Scarface: The World Is Yours had a lot stacked against it when it was
released. From appearances, it seemed to be a GTA clone, released when the
market was glutted with them. It is a game licensed from a 23 year old movie
which ended with (spoiler) the lead protagonist being mowed down in such a
manner that precluded the possibility of any sequel. Adding to its probable
demise was a scattered critical response, with EGM giving it a 6.5 (Metacritic
76%). Not a good starting point.
As a result of these perceptions
Scarface is one of the most misunderstood games of all time and, sadly,
probably one of the least played masterpieces. Let us start with the GTA-clone
comparison. It’s not a GTA-clone. Yes, GTA III stole most of the soundtrack
from the De Palma film, but that is where the similarities end. Tony Montana,
just as in the movie, cannot kill innocent people. Indeed, if you want, you can
get through the game without killing any police officers, instead you can choose
to outwit them through a conversation mechanic. In Scarface, you do not have to
steal a single car, instead get on your 80’s era cell phone and ask one of your
henchmen to bring one of your cars (which you earn throughout the game as your
reputation rises). NPC’s are detailed and nuanced, in fact you can have
conversations (fully voiced) with any of them at any time. There are no crazy
mini-games involving toy helicopters, or endless fetch quests. To end the
point, I’ll reiterate, Scarface is not a GTA clone.
So what is
Scarface? It’s a fairly intricate action role-playing-game. That’s probably so
shocking to you that I should probably say it again: Scarface is a fairly
intricate action role-playing game. It has more in common with Fable than any
other game that comes to mind.
The game starts just moments before the
end of the film (spoiler) with Tony instead surviving the shotgun blast through
his body. He leaves the mansion, the DEA takes his possessions and rival gang
leaders take his business. He lays low in the backwoods of Florida for several
months, before slowly putting his empire back together. Your character has to
develop in two key areas to progress: reputation and balls. Reputation is
earned by buying fronts for your drug distribution business or by buying
“Exotics” like cars, boats and home furnishings. Balls are earned by mouthing
off and executing your enemies or pulling off big drug deals. As you develop in
these areas a real sense of power within is relayed through your ability to buy
better weapons, boats and fronts. NPC’s also are more respectful in their
interaction with you as your reputation increases.
The gameplay options
are so deep in this game they are difficult to include in a review, but I’ll
give a few brief descriptions. You control your success at drug dealing and
money laundering with a real-time combat mechanism that would be comfortable in
JRPG’s like Grandia or Shadow Hearts. You can opt to play alternate missions as
three distinct forms of henchmen if you want a break from being Tony
Montana. You make your money through multi-step drug acquisition and
distribution runs in which the tension level is raised the deep you go into the
mission. You can decorate your mansion with the exotics you unlock with the
millions made from your empire. Suffice to say, this is a deep game.
The
soundtrack in this game is phenomenal and includes the original soundtrack in
its entirety and several other genres like reggaeton, latin, country, heavy
metal, hard rock and pop. There is enough music that you never get sick of it
and fortunately you can listen to it in or out of your car.
Technically I
can find no fault with the game. The camera is always appropriate, indoors and
out, though you can always seize control. The vehicles and boats are deeply
satisfying in their control with plenty of nuance between the various
models. Combat and weapon aiming is perfect, even while driving it is easy
enough to steer in one direction with the left analog and aim with the
right.
However, some technical flaws provided the only disappointment I
had with the game. The first time I played through it I found a glitch (in my
only save file) that left me stranded on a boat for perpetuity. After a
prolonged distribution run late in the game the Xbox powered itself down just as
I was about to save, and annoyingly, in the only forced sniper mission in the
game the trigger command would not function (at all). It was only after several
resets I figured how I had broken the game.
When I started playing this game,
I had not seen the movie Scarface, but the game was so good that I checked it
out, and I was amazed by how much detail of the film, has been carried over to
the game. Though the game can be enjoyed independent of the film it is a
tremendous complement to the classic, which is an accomplishment in itself.
