Battle of the GTA clones

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They all tried to beat the best, but which one really did? We make 'em fight to find out

The Getaway
SCEA | PS2

The setup: When an old enemy kills his wife and kidnaps his son, former London gangster Mark Hammond is blackmailed into pulling violent jobs that are carefully designed to put him at the top of every gang's hit list. Meanwhile, hard-boiled police detective Frank Carter is on the tail of both Hammond and his enemy, and will stop at nothing to shut them down. You'll play as both over the course of the adventure, which has you gunning your way through an underworld filled with Yardies, Triads and Cockney toughs.

The rides: A bunch of almost painfully realistic, sleek-looking cars that, when damaged, will slow down, start smoking and maybe catch fire a little, which is far removed from the spectacular explosions that gamers expect in their daily lives.

The violence: Your arsenal is limited to a small handful of weaponry, but the actual gunfights - which enable you to take cover behind walls and grab enemies for use as human shields - is a lot more bloody and intense than what GTA usually offers. This might also be the only game where you can heal yourself completely (and get the nasty bloodstains out of your clothes) by just leaning against a wall for a little while.

Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.