The Italian Job

Written by Adam Woolcott  on March 22, 2002

Preview: ЕAnd I don't think that's a gig at McDonalds either.

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Every once in a while, the US is denied the release of a foreign game Ц could be due to difference in taste, or the costs of localizing it for the American market. In any case, despite all the great games America gets, a few slip through the cracks. The Italian Job is one of them Ц a Driver-esque game with some creative elements thrown into the mix. However, the good people at Rockstar Games are continuing their run as one of the biggest publishers in the US by bringing The Italian Job to the US Ц and for a budget price as well. This April we'll get to play the criminal and get some moolah, and all for the price of 10 bucks.

The game Italian Job is based on the movie of the same name, and fans of that flick will be able to jump right in without paying attention to the re-enactment of the story. For everyone else, the story takes place in London, circa 1969. A fella named Charlie Crocker is released from prison. Almost immediately after his release, he's offered a job stealing gold bullions Ц 4 million worth, to be precise. This is where you come in, and live out the mission to get the money and go past the mafia to do it.

The Italian Job is rather similar to Grand Theft Auto III Ц the game is rather non-linear and has a wide variety of missions to complete on the way to the ultimate goal. However there isn't anything besides driving a car Ц no getting out and walking here, far as I know, just like the original Driver. Thus, a good combination of both games. There's 4 modes of play in The Italian Job - the main mission mode, a Freeride mode to just cruise the streets in the cars you've unlocked in the main mode, a Challenge mode which tests your driving skills, and an 8 player multiplayer game featuring a destruction mode, a checkpoint mode, and a challenge game as well. Obviously, this game is loaded with features.

The Italian Job features a unique AI system when you're running from the cops Ц basically they read your license plate. They read it a letter at a time, and while they're reading the plate, you've gotta get away from them before they identify each character, because when they do you're caught. Needless to say there's a lot of high-speed chases running from the law in order to lose their tail and avoid getting arrested.

And there's no shortage of cars in The Italian Job Ц 14 to be exact. There's a few Mini Coopers to roam the streets with, along with city bus and a 4x4, amongst others. You unlock them as you complete missions in the main single player game, and can be used in other modes Ц thus giving incentive to play through the story mode.

The Italian Job features a special new form of CD Streaming, called COSS, an acronym for УContinuous Ordered Scenery Streaming.Ф Basically, since the game uses so much data and scenery, this system arranges it to use the least amount of memory at a time; especially useful since the PSOne is rather outdated by today's standards.

It shows in the visuals Ц for a PSOne game, they look rather well-done. Since huge parts of cities are rendered in this game, you'd expect bad detail. That's not the case here; the cars are really well done, and the cities are as lifelike as you can get on this hardware. For a late-gen PSOne game, it looks well ahead of the curve for the generation.