Scarface
Posted September 11, 2007
A staple of rooms on MTV Cribs, the Scarface poster has been on PS2 and Xbox consoles for a while, but Sierra decided that it's surprisingly entertaining expanded world of Tony Montana would be a good fit for the Wii console. For those who haven't had a chance to play this intriguing little title on one of its other platforms, and are looking for a fix to an open ended world with some great story driven gameplay should take a gander at Scarface.
Scarface puts you in control of Tony Montana, Cuban drug czar who went out in a blaze of glory from the confines of his own mansion. The game picks up right before that massive firefight and you have to not only blow the living crap out of everyone in your way, but also get out of the destroyed building in one piece. Luckily enough for you, the entire world didn't turn on you allowing one friend to warn you that the cops are on the way and you need to bust a move for a safe location. With this tip, you take control of Tony and start building his regime once again from the ground up as the game progresses.
You'll find yourself with a wide open city for you to explore, exploit and corrupt sometimes at the same time. In order to get the lifestyle that Tony M. is used to you'll need to start somewhere right? When the world opens up to you, you soon learn that you can hire vehicles and henchmen to aid you in your quest for underworld domination. Sure your options are very limited early on seeing as your stash of drugs and cash is very minimal, but using these hired vehicles does have advantages over simply jacking rides from the city's inhabitants. The damage rate that the hired cars have is much slower than jacked cars, not to mention when you hire a car it comes with a henchman who can either just leave the car with you, or ride along and perform some assistance while you're trying to build back your empire. In keeping theme with being able to hire rides and essentially what are enemy distractions with your henchmen, you also earn the right to buy property throughout the game as your wealth increases. By obtaining property, you earn rewards for each house, such as better value for your drug deals and also the right to use the land as a safe haven. But stock up too many drugs in one location and the laws of supply and demand take over, meaning the sale price in that region drops making it worthwhile to trek across town to another location.
The basics of the title haven't changed at all from the other versions of this already well received title, the story is still quite engaging for a sandbox title, the voice acting is top notch, especially the actor hire to handle the lines that Pacino didn't deliver here. The biggest flaw I have with the presentation of the title is the overuse of profanity. I'm not one to shy away from violence or foul language in any form of media, but there is a fine line between offensive for setting tone and ridiculoud. Sadly, Scarface enters ridiculous territory quite quickly thanks to the massive amount of profanity which litters the otherwise excellent voice acting.
Even graphically this title is on par with the other versions released on the PS2 and Xbox, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. I didn't play the other two versions, but assume that there were no graphical enhancements to the Wii version of the game.
The Wii specific enhancements however were quite noticeable. Immediately the controls in this title take center stage and they shine quite brightly in an already good title. Controlling Tony in done with the analog stick on the nunchuk, while aiming is done via point-n-shoot with the Wii Remote. Different levels of sensitivity for moving the aiming reticule exist so it might take a few firefights to find the control that you prefer. After the first couple firefights you'll soon be picking off opponents with ease and even aiming for the unique kills to help build your Balls meter that much quicker. Yes, the Balls meter is back in full effect and is tastefully initiated by shaking your nunchuck once you've built enough Balls to warrant the mode. I did find that the meter was quite easy to fill up on the Wii simply because the level of control I had when shooting allowed for some nice kill combinations and a lot of headshots. As in the other versions of the game, when you activate Blind Rage mode with each kill you rack up your health meter builds slightly, which is a blessing during some of the more massive firefights that you and Tony will undertake.
Even while driving the aiming system still utilizes the Wii Remote to aim your gun, and while not much different from using dual analog thumbsticks on other consoles, the level of control that this game makes you feel really stands out. I've yet to try out Resident Evil 4 on the Wii, but from what I've heard those controls are spot on; and if they improve on the controls I thought were excellent in Scarface, then I'll be mighty impressed when the time comes for RE4.
