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.
