In the proud tradition of all new years resolutions, I present the triumphant return of Brown Couch - the blog :). (To be followed in about a weeks time by the somewhat less triumphant easing off of aforementioned blog)
So ju focks, listen up - I been playing da fockin game Scarface : The World is yours for the last few fockin' days now (ok, that's enough of the bad Tony Montana impressions for now) and have been absolutely loving it.
(Image from http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/screen/48299/Scarface-The-World-is-Yours/)
I've long been a fan of what are commonly called "Sandpit" games - games where you are given free rein to roam around, drive a range of cars/boats/etc, do side missions, blow stuff up and general indulge the inner criminal. (As well as a curious trend in a lot of games to do a whole bunch of shopping - consumerist training anyone? - though having said that, it is in keeping with the Tony Montana American Dream story).
Rockstar Games have to date been my favourite purveyors of the Sandpit game, with the Grand Theft Auto series as well as Canis Canem Edit (a.k.a Bully).
So yeah, Scarface : The World is yours (or S:TWIY) slots nicely into the Sandpit game genre. In fact, I would probably go so far (though I haven't finished it yet) as to put it on top of the heap.
S:TWIY takes up the story from the end of Brian De Palma's 1983 film Scarface - but where Tony Montana - a Cuban immigrant turned drug lord - dies in the climactic battle in the film, in the game he manages to fight his way out. This sets the scene for his struggle to get back his power, turf, wealth and to take revenge on Sosa, the guy who nearly took him down.
Visually the game is great - sharper than the GTA series and with a pretty good rendering of Tony Montana (played in the film by Al Pacino). It also seems slightly less cartoonish looking than the GTA series. It's probably just faded memory talking but in some ways it reminds me of the feel of the old Driver games. (Though I'm sure if I revisited them, I'd be horrified)
The audio is another high point of this game - a tremendous ingame library of cool 80's music across a range of genres and some pretty talented voice acting as well. The opening credits lists at least a dozen celebrity voices (though I can't say I've noticed them in the game so far) including Al Pacino (though the main voice is a Pacino soundalike), Ricky Gervais, James Woods, Ice T, Cheech & Chong, Elliot Gould, Jason Mewes and Shaft himself, Richard Roundtree.
Audio forms a key part of the gameplay as well - both in earning "balls" from having conversations with random people on the street (which are well written and kept fresh) as well as taunting enemies when you have killed them to work up "Blind Rage".
The story and dialogue have been written by David McKenna, who wrote Blow and American History X, so it's nice to see that story has been taken seriously here as well. (And how could you not love a game where you can swear pretty well non-stop in a thick Pacino-esque Cuban accent - fockin' cock-a-roaches)
The strength of the game truly is in it's gameplay though - all the elements mentioned above provide a very polished game but S:TWIY also delivers with the action. Missions are rarely easy but never seem impossible, the pressure is kept at a high level and there are surprises around most corners.
Missions are as varied as they can be in this kind of game (let's be honest, it's pretty much drive fast, kill these guys, save those guys, deliver these packages) but there are some interesting innovations in the way you deal with people. When you do drug deals or try to intimidate a thug or fast talk the cops, there is a meter - kind of similar to the power/swing meters in golf games I guess - that you need to land a button press/hold within a certain zone to succeed.
This brings a certain unpredictability to your interactions which gives the game extra spice.
I've certainly found that the game has that "just one more mission before bed" factor.
There are a couple of minor faults that will hopefully be sorted out for the next game (you know there will be) - music is a little difficult to switch off at times, (mainly during missions) meaning that it can be annoying when you can't hear the things that people are telling you but this is trivial compared to the major problem which is the map system.
S:TWIY covers a fairly large map and trying to work out where you are on the map at any one time is nightmarish. The streets on the map are white and you are a little white triange (with a small drop shadow). Enough said? There are a plethora of icons on the map at any one time (both in the HUD mini-map and on the fullscreen map) but for the most part, they really don't stand out from the background. Eventually you get a feel for where you are and it gets easier but this really needs some work.
Small whinges aside, this is a truly amazing game.
(And apparently I get to buy a tiger at some stage - what's not to love)
Blogged with Flock
