At a glance...

Reviewer	Platform	Publisher	Developer	Players	Screenshots
Matt Bailey	Xbox	Eidos Interactive	Climax	1-2 (Split-screen)	Here
Requirements				Also on...	Buy from Amazon.co.uk
At the time of writing, we did not have a requirements section.				PS2, GC	Click here to buy The Italian Job: L.A. Heist.

The Italian Job: L.A. Heist review

Probably the first thing I should mention about this is that The Italian Job: L.A. Heist is based on the 2003 film The Italian Job, rather than the original 1969 version. This means that there is no appearance of Michael Caine and that the game is not set in Italy. That said, despite the initial opening FMV which splices clips of the new movie with in-game action, the film barely features in the game. No further FMVs from the film are featured, and the only other sight of the film characters are through stills you unlock by completing levels. In fact, in the story mode - the game's main mode of play - there is in fact very little story. Sure, there are some rather bland voice-overs linking the sections with a bit of animation done with the in-game action, but nothing to stop you pressing A and skipping to the next section.

The game's main action in the story mode consists of driving from point A to B to C, etc. with the occasional race or pursuit thrown in for good measure. Its rather mundane, even with the ability to take your own route Midtown Madness 3-style, but then, with traffic which struggles to ever get in your way, it doesn't really matter which route you take. Its hard to say whether the fact that the story mode can be completed in about an hour and a half is actually a good or bad, but it certainly screams rental rather than purchase immediately.

Apart from the story mode, you are also given the option to try out some races, play two player (which allows you take on a friend in one of races), free roam L.A., or take on some stunts. The stunts are short courses with sharp turns, slopes, and jumps. It's a bit of fun while it lasts, but it has a nasty habit of leaving you when you get stuck (i.e. if you manage to fall off an edge in an unrecoverable position, the game waits for you to manually restart or wait for the time to run out before taking action). Overall, though, the game doesn't have anything that will keep you playing it for long. The lack of any Live-functionality - something which keeps the short-but-more-fun arcade racing/mission game Midtown Madness 3 going for a lot longer - means that the game simply isn't worth the money.

Which in all is quite a shame, because underneath the game's core is actually not bad. The handling works well, and the graphics are pretty good too. The graphics suffer slightly from being a multi-format title (receiving the extra polish on the Xbox version), but the buildings and cars look pretty good, even if damage on the car models is fairly lacking. The lack of pedestrians is rather odd, however. The sound of the cars isn't that impressive, though, and the music fares no better. The lack of a custom soundtracks option doesn't help either.

Ratings

Graphics	The buildings and car models are good, but lack the damage and pedestrians seen in Midtown Madness 3.	6/10
Gameplay	The game controls well; handling is good, while the jumping and other stunts are fun to do.	7/10
Value	At the time of writing, we did not have a value for money ranking.	0/10
Lifespan	The story mode can be completed in an hour and a half, the stunt and circuit modes provide limited fun, the two player is rather limited and there's no Live support. Certainly the game's major limiting factor.	4/10
Audio	Neither the soundtrack nor the sound effects are impressive, and with no custom soundtrack option, you'll find yourself heading for the TV mute button.	5/10
Overall	The core of The Italian Job isn't bad, so potentially it could have been a good game, but the problem lies in the titles complete lack of depth, and its failure to capitalise more on the film and story.	5/10

Click here to buy The Italian Job: L.A. Heist from Amazon.co.uk.

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