The Italian Job (2003 video game)

The Italian Job
Developer(s)	Climax Brighton
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube
Release date(s)	NA 25 June 2003 (PS2 & Xbox) NA 17 July 2003 (GC) EU 12 September 2003
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution	DVD, Nintendo optical disc

The Italian Job (released in Europe as The Italian Job: L.A. Heist) is a racing video game released in 2003 by Eidos Interactive. The game is based on the film of the same name. The game features a story mode based on the movie and a multiplayer mode where you drive Minis through several different circuits in Hollywood and LA.

Plot

Story mode

There are 15 missions in the story mode, as follows:

• Midtown Meet
• Rental Rampage
• MINI Me
• Haul Out
• MINI Mayhem
• Cable Calling
• Rooftop Raid
• Volatile Venture
• Restaurant Rendezvous
• Total Training
• Bullion Busting
• Metro Madness
• Dam Busters
• Off the Rails
• Payback

Each mission is designed to reflect a certain part of the movie, with the spoken introduction to each 'section' giving background on what part of the movie is being covered, and what the objective of the mission is going to be.

Gameplay

The Italian Job is a racing game based on the 2003 film. You get to drive different vehicles around Hollywood or LA, completing objectives relating to the story. The game has a unique grading system that gives the player points if they do the following:

• Completing the mission
• Traveling longer distances to get to the objectives
• Taking less time to complete the objectives
• Catching airtime
• Smashing up roadside objects (e.g. boxes, tables and chairs, newspaper stands etc.)
• Performing stunts (e.g. drifting round corners or driving on two wheels, which can only be done in MINI Coopers)

However the player can penalised for:

• Crashing into other vehicles
• Damaging the car
• Using the "respot" option.

There are four other modes, Circuit Racing, in which you race other cars around tracks in Hollywood or LA, or even in the Metro or on the Dam,(this mode is the only one that supports two player) Stunt Mode, where you drive Minis around courses getting as many points as possible, Free Ride, where you can drive around at your leisure, (if you get Grade A in all Story Mode missions, you can have the option of having Police chasing you as well) and finally Time Trial, where you can practice the Circuit Mode tracks.

Playable vehicles

This is a list of the playable vehicles in the game, unlockable by getting Grade A in Story Mode missions.

• MINI Cooper, which has four colours: white, blue, green and blue Union Jack (has Union Jack painted on the roof).
• MINI Cooper S, which has three colours: red, black and red Union Jack.
• Original MINI Cooper, which has four colours, red, white, blue (a reference to the original The Italian Job) and green Union Jack.
• Muscle car (similar to the original Ford Mustang)
• Rental car (appears to be a generic low-price muscle car)
• Truck
• Surveillance van
• Cable TV van
• Saloon car
• Armoured truck
• Henchman SUV
• Los Angeles Police Department police car
• Supercar (similar to the Aston Martin Vanquish)

Also, all cars except the Minis explode when wrecked.

Differences from the film

• In the last mission of the game, Payback, you play as Charlie chasing Steve in his supercar around LA. In the film, Steve is in his chopper, and he is chasing Charlie he later steals someones pickup truck to chase the other BMW Mini's, not vice versa.
• At the end of the film, Steve is taken away by the local Mafia. In the game, he crashes into a LAPD roadblock and is arrested.
• In the film, Stella's office is in the middle of Philadelphia, not on the coast of Hollywood, as it is in the game.
• In the game, all the missions take place at daytime. In the film, two missions (Restaurant Rendezvous and Volatile Venture) take place at night.
• In the film, when the three bullion vans are leaving Steve's house, Handsome Rob is in his white MINI. In the game, he's in his muscle car.
• On the Los Angeles County Metro Rail platform (in the film), there is only one track beside the platform. In the game, there are two tracks either side of the platform, and the trains do not move.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (GC) 61%[1] (Xbox) 57.90%[2] (PS2) 55.75%[3] Metacritic (GC) 56/100[4] (PS2) 55/100[5] (Xbox) 54/100[6] Review scores Publication Score Edge 5/10[7] Electronic Gaming Monthly 4.67/10[8] Game Informer 5/10[9][10][11] GamePro [12] Game Revolution C+[13] GameSpot 4.4/10[14] GameSpy [15] GameZone (Xbox) 7.1/10[16] (PS2) 5/10[17] IGN 6.8/10[18] Nintendo Power 2.9/5[19] Official PlayStation Magazine (US) [20] Official Xbox Magazine 7.8/10[21] Maxim 5/10[22]

The game received mixed reviews. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 55.75% and 55 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version,^[3][5] 57.90% and 54 out of 100 for the Xbox version,^[2][6] and 61% and 56 out of 100 for the GameCube version.^[1][4]

Maxim gave it a score of five out of ten and said, "The ordinary race-and-chaser’s loosely knit compilation of repetitive Mini Cooper showdowns has a recognizable scene or two, but that’s about it."^[22]

References

External links

• The Italian Job at MobyGames