Based on the action movie of the same name, The Italian Job mixes movie footage with Vice City / Getaway style racing to give a plotline to your street racing career.

You're a bank robber who, with some friends, pulled off a brilliant heist. Unfortunately one of your friends betrayed you and killed your mentor. Now you and your buddies want revenge, and your mentor's daughter is coming along, too.

In many ways the game is like the racing part of Vice City, or the driving part of The Getaway. Each mission involves you seeing an objective on the map and trying to get to it, without being given specific instructions on what turns to take. You might play the same mission several times, trying different routes until you find one that gets you there under the time limit.

Along the way you get points for stunts and lose points for crashes. Some missions require you to avoid the cops. You unlock various cars for the 'gree roam' level which allows you to drive around LA or Hollywood at your whim.

I really missed the 'story' part of this, because all you ever see are the cars driving places and then the voiceover continuing the story along. I'd much rather have had cut scenes like in Vice City that really help you connect with what is going on. Even having little people getting in and out of the cars would have helped.

There are other modes for fun stunt driving and multiplayer, and driving the minis is great fun. As just a 'racing game' it's fun, but as a story-driven game it isn't very fulfilling.

Buy The Italian Job from Amazon.com