Scarface The World Is Yours
Posted November 27, 2006
When the Grand Theft Auto series came out with the PS2 still in its infancy, it became apparent that it would only be a matter of time before the big gaming studios would secure the rights to some of our most beloved gangster movies. The people at Sierra decided to finally take this style of gameplay and apply it to an actual movie franchise. The result is one of the simultaneously most loved and hated films of all time in video game form, Scarface.
Gameplay:
Just from the opening credit sequence you realize immediately that you're in for a real treat. There are many of the memorable scenes and quotes from the movie played back to the tune of some adrenaline pumping sounds from the band Ministry. This opening sequence goes on for quite a while due to the fact that there are a whole lot of names to drop for their contributions to this game.
Upon starting the actual game you are given the option of jumping right into the action or you can choose to go through a tutorial that will familiarize you with the controls you'll need to perform combat, as well as what the on screen icons represent. The controls in Scarface are blissfully simple. One thing that's unique about Scarface is the "Balls Meter", when Tony Montana is gunning down his enemies you can press the B button after a kill and Tony will taunt them, which will build your balls meter. Once your balls meter is full you can hold down the "B" button and Tony will go into "Blind Rage" mode where all on screen enemies are automatically targeted. Tony will let the obscenities flow freely during blind rage mode and for every person you kill health will be gained. This is one of the coolest additions I've seen to a game in a long time.
Now onto the opening game sequence, you are thrown directly into the height of Tony Montana's downfall. The baddies are infiltrating your mansion and Tony is ready to introduce them to his "little friend". Almost immediately after this happens you take the controls and it's up to you to escape the mansion. You must kill everything in your path in order to survive and there are bad guys around literally every corner. Once you make it out of the mansion your fight still isn't over as one of the few cronies you have left tells you the cops are on their way. You need to make it to your car before they get there. The bad guys are all over the compound and you have to mow through at least another hundred or so on your way to your car. Just as you are getting close the cops show up and take out all of the remaining enemies allowing you to sneak away in your car undetected. After all this you are greeted with a screen showing you all you have lost. Tony Montana is stuck right back where he started with almost nothing to his name. It is your mission to regain all that Tony has lost and this will be no easy task.
This is where the scope of the game really comes into play. I won't go into detail on the missions that you will have to complete in order to regain Tony's empire but I will say that this world is HUGE. You will go from selling drugs to owning front businesses and hiring drivers and henchman to do your dirty work. Not only to you employ drivers and henchman but you can also complete missions as these characters. Not only can you choose to complete tons of missions as Tony but also a very significant number of missions as minor characters as well. Sierra Games has really taken their time to ensure that this game would keep you occupied for quite some time. I have easily put 20-30 hours into Scarface by now and there are still many missions for me to do. I have spent quite a bit of time just screwing around in this world finding people to complete conversations with which is something you can do in the game. There are certain people who will engage in conversation with you and you can then respond to the things they say. There are gambling machines in the game with slots and video poker to be played with which you can make or lose money. You can fast talk cops and intimidate people, sell drugs and assassinate drug lords. This world is vast and very well executed. As I've said before the controls are perfect. This game from top to bottom is a pleasure to play.
Graphics:
Scarface is one of the last few Xbox titles being produced and while it screams to be released on the 360 the graphics are very nicely done on the Xbox. As I've said before the world is vast with interactive buildings and NPCs everywhere it's amazing to me that all of this could be done so seamlessly on this hardware. Not that I didn't think a game of this magnitude could be pulled off on the Xbox, but to be done so well is truly remarkable. There is blockiness present and the graphics aren't anything jaw dropping but it does look very nice. This is really more than I would expect for a title coming out on a system Microsoft is content with killing off.
Audio:
In a word "AWESOME" The soundtrack to Scarface Is unbelievable. The voice acting is excellent. The guns sound great, the cars sound great, all of the characters talking around you sound great. The real feat here is in the voice acting they got for Tony Montana. He has literally an entire new movie worth of dialogue, and it's all very convincingly done. As has become a standard with these types of games the music is very well done and there is a great mix of music from the style of the 70's all the way to the sounds of today. All in all this games soundtrack is truly awesome.
