The Italian Job: LA Heist (Xbox)

The Italian Job is fun and enjoyable and gives the player the thrill of wrecklessly driving around in a MINI Cooper, dodging traffic and jumping stair cases. The graphics are suprisingly good compared to most games available. The controls are good if you pick a layout that suits your driving style and the sounds sound pretty much like a living city. It's all good fun, at least for a while until once again it soon starts to get you agrivated and restless once you realise that the levels aren't getting any longer or more varied. So naturally you tend to get bored of picking up an item from across the other side of town in your car and then returning to base, just to do it again. After playing 13 levels imitating eachother you begin to wonder if you've just spent money in the most appropriate way...But surely there must be a level when you have to steal the gold and escape in the MINI through cool little alley ways and train stations. Well I regret to inform you that this spands yet another 3 minute level which again is very simple and really not as cool as you may hope.

I spent less than a day completing the single player and some of the other average extras like stunt course and circuit races. Ok so i had a day of nothing but playing this game but it is still unbelievably short, especially when you like the idea of driving a MINI like on the film.

So I will be trading the Italian Job soon but it is still a fun game if you like quick arcade racers with a little twist but personally, I think I will continue my search for the perfect game, no doubt I will have to wait for HALO 2!!!

the game is very simple in execution, and for a quick adrenaline rush of speeding through traffic its fun, but i've seen it better done in a fair few more games, and the stunt/trick system is much better implemented in those..

The first half of the game is VERY repetitive, drive to this place, and that's it.. adding insult to injury you will find yourself going on the same roads all the time.. things to get fairly interesting in the 2nd half, when you are doing the heist, though you don't actually feel like you doing a heist at all, merely the 'missions' take on more variety and urgency.. to even compare elements of this game to GTA or Getaway would be insane...

for 2-3 hrs this game is pleasant enough and fun.. but the thought of actually owning this game and playing it again and again fills me immense sadness, because there's nothing beyond those primary thrills...

Rent and you shan't be dissapointed, purchase and it is you who has been conned.