches them. Mitch shoots the hostage-taker dead, the woman flees, and the gang are promptly killed.

Back at the station, Mitch is taunted over his actions a year ago. Inspector Munroe informs them of a shooting at a boxing club in Shoreditch (the club belongs to Danny West). Due to West's criminal associations the police investigate the gym, with the belief it could be related to the Collins Crew incident earlier in the morning. The gym is examined following a shooting, and another shootout takes place with members of the Collins Crew. The Collins Crew leader, Jimmer, is also found at the gym. He flees the police, with Mitch giving pursuit. He does not manage to catch Collins, who jumps over a fence to escape.
 
With the belief that a group of Latvians are responsible for the gym shooting, the team are dispatched to a scrapyard operated by Latvians with known criminal connections. The goal is to find one man in particular, named Levi Stratov. Stratov is found at the scrapyard and caught. He berates Mitch about ruining his valuable clothing, claiming he will be free in no time whatsoever. He is taken to the police station and questioned, with only a slight showing of police brutality to help loosen his tongue. Before Levi's promise to be let out comes true, Munroe manages to bring up an award-winning crime journalist named Jackie Philips, who is at risk from all the criminal elements in the city.
 
The team investigate Levi's connections after is let out, and the investigation results in a shootout with an Eastern European mafia inside a building under construction. Ultimately, Levi surrenders to the police, realising he cannot escape them now they have a great deal of evidence against him. The player is allowed to kill Levi without any punishment at this point, though there is no reward for doing so except gratification. Once they are done here, the team must move quickly again and escort Jackie Philips to a safehouse, as tension mounts about her safety due to her line of work.

Philips warns the group of a drug deal going down at the Holborn Tube Station. The group arrest the dealer, though he escapes and is arrested again. The drug dealer is part of the Yardies; a Jamaican gang headed by a man known as Jamahl. Jamahl's interests have shifted mostly from drugs to guns, though the dealer, Tyler, is one of his trusted sources of income and therefore of value. The Yardies attack the police convoy taking Tyler to a police station, attempting to rescue him. Due to their violence they are quickly gunned down by the police, and Tyler is taken into police custody. When in custody Tyler contributes information about a building.
 
At the building Tyler informs them of they find a welcoming party of Yardies, who are dispatched. One of the Yardies kneecaps Inspector Munroe, incapacitating him in a room filled with explosives. Munroe tells Mitch to leave him behind instead of both of them dying, before the room explodes. Munroe is killed at this point, and Mitch cleans up in the building before Jackie informs him of the name 'Skobel'. According to Jackie the police know of a gun trade ongoing, and Mitch races to it. He finds the dealer and beats information from him, though the game then switches to Eddie O'Connor's perspective. 
 
Eddie's story begins at this point, inside a bank. Eddie and his band of thieves are contacted by Danny West to fulfil a job for the Collins Crew, for he is in a great deal of debt to them. Feeling honor-bound, Eddie agrees to rob the bank owned by the Skobel Group for Danny. The intent is to steal credit card codes, allowing the Collins Crew to create their own and completely destabilize the financial industry, as well as an 'icon'. The icon is a traditional religious item made out of richly-detailed glass, and is common to Eastern European cultures. The primary characters from Eddie's criminal team are Eddie himself, and Sam Thompson. Arthur and Errol are the two other characters, though they are killed when John double-crosses them and flees with the icon.
 
Eddie and Sam both escape and discover John himself has been betrayed by the people he betrayed Eddie for, and is now dead. They retrieve the icon and return to the Shoreditch boxing club in order to inform Danny about the result of their work. Instead they find that the police are at the gym. Sam sneaks into the gym and looks around, discovering the results of the attack on the gym. Among other things, Danny was killed. Sam's laptop, used to steal the credit cards, was abandoned at the bank when they were disrupted, so she asks Eddie to drive her back to the bank so she can retrieve it. In a fit of rage, the player is allowed to choose whether Eddie helps her or lets her make her own way back to the bank.
 
Eddie travels to a printing press where he finds Jimmer, surrounded by Russians. Jimmer is tortured by Yuri and then shot dead, before Yuri leaves to meet with Skobel. Eddie tracks Yuri and is ambushed by Nadya; Skobel's right-hand associate. Nadya has Jackie Philips as a hostage, and Eddie beats Yuri to death. Nadya and Viktor Skobel flee from the warehouse, which Mitch raids at the end of his story to Skobel's house in Mayfair. Eddie then kills Nadya, and pursues Viktor. The rest of the story then unfolds with various twists to the ending. Ending A is the best, with B and C being average, and D being the worst ending.
 

Characters

Sgt. Ben 'Mitch' Mitchell

Ben Mitchell is the first character you will play as during the game. Ben is a member of the Metropolitan Police's Organized Crime Squad. He has been accused of being trigger happy. Ben is military trained, athletic, and focused. For Mitch, an order is an order, but sometimes his own judgment takes control. Ben is quiet and unnerving for his colleagues. Despite this, Munroe trusts his methods of operation. At the close of the game, Ben can be either an antagonist or ally. This all depends on Eddie's previous actions, and whether they are fitting with how the police uphold the law.

