The Italian Job (2003 video game)

The Italian Job (released in Europe and Australia as The Italian Job: L.A. Heist) is a racing video game released in 2003 developed by Climax Brighton and published by Eidos Interactive. The game is based on the 2003 film of the same name. The game features a story mode based on the movie and a multiplayer mode where the player drives Minis through several different circuits in Hollywood and LA. The Windows version was planned, but was cancelled.

The Italian Job
Developer(s)Climax Brighton
Publisher(s)Eidos Interactive
Producer(s)Nicolas Rodriguez
Designer(s)Serkan Hassan
Programmer(s)Balor Knight
Artist(s)Vassos Shiarlis
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube
Release
  • NA: 24 June 2003 (PS2, Xbox)
  • NA: 15 July 2003 (GCN)
  • EU: 12 September 2003
  • AU: 19 September 2003[1][2]
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay edit

The Italian Job is a racing game based on the 2003 film. Players drive vehicles around Hollywood and Los Angeles, earning points for completing small tasks. There are 15 missions in the story mode. Each 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. The game's four other modes include racing around tracks, performing stunts for points, free roam, and time trials.

The game was developed to be in the same game style as the classic PlayStation Driver games because of the limitations they had during development having no licence for the actors of the movie.

Reception edit

The Italian Job received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[3][4][5] Electronic Gaming Monthly's G. Ford was positive; although acknowledging that the game could be finished within a few days and offered nothing original, the easy and responsive controls, "neat stunts", "cool" story, and "impressive" visuals (particularly the cars and environments), made the experience worthwhile.[7] The magazine's Greg S., however, panned the experience as a set of "boring, repetitive, and annoying missions", made worse by a useless radar system.[7]

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."[21]

References edit

  1. ^ "The Italian Job". Atari Australia. Archived from the original on May 11, 2004. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  2. ^ "The Italian Job". Atari Australia. Archived from the original on May 17, 2004. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "The Italian Job for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  4. ^ a b "The Italian Job for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  5. ^ a b "The Italian Job for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  6. ^ Edge staff (October 2003). "The Italian Job". Edge. No. 128. p. 101.
  7. ^ a b c EGM Staff (September 2003). "The Italian Job (Xbox)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 171. p. 121. Archived from the original on 2004-01-01. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  8. ^ "The Italian Job (PS2)". Game Informer. No. 124. August 2003. p. 91.
  9. ^ "The Italian Job (Xbox)". Game Informer. No. 124. August 2003. p. 98.
  10. ^ Helgeson, Matt (August 2003). "The Italian Job (GC)". Game Informer. No. 124. p. 93. Archived from the original on 2003-09-19. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  11. ^ Fennec Fox (2003-07-08). "The Italian Job Review for Xbox on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2005-02-08. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  12. ^ Dodson, Joe (July 2003). "The Italian Job Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  13. ^ Gerstmann, Jeff (2003-06-30). "The Italian Job Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  14. ^ Pavlacka, Adam (2003-07-06). "GameSpy: The Italian Job". GameSpy. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  15. ^ Knutson, Michael (2003-07-27). "The Italian Job - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  16. ^ Watkins, Rob (2003-07-28). "The Italian Job - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-02-05. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  17. ^ Robinson, Jon (2003-06-24). "The Italian Job". IGN. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  18. ^ "The Italian Job". Nintendo Power. Vol. 172. September 2003. p. 137.
  19. ^ Davison, John (September 2003). "The Italian Job (PS2)". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. p. 97. Archived from the original on 2004-05-25. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  20. ^ "The Italian Job". Official Xbox Magazine. September 2003. p. 81.
  21. ^ a b Boyce, Ryan (2003-06-25). "The Italian Job". Maxim. Archived from the original on 2014-03-06. Retrieved 2014-11-29.

External links edit