I can remember as a kid reading those “What if” comic books. What if Superman had landed in Russia? What if Bruce Wayne’s parents had lived? What if Spider-man was apart of the Fantastic Four? Etc, etc. Well Sierra has given us a new one. What if Tony Montana had lived?? That’s right… in Scarface: The World is Yours game you get to explore just that. Now for those of you who have not seen the movie, there are spoilers ahead. Scarface is about a Cuban refugee Tony Montana, who comes to Miami in the 1980’s.
In the movie he gets involved with the cocaine business, and ends up being one of the biggest in Miami at the time. Well, when he refuses to kill an outspoken activist against the cocaine industry because he has his wife and two kids with him, he himself becomes the target. In the end he dies in a massive shoot-out in his Miami mansion. It is before this shoot-out that he utters the most famous line in all of movie history, “SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND.” It is at this point in the movie that the game takes over.
Grand Theft Auto copied Scarface. Yes, I said it and I know a lot of you will deny it, but it’s true. So it’s only fair that the Scarface game copies GTA. The really cool thing is that Scarface took away all the good things of GTA and then improved on them. From driving, to shooting, to walking around, you will notice the controls of each are tighter than San Andreas. If you played the Godfather game, which is another excellent Al Pacino movie, you will feel right at home with the gunplay. After locking on to someone or something, you can then move the right analog stick around for precision aiming.
If you want to shoot someone in the groin, leg, arm, or head you have the freedom to do so. The really cool thing is, you will actually get points for it. This game has what’s called the “Balls meter.” Whenever you shoot someone, taunt them, or just do something really ballsy, you get points that fill up your meter. When it is full you can unleash Tony’s rage. When in Rage mode, time slows down, and the camera switches to first person, you then are invincible for a short amount of time and can go around killing with glee.
This game is not just about killing though, oh no. You can buy and sell drugs in it as well. That’s right all you people who dreamed of one day becoming the drug lord of Miami can now do so. By following up on leads that your contact Felix gives you, you can complete various missions to score suppliers.
Unfortunately, a lot of these missions get repetitive and boring later on. Another great addition to the GTA formula is the “F-U button”. Whenever you kill someone, or just don’t like them because they are ugly you can hit your taunt button, and Tony will unleash his wicked tongue on them. The fact that this game comes equipped with this button shows just how far the developers went for authenticity. The f-word was used 213 times in the Scarface movie. Which I believe is still the record today.
The graphics in this game are passable. I mean it is not Saints Row, but you still get the feel of being in Miami. Kind of in the same way you did when you played Vice City. The Tony Montana character model is awesome due to the fact that Mr. Pacino allowed the developers to use his likeness. Unfortunately, he was not able to voice the character because he explained that in his older years his voice has become to scruffy to produce that Cuban accent that was needed for Tony. He did however, aid the developers in finding a replacement, and I gotta say they came pretty close with this guy.
In closing, Scarface is not with out it’s share of problems. You will notice some graphical glitches. The game froze up on me more than once when the action was really going. If you can get past these issues you will find Scarface a good game. I, for one, enjoyed the movie, and always wondered what it would have been like if Tony had survived that gun fight at the end of the movie. From the shoot-out at the beginning of the game to final confrontation with Sosa, this game does not disappoint on action. You may find the side missions some what boring, but selling cocaine and cussing out random people has never been more fun.
