The Shrine

May 19, 2005 - Publishers are hopping into their way-back machines in search of great movie licenses. E3 2005 has brought us Jaws, The Godfather, The Warriors, Taxi Driver and Scarface. A few of these titles make little sense as videogames, but one that looks to be a perfect fit is Vivendi Universal's Scarface.

Developed by Radical Entertainment, Scarface: The World is Yours combines the open world of GTA with a focus on recreating the classic PC/PDA game Drug Wars. Setting an open-city game in Miami in the early '80s could make for easy comparisons to GTA: Vice City, but Scarface has its own unique style. The movie license is as intricate a part of the game design as the open-city environment. While it may seem like a cheap gimmick to use the Scarface license, it actually makes for a perfect match to the gameplay.

Things begin with a bang. In fact, quite a few bangs. The final, brutally violent scene from Scarface is recreated for the opening level. Your first act is blowing off the door to your office and uttering the classic line. It's then time to introduce everyone to your little friend. The difference this time is that instead of being gakked in the back, Tony Montana gets the chance to escape his mansion. Escape, however, doesn't mean Montana's back on top. In fact, his empire's been ruined, he's lost all his friends and has nothing to his name except his snappy dress sense.

Tony escapes to some fictional islands near Miami. There are eight islands in total, which you can traverse by boat, but the main focus is still on Miami. South Beach will be yours once more. The 60-hour game sees Montana starting from nothing and rebuilding his empire as he blazed a path of revenge on Alejandro Sosa. This time he's learned not to sniff his own product, but he has no trouble dealing it.

You begin as a small-time drug dealer, selling your goods on the street. Tony's done this before and fought his way to the top. The selling dynamic is unofficially based off of Drug Wars, a simple game of supply and demand that has you selling drugs to fatten your bank account. Scarface makes the dynamic more complex, but the principle is the same.

There are four territories to dominate, but each is controlled by a different gang. As Montana, you'll eventually need to take out the rival gangs and set up protection for your own interests. As Montana becomes a bigger figure, he does less and less work. After all, what chump does all the grunt work himself? You can make deals with legitimate stores to act as fronts for selling drugs. Convincing others to do such things is a mini-game of sorts, but Radical isn't ready to show off these aspects just yet. To protect the storefronts, you'll need to pay henchmen or risk random gang attacks.

The rival gangs are just as eager to make money as Tony Montana and also set up fronts for dealing drugs. The dynamic of supply and demand should play into Scarface and, of course, the threat level of Montana will influence the way gangs react to your business dealings.

You can't sell dope if you don't have dope to sell, so expect to put in some time drug smuggling. The islands are a good place to buy drugs as they're outside of US control. Once the drugs are in hand, just hop in your boat and speed back to Miami. It won't be so easy as DEA agents and pirates (not the kind that "yarrr") will be watching the water. Should you catch heat, you have a 360 degree firing radius while piloting your speedboat. The controls look pretty smooth and with the ability to buy a multitude of boats (including a luxury yacht), smuggling could end up being more fun than dealing.

In terms of gameplay, Scarface offers a smart take on targeting, one aspect of GTA that remains lacking. You can choose to manually aim at any time or you can auto-target. Scarface features location-specific damage and when auto-targeting you can use the Right Thumbstick to lock onto specific body parts. Shoot off legs, arms or cap fools like a true gangster.

The better your skill both in shooting and driving (and shooting while driