Scarface

Scarface is considered to be a cult movie, a reference point in American cinematography and one of the best creations of Oliver Stone. There are some readers and gamers implicitly that have only heard of Scarface and some not even that; therefore, I'm forced to do a little history lesson so anyone can understand why this movie is one of the best gangster films ever made.

This reiteration of the 1980's cocaine boom, especially in Florida and Miami, due to the proximity of Cuba, has Al Pacino playing the main character, Tony Montana, a refugee that landed on US soil during the infamous "Mariel boatlift". Castro took this opportunity to get rid of a lot of undesirable individuals for the Cuban society like homosexuals, criminals and mental patients. Needless to say that he fitted right in the American drug cartel in Miami where he would start his bloody ascent in the organization. He finally makes it but he pisses off a more influential figure of the crime syndicate, which added to his fantastic arrogance, transformed him from a deadly assassin and drug lord into a simple dead Cuban.

The movie itself has been intensely criticized and it took some time to get an approval for an R rating in the states. Even so, Scarface didn't make a great deal of impact at that time but he emerged in the late years as a cinematographic masterpiece. A game based on this franchise was bound to surface sooner or later.

Concept

I've read quite a few commentaries on this title and the first thing that stroke me (again) was the inability of most gamers to let go of past stereotypes. Every time we see a game surfacing, thousands of voices rise to say it's just a clone and they are tired of playing the same thing all over again. Most of them will then start the game that is the "original", doing exactly what they were complaining about- playing all over again.

After playing a considerable amount of it, I can safely say that is not a clone even if it uses some of the gameplay principles that we have seen before in GTA, Mafia and a lot of others titles. Simply because someone used a concept first, it doesn't necessarily mean that everything past that point is simply a clone with nothing to offer. Furthermore, I consider Scarface to have succeeded where his main competitor, GTA (with all titles), has failed. Most of you will say that I'm full of, but I'm sure that given enough time, this title could be placed in the front of this genre, at least until the next GTA arrives.

Comparing it with GTA, although wrong, will give anyone an idea of what to expect from such a game. The principles found in this kind of games will be repeated in Scarface, but better in most cases. Don't get me wrong, the game has a lot of flaws but the good things are so numerous that you'll be shoving them aside in no time. Scarface is more than a look-alike because it has incorporated most of the good attributes of former games and introduced some new ones without having to reinvent the wheel.

Radical made even a very perilous step ahead of GTA series with the use of real street language, taking the movie resemblance to the extreme. I don't think I have ever heard cursing like this in a PC game. They must have known they were going to get an "R" rating so Vivendi pushed that extra mile without caring about consequences and lawsuits. Unlike Tony Montana, that has the balls to say the infamous "f" word whenever he pleases, mine are cut off right from the source by the political correctness and self censorship. This review would have deserved to be written in the same language used by an angry ex-Cuban assassin, but some things just can't be done without the right amount of balls, as we'll discover later in the game.

Story

Tony Montana dies in the end of Scarface, the movie, but it's not uncommon for money hungry managers and screenwriters to resurrect anyone from the dead. There is always a solution to provide for continuity in what appears to be a dead end and for those who remember, Tony is whacked from behind with a double barreled shotgun. The game resumes his life before that moment, just in time for you to turn around and show that traitor what the real meaning of the "f" word is.

Anyway, this is the turning point in the original story that allows the action to go on and Tony to escape from a burning mansion. He is forced to retreat in something that looks like the Everglades swamps and after laying low for some time, he resurfaces with the same drive and ruthlessness that we've known him for. The main goal of the player is to take back his empire, which was divided by his enemies, using any means necessary, even if this includes maiming, torture, murder, robberies and a foul language (making this game one of the favorites amongst judges).

Gameplay

As I've said before, the gameplay is somewhat similar to what we're already used on seeing in shoot-while-looking-cool-in-a-car genre but the story has the biggest influence. Unlike other similar titles where the story is used as an excuse for gameplay, Scarface presents the exact opposite of this trend. I actually found myself curious about what's really happening behind Tony's back and couldn't wait to see how the events will shape the gameplay. I wasn't interested in acquiring territories and estates, front or exotics (although I enjoyed buying cars and some other items); I only used them to get the story to unfold.

I might be praising the game a little too much, giving it a lot of credit but it has its share of flaws. The biggest is represented by the cancer that's eating the PC industry: console porting. The development of games for consoles is a lot easier than the PC development; therefore, a lot of titles are made in this way and then ported. There are two disadvantages in this maneuver: the controls system which requires the transition from the gamepad to mouse and keyboard and the graphics. Apparently, the first part is the most difficult one. The control system is designed so that every three year old kid that picks up this "R" rated title can play and on top of that, it's not even working properly because the mouse movement axes are not moving at the same speed, making the quick horizontal turn of a character an unnecessary hustle especially when using the rage ability.