Conclusion:
So long as you still have an original Xbox this game is a must own. Unfortunately Scarface is not currently backward compatible with the Xbox 360. Hopefully something will be done about that shortly. If you loved the movie Scarface then this game will not disappoint. I have to admit that I was very skeptical upon starting up this title but it was apparent to me within moments after the Sierra logo flashed on the screen that this title would not disappoint. Scarface is highly recommended.
Gameplay:
Just from the opening credit sequence you realize immediately that you're in for a real treat. There are many of the memorable scenes and quotes from the movie played back to the tune of some adrenaline pumping sounds from the band Ministry. This opening sequence goes on for quite a while due to the fact that there are a whole lot of names to drop for their contributions to this game.
Upon starting the actual game you are given the option of jumping right into the action or you can choose to go through a tutorial that will familiarize you with the controls you'll need to perform combat, as well as what the on screen icons represent. The controls in Scarface are blissfully simple. One thing that's unique about Scarface is the "Balls Meter", when Tony Montana is gunning down his enemies you can press the B button after a kill and Tony will taunt them, which will build your balls meter. Once your balls meter is full you can hold down the "B" button and Tony will go into "Blind Rage" mode where all on screen enemies are automatically targeted. Tony will let the obscenities flow freely during blind rage mode and for every person you kill health will be gained. This is one of the coolest additions I've seen to a game in a long time.
Now onto the opening game sequence, you are thrown directly into the height of Tony Montana's downfall. The baddies are infiltrating your mansion and Tony is ready to introduce them to his "little friend". Almost immediately after this happens you take the controls and it's up to you to escape the mansion. You must kill everything in your path in order to survive and there are bad guys around literally every corner. Once you make it out of the mansion your fight still isn't over as one of the few cronies you have left tells you the cops are on their way. You need to make it to your car before they get there. The bad guys are all over the compound and you have to mow through at least another hundred or so on your way to your car. Just as you are getting close the cops show up and take out all of the remaining enemies allowing you to sneak away in your car undetected. After all this you are greeted with a screen showing you all you have lost. Tony Montana is stuck right back where he started with almost nothing to his name. It is your mission to regain all that Tony has lost and this will be no easy task.
This is where the scope of the game really comes into play. I won't go into detail on the missions that you will have to complete in order to regain Tony's empire but I will say that this world is HUGE. You will go from selling drugs to owning front businesses and hiring drivers and henchman to do your dirty work. Not only to you employ drivers and henchman but you can also complete missions as these characters. Not only can you choose to complete tons of missions as Tony but also a very significant number of missions as minor characters as well. Sierra Games has really taken their time to ensure that this game would keep you occupied for quite some time. I have easily put 20-30 hours into Scarface by now and there are still many missions for me to do. I have spent quite a bit of time just screwing around in this world finding people to complete conversations with which is something you can do in the game. There are certain people who will engage in conversation with you and you can then respond to the things they say. There are gambling machines in the game with slots and video poker to be played with which you can make or lose money. You can fast talk cops and intimidate people, sell drugs and assassinate drug lords. This world is vast and very well executed. As I've said before the controls are perfect. This game from top to bottom is a pleasure to play.
Graphics:
Scarface is one of the last few Xbox titles being produced and while it screams to be released on the 360 the graphics are very nicely done on the Xbox. As I've said before the world is vast with interactive buildings and NPCs everywhere it's amazing to me that all of this could be done so seamlessly on this hardware. Not that I didn't think a game of this magnitude could be pulled off on the Xbox, but to be done so well is truly remarkable. There is blockiness present and the graphics aren't anything jaw dropping but it does look very nice. This is really more than I would expect for a title coming out on a system Microsoft is content with killing off.
Audio:
In a word "AWESOME" The soundtrack to Scarface Is unbelievable. The voice acting is excellent. The guns sound great, the cars sound great, all of the characters talking around you sound great. The real feat here is in the voice acting they got for Tony Montana. He has literally an entire new movie worth of dialogue, and it's all very convincingly done. As has become a standard with these types of games the music is very well done and there is a great mix of music from the style of the 70's all the way to the sounds of today. All in all this games soundtrack is truly awesome.
Conclusion:
So long as you still have an original Xbox this game is a must own. Unfortunately Scarface is not currently backward compatible with the Xbox 360. Hopefully something will be done about that shortly. If you loved the movie Scarface then this game will not disappoint. I have to admit that I was very skeptical upon starting up this title but it was apparent to me within moments after the Sierra logo flashed on the screen that this title would not disappoint. Scarface is highly recommended.