The Great Escape for the Playstation2 is based on an old movie of the same name starring Steve McQueen. In the game you follow the role of Hilts, a P.O.W. in a Nazi prison camp. Along with the other prisoners you plan an escape. The game follows the movie plot almost exactly, giving the players missions that the movie didn’t show.

Most of The Great Escape revolves around stealth, yet there are times that call for all-out action. You are even able to control vehicles and mounted weaponry. While this sounds all good and fun, it’s actually much less exciting than you might think. The only reason for this is that the controls are a bit clunky, leaving the action fairly slow-paced. The excitement of a lot of the action scenes is impaired by slow down as well. For example, in the beginning of the game, your plane is being shot down by enemy planes, so you must man the mounted machine gun and shoot them down. In games like Battlefield 1942 or Medal Of Honor shooting down planes with a machine gun is exciting, but for some reason there was no magic in The Great Escape. It felt more like a shooting gallery than a WWII dogfight.

The stealth parts of the game are iffy at times, too. It’s hard to gauge how well you’re hidden most of the time, and while guards will sometimes spot you from long distances, other times they can’t even see you standing right next to them. It can also be difficult to navigate with the odd camera angles, making avoiding enemies a frustrating task. Another thing I noticed was that enemy fire doesn’t affect other enemies. During a firefight I positioned a guard between me and another guard firing at me. The shots were hitting the guard, but doing no damage whatsoever. That’s just a small detail, but small details are what make a game environment believable and involving.

The graphics in The Great Escape are both good and bad. While the characters are bland, unrealistic, and blocky, the environments are detailed and fairly realistic. Character animations are reminiscent of the old Resident Evils, yet not nearly as bad. The character models resemble their movie counterparts to a certain extent, but the faces could use more detailed textures. Characters’ joints could use some smoothing out as well.

Between missions, the story is fleshed out through cut scenes using the in-game engine. Characters keep you up to date on the current events and let you know what you need to do next…even though each mission isn’t much different than the last. The voice acting is done well, except for the fact that it sounds as if it’s coming from a tape recorder rather than the speaker’s mouth. During play the game takes advantage of Dolby surroundsound. In a game based on espionage a surroundsound feature is very nice. You can hear when an enemy is coming from behind, the sides, or head on.

In the end, I think fans of the movie will enjoy The Great Escape the most. Someone expecting a deep stealth game or a fast-paced action game will end up disappointed. It may be the controls or it may be the graphics, but The Great Escape doesn’t capture the intensity of a prison camp escape. The action segments aren’t that exciting and the stealth missions are either too easy or too hard. Overall it’s a decent game, but someone who finds nostalgia in it would enjoy The Great Escape more. Otherwise, wait for Metal Gear Solid 3.

Gameplay: 5.5
The camera and controls make playing The Great Escape a bit of a chore, but anyone can get used to it. The biggest point of the game is to use stealth moves to avoid enemy detection, which seems to be a popular thing these days. There’s nothing wrong with that when done correctly, and The Great Escape comes close.  

Graphics: 6 
While the character models are not very impressive, the backgrounds and environments are well done. Textures on clothes and skin are plain, but textures for building and tanks are detailed and complex. The graphics lay in sort of a limbo between the human figures and background environments.

Sound: 7
Sound effects and voice acting were done well in The Great Escape. The soundtrack fits the overall feel of the game. During certain missions the music will change to fit the mood and the action going on.

Difficulty: Medium
Most of the missions are straightforward, and some are very easy. At the same time the bad controls, cameras, and AI can make for hard levels too. Once you learn to use the controls and camera angles to your advantage, the game evens out and it becomes less difficult.

Concept: 7.8 
With many stealth and espionage games on the market, it was a good idea to base one in an older time period. It was an even better idea to base it on The Great Escape. The Great Escape is an old movie so many gamers won’t recognize the parallels, but people that have seen it will appreciate how well it portrays the movie.

Multiplayer: N/A

Overall: 5.8
The Great Escape set itself up for a great stealth game, but falls short. It’s not a bad game, but there are better titles in the genre. Control was my biggest issue throughout the game. If the interface was fine tuned a bit and made a little easier to use, The Great Escape could have been a blast to play. Also aside from framerate issues The Great Escape is a fun way to revisit the old movie, just don’t expect it to live up to other games of the genre like Metal Gear Solid or Medal Of Honor.