Eddie O'Connor

With Eddie, what you see is what you get. Eddie was born and raised in Bethnal Green, and has inherited the old values of family and loyalty. Eddie has boxed at Danny West's gym since the age of eleven, and is experienced with hand to hand combat. He is a local celebrity due to his boxing successes, but feels honor-bound to help Danny when he is trouble, even if this tarnishes Eddie's future prospects as well. Eddie is arguably the main character of the game, being the only character to survive in all of the endings.

Sam Thompson

Sam is a born scam artist, and has a love for computer hacking. This love has brought her to the attention of the local criminal fraternity. After being arrested, time in a juvenile unit left her with nothing but gymnastics training. Now she's out, she's willing to show her skill. Sam acts much more tough than she actually is, expressing shock and horror when she sees someone being killed. She does not have any combat abilities in the game, being unable to carry guns or make use of them. She has no form of attacking and all of her missions revolve around stealth.

Danny West

Danny is owner of a boxing club, and has been a boxing trainer for twenty years. Danny is concerned with his gym, his debt, his boys, and making enough money to support everything. Danny has experience in all sorts of illegal activities, but the Collins Crew are calling their debt and Danny is one throw of the dice away from gambling his last.

Jackie Philips

Jackie is a crime journalist, and has been gathering information for a book on the rise of Eastern European organized crime in London for several years. She plans to release a book that will expose the identities of an Eastern Bloc mob based in London.

Viktor Skobel

Skobel is the main antagonist in the game. A former Russian statesman, he is both ruthless and charming. He was forced out of Estonia in 1992, becoming an imminent figure in London's financial markets. He has a love of fine culture, art and women, though the tattoo on his hand implies a much less refined upbringing.  Skobel is arguably the most powerful gang leader in London at this point, since the death of Charlie Jolson allowed for more gangs to move into the city and thrive. Skobel can be selected as a playable character in Free Roaming mode, and has full combat abilities.

Zara Beauvais

Zara commands all the power she can. She uses her looks to get what she desires. Zara is willing to be an accessory for Viktor, as long as she gets what she wants. During the mission where Viktor flees to his home, she is used as a human shield by the gang. Even to Viktor, her love interest, she is completely expendable. Eddie can kill her or let her live, though there is no reward or punishment either way. Upon completing this mission she can be selected for Free Roaming mode. Like Sam, she has no offensive abilities and cannot use a gun. Zara has no dialogue in the game whatsoever.

Jimmer Collins

Since the death of his brother Nick, Jimmer has taken control of the Collins Crew. However, he is not experienced in the running of a gang, and is running the Collins Crew into the ground. Without guidance from his brother, the gang is about to crumble.

Jamahl

Jamahl and his Yardies were the least effected gang after the events of 2002. They thrived after it, actually. Rather than running drugs, Jamahl has moved his gang interests to guns, which he's always preferred anyway.

Alexei

Alexei is known as 'The Dentist' for torturing his enemies through their teeth. He is a very violent and dangerous man, and can be seen stubbing out a cigarette on Eddie's forehead during their interrogation.

Yuri Gorsoy

Yuri is a huge slab of muscle. He was an ex-boxer back in Estonia, and he's built like a tank. He is very physically imposing, and fights Eddie O'Connor during one of the missions. Like Zara, Yuri has no spoken dialogue in the game, though his silence is more due to the fact his actions speak instead of his words. Yuri is beaten to death by Eddie in the warehouse during the arms deal, where he puts up significant resistance due to his size and sheer strength. He can be chosen in Free Roaming mode as well, with full combat abilities like the other characters.
 

Quotes

"Where the fuck did they pick you from? Fucking Planet of the fucking Apes?"

Eddie O'Connor taunting Yuri during their fight.
 

Skobel speaking to Eddie during an encounter.

Levels

Mitch's Story

• Chapter 01: Tuesday
• Chapter 02: Shoreditch Boys
• Chapter 03: The Latvian Cowboy
• Chapter 04: Finding Miss Philips
• Chapter 05: Hot Property
• Chapter 06: Under Ground Activity
• Chapter 07: The Jamaican
• Chapter 08: Desperate Measures

Eddie's Story

• Chapter 09: Monday
• Chapter 10: The Rescue
• Chapter 11: Cons And Icons

Sam's Story

• Chapter 12: The Wake Of The Shoreditch Massacre

Choose Your Fate! (Eddie's and Sam's Stories)

• Chapter 13: Return To The Scene Of The Crime
• Chapter 14: Trespass
• Chapter 15: Codes Of Honour
• Chapter 16: This Geezer, Hector
• Chapter 17: Jimmer Collins
• Chapter 18: Your Man With The Tattoo
• Chapter 19: The Vor
• Chapter 20: Paying Favours
• Chapter 21: Beginning Of The End
• Chapter 22: The Fall Of An Icon