Product Description

The Great Escape video game is based on the 1963 Oscar-nominated film staring Steve McQueen and revolves around actual events during World War II. The game is set in a number of unique locations, from POW camps to a mountain-top castle. Game levels include a busy hospital, a chase through a moving train and escape from an active Luftwaffe airfield.

The core of the game centres on the largest mass breakout ever, from the "escape proof" Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp. The game uses the powerful storyline and strong characters from the film to place the player in the heart of the action, as the prisoners of war resist the German war machine. It uses a combination of stealth, combat and frantic action involving multiple vehicles and an awesome motorbike-based finale.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10143 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Eidos
• Released on: 2003-08-29
• Platform: Xbox

Computer and Video Games Magazine
"A flawed but entertaining action adventure. Varied for a movie license, and packs a hearty challenge."

Customer Reviews

The great Escape
First let me say what The Great Escape isn't, it isn't the best stealth game on the market, nor is it the best war game, however it must rate fairly high, if not top on the list of games which tie in with movies.

As a fan of that great board game 'Escape From Colditz', I have always wanted to see a game like this, so as soon as the game started and that familiar tune began to play, I was hooked. Yes the character motion and control isn't all that it should be, but the environment's help to make up for this by being rich, varied and very atmospheric. The game action itself is particularly varied switching from stealth action to shoot and survive action or combinations of the two. Putting you in control and interacting with many of the familiar characters from the film as they journey from bomber formations high over Germany, through various prison camps, through towns and countryside, on wheels, on foot on trains, across roof tops on yes on that motorbike! In doing so it recreates many a favourite scene from the film, with cut film dialogue and well presented story building graphic sequences.

On the whole, playing the game in medium and hard difficulty (I never bother with easy), the missions offer a variety of challenges, some fairly easy, some fairly demanding and others which are "oh my God is that the time" hard. For example getting Blythe off the train seemed a good deal more demanding than just giving him a good nudge, try it you'll see what I mean. These missions follow the movie plot in a pleasing yet far from slavish way, adding mini plots that expand on the background biography of the characters in the film.

So if your looking for a game with a bit of everything then look no further this is your puppy. It features stealth, sniper and gun fight action, puzzles, getaways on foot and on wheel, air combat and what's more you get to be and interact with many of the great characters from the film.

I suppose taken all in all, it is a little disappointing that the stealth and character control elements weren't tightened up before the game was released, though to be fair the clunky handling of the character only really irritated me when I was under pressure in the game. At these points my language was possibly more 'Reservoir Dogs' than 'Great Escape'.

If I had to rate the game I suppose it would have to be only a modest 6 or 7 out of 10, however as someone, who in the game playing stakes, might be said to be approaching wrinklytude, that may not count for a lot. Nevertheless if you are a fan of the movie or this type of genre and I am, then it's definitely worth buying as you'll probably forgive some of it's failings.

If you do buy it, one thing I can guarantee is that you won't care if the film as been repeated more times that a Sunday lunch after eight pints of larger, you'll still want to see it again!

tHE GREAT ESCAPE
From the outset this appears to be a game of poor graphics, but as you progress through the levels the intensity of the game hits you, with the feeling of "just one more go!" I have found it very addictive if you look past the initial graphics let down.

Absolutely Pathetic!
It is rare that a video game based on a film does justice to the film, and there is no exception with The Great Escape. I expected from this game sophisticated stealth, heart-pounding action and a captivating storyline. However, the reality is that this game is repetitive, tedious and no fun at all. The missions are simplistic with no interesting twists or objectives. The sort of objectives inlclude 'fetch me a soldier's identification papers', which can add a nice variation to some games (rather than just shooting the enemy), but when this is the same sort of thing you have to do again and again, becomes boring. Even when attempting to obtain such items, there are very few stealthy tactics available (such as the impeccable movements available in Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid) so what you basically have to do is run to a hut, open the door, pick up the item and run back.

Concerning the action factor, this game again fails to impress me with a poor arsenal of weaponry, idiotic AI and very little shooting at all. Granted stealth games are often very tense when having to sneak around people instead of shooting them, but i as i have already said, there is little regarding stealth anyway so you really just have to run past them.

Some say that this is an average game because it links in well with the film, however this doesn't make a good game for long. If you like the film so much, watch it, don't bore yourself with this disgraceful game. this game has nothing going for it. it included no revolutionary aspects of gameplay, nor did it live up to any respectable games in the market. My advice: only buy this game if you have played all other games available, because very few will be worse than this. i emplore you, don't waste your money as i did.