Thursday 5 October 2006
Tony Montana's meteoric rise from down-and-out Cuban refugee to the lord of Miami's criminal underworld is the stuff of movie legend. Scarface has become synonymous with sleazy '80s pop culture and there are more games, films and songs inspired by it than there are stars in the sky. Kind of.
But how do you make a game based on a downbeat crime drama appeal to the drooling masses without turning it into a gaudy shoot-'em-up with car modding and tit shots?
Well, after playing its ass off, developer Radical has achieved this by making a compromise - it's retained the mood and atmosphere of the movie to keep fans happy but the game itself is made up of familiar GTA-flavoured parts that'll broaden its appeal and, ultimately, the smile on Johnny Casual's face. And it works.
The game takes place immediately after the movie, creating an alternate timeline in which Montana doesn't die - instead, he loses his money and assets to the police and goes into hiding, emerging three years later to take back the city.
His first goal? To get his mansion back from a pair of corrupt DEA agents who are shamelessly based on Miami Vice's Crockett and Tubbs. They want a hundred grand, so Tony has to do some small-time drug-dealing before he can re-establish his base of operations.
