Friday From the Archives: The Italian Job (Eidos, 2003)

Want Mini-Coopers plus 8 other cars? Would you like to beat the game's main mode in the same time it takes to watch its film counterpart? How about stunt courses, a blazing sense of speed, and splendid graphics? If you said yes to everything but the second question, I'm right there with ya. Nobody wants to drop fifty American for a game that features a Story mode that can be conquered in two hours. The Story mode may be short, but the gameplay is the sweetness. Racing through tight traffic on two wheels (a feat only capable in the Mini) is as much fun as it sounds, and the frame-rate is at a respectable pace throughout the game. Where the game does slowdown, however, is the two-player races, and it can get pretty nasty at times. I also found that for a movie based game, The Italian Job is severely lacking in its relationship with the movie. It seems as though the developers were given very little film footage, none of the voices or likenesses of the film's cast, and hardly anything else. With games like Enter the Matrix out there, this is completely unacceptable. Other than that, there isn't much else I disliked about this job; exciting gameplay, detailed graphics and well designed stages are all on the plus side. Even so, I can't really recommend this game as anything else but a rental because just like he movie's slogan, you'll get in, get out, and hopefully you'll break even.