I feel like I'm going too fast, so I'll break it down. The gameplay is divided into three main directions that are intertwined. The first one consists of the story missions and there's no mystery here. The second one is made of side missions that are used for gaining money and which are represented by drug related deals and extend from finding a supplier to actually selling it on the street. The third one is the turf wars, as I like to call it. The city is divided in several parts, each one being controlled by a local boss (isn't this a lovely clich??). Your job is to slowly gain control over several important "legal" fronts in each territory that will eventually lead to a massive shutout and public executions. The third one is about story related missions that can be put aside most of the time. They present the most challenging missions and will make you repeat some of those freshly learned expressions.

The most interesting feature I found in Scarface is the driver. Among other things, you can hire hoodlums for the fronts protection and some special ones (that can be even controlled in missions that are too low for Montana's self-esteem) like the assassin, for example. The most useful and the only one I used, with very few exceptions, is the driver. Unlike similar games, where any car is a potential property, in here, you are Tony Montana and he wants only the best. Surely you can steal any car from the street, but it would be just that: "any car". Tony buys custom made cars and stores them on the private property and Tony wants his cars brought to him. Everyone is happy and nobody has to die because Tony is pissed that he had to walk all over to the garage. This simple feature will travel great lengths in making the game a lot less frustrating when you can't find a fast car or a solid one. These cars also have a lot more armor and a truck full of weapons just in case you have to waste all 400 bullets in a single mission.

In any case, I'm sure anyone will find this game quite accessible because Cubans are naturally tough guys, making the character Tony Montana immune to lead poisoning. The reason of this extraordinary strength is based on the console heritage because no matter how proficient you can be with a gamepad, the sheer number of enemies is simply too large. This also eliminated the need for armor and other attributes. I certainly hope you won't search accurate physics and real life gun confrontations as Scarface is not for the Rainbow Six fans.

Graphics

I knew right from the very first screenshots that I'm dealing with a porting, so I didn't raise my hopes too high in thinking that it's going to have something to say in this department and it actually doesn't. Surprisingly, it is not as bad as the GTA series (yes, I've said it, two fingered people!) and unlike other titles, I found that high textures and console titles do work together. This is not the sleeping beauty of the engines realm but it does its job a lot better than I have expected. The textures are nice and sharp, the antialising shows its effect (and power draining) and the overall feeling is that of a well developed game. The two fingered people aren't absent as I would have hoped but the shooting angle of the scenes is well placed so this is not an inconvenient.

I was also surprised to see that the car physics is a lot more obvious and that it really matters. I wish that would have done the same with ragdoll which is completely absent. All the characters and enemies in general are governed by some scripted death scenes (because they all end up dead eventually) and some random body maiming. Either way, I found extremely gratifying (I wonder what Freud might have to say about this one) the quick executions that can be performed when an enemy gets way to close. They might not be as pretty with the present engine but escorted by the voice of Tony, they are something of a sight.

For a first attempt on this genre from Radical and keeping in mind that the competition has 3 games ahead start (I'm not counting the 2D versions of the GTA) I have to say that I'm pretty damn impressed by the work they've put in.

Sound

The voice of Al Pacino will get anyone's hair up especially while commenting on the lack of balls or family relations with their respective mothers of certain enemies, but in Scarface the game, this will not be the case. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the original voice of Tony most probably because they couldn't afford it. I'm not blaming anyone and I do commend them for convincing Al Pacino to pick the most appropriate voice, although it might have come with the franchise's territory.

This is one of the best acting I've seen in years and I'm not just saying that just because I've been bought by the Cubans. The level of the interpretation is like the actor's life was depending on this role. He is so convincing sometimes, that I was forced to reevaluate my moral system a few times just because my present one isn't cool enough. I was glad to see that they couldn't give a rat's a** about the rating system. With all the in-game slaughtering, they were bound to get an R rating, so if you don't know any good swears until this age, you're bound to pick one or two in the first ten minutes of the game. The character is extremely well contoured not only by the in-game cut scenes but also by the common language he can use on the street with anyone he meets. You can hit on gorgeous women, either young of old, talk with hookers, pimps, lawyers, Scottish drug addicts and practically any other fine citizen you might stumble across. The dialogs have such a variety that in the first 20 hours of gameplay you'll seldom hear the same line twice and the music will take you right in the middle of the 80's.

Multiplayer

There can be only one Tony Montana in this world, pretty much like there is one Chuck Norris.

Conclusion

From now on - even if I should have done this a long time ago - I will try not to have expectations from certain games because they don't usually live up to these expectations and it's not because any fault of their own. I wasn't a big fan of GTA even if I've played all the versions and I wasn't too enthused by the prospect of a similar one (I hate the word clone). This game kicked me in the ? right place and for the first time in my life (after an injury like that), I felt good. I loved playing Scarface and I will make it a juror in the next GTA trial.

WARNING: The screenshots contain graphical violence and foul language.