For those who avoided the title the first time it was released and are itching for a wide open world to explore on their Wii, then I really have no problem recommending Scarface as a fix. The excessive profanity and heavy violence quotient is likely to make a large portion of gamers turn away, but really those people aren’t using their Wii for games of this type anyway. Recommended.
Scarface puts you in control of Tony Montana, Cuban drug czar who went out in a blaze of glory from the confines of his own mansion. The game picks up right before that massive firefight and you have to not only blow the living crap out of everyone in your way, but also get out of the destroyed building in one piece. Luckily enough for you, the entire world didn't turn on you allowing one friend to warn you that the cops are on the way and you need to bust a move for a safe location. With this tip, you take control of Tony and start building his regime once again from the ground up as the game progresses.
You'll find yourself with a wide open city for you to explore, exploit and corrupt sometimes at the same time. In order to get the lifestyle that Tony M. is used to you'll need to start somewhere right? When the world opens up to you, you soon learn that you can hire vehicles and henchmen to aid you in your quest for underworld domination. Sure your options are very limited early on seeing as your stash of drugs and cash is very minimal, but using these hired vehicles does have advantages over simply jacking rides from the city's inhabitants. The damage rate that the hired cars have is much slower than jacked cars, not to mention when you hire a car it comes with a henchman who can either just leave the car with you, or ride along and perform some assistance while you're trying to build back your empire. In keeping theme with being able to hire rides and essentially what are enemy distractions with your henchmen, you also earn the right to buy property throughout the game as your wealth increases. By obtaining property, you earn rewards for each house, such as better value for your drug deals and also the right to use the land as a safe haven. But stock up too many drugs in one location and the laws of supply and demand take over, meaning the sale price in that region drops making it worthwhile to trek across town to another location.
The basics of the title haven't changed at all from the other versions of this already well received title, the story is still quite engaging for a sandbox title, the voice acting is top notch, especially the actor hire to handle the lines that Pacino didn't deliver here. The biggest flaw I have with the presentation of the title is the overuse of profanity. I'm not one to shy away from violence or foul language in any form of media, but there is a fine line between offensive for setting tone and ridiculoud. Sadly, Scarface enters ridiculous territory quite quickly thanks to the massive amount of profanity which litters the otherwise excellent voice acting.
Even graphically this title is on par with the other versions released on the PS2 and Xbox, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. I didn't play the other two versions, but assume that there were no graphical enhancements to the Wii version of the game.
The Wii specific enhancements however were quite noticeable. Immediately the controls in this title take center stage and they shine quite brightly in an already good title. Controlling Tony in done with the analog stick on the nunchuk, while aiming is done via point-n-shoot with the Wii Remote. Different levels of sensitivity for moving the aiming reticule exist so it might take a few firefights to find the control that you prefer. After the first couple firefights you'll soon be picking off opponents with ease and even aiming for the unique kills to help build your Balls meter that much quicker. Yes, the Balls meter is back in full effect and is tastefully initiated by shaking your nunchuck once you've built enough Balls to warrant the mode. I did find that the meter was quite easy to fill up on the Wii simply because the level of control I had when shooting allowed for some nice kill combinations and a lot of headshots. As in the other versions of the game, when you activate Blind Rage mode with each kill you rack up your health meter builds slightly, which is a blessing during some of the more massive firefights that you and Tony will undertake.
Even while driving the aiming system still utilizes the Wii Remote to aim your gun, and while not much different from using dual analog thumbsticks on other consoles, the level of control that this game makes you feel really stands out. I've yet to try out Resident Evil 4 on the Wii, but from what I've heard those controls are spot on; and if they improve on the controls I thought were excellent in Scarface, then I'll be mighty impressed when the time comes for RE4.
For those who avoided the title the first time it was released and are itching for a wide open world to explore on their Wii, then I really have no problem recommending Scarface as a fix. The excessive profanity and heavy violence quotient is likely to make a large portion of gamers turn away, but really those people aren’t using their Wii for games of this type anyway. Recommended.