The £5m city heist

Cinema may still be the king of the car chase - but the most expensive computer game ever made in Britain is about to steal its crown.

Developed over three years at a cost of £5million, The Getaway is billed as a shoot 'em up that looks and plays like a movie.

It is achieved through a 3D recreation of 21sq miles of London.

Some 300,000 photographs of the city were taken to provide a virtual reality of meticulous detail. 'Nobody has tried to do anything on this scale before,' said The Getaway producer Brendan McNamara.

'It's just London in your face.' Players begin as Mark Hammond, an ex-bank robber battling gangsters who have kidnapped his family.

Mr McNamara, an Australian, admits the story is heavily influenced by British gangster movies. 'We love the Michael Caine character from Get Carter so we based the main character on him.

'The bad guy is inspired by Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday and we robbed ideas from Snatch as well.'

But with plenty of violence and bad language, The Getaway is likely to attract criticism along with an 18 rating on its release, which is set for December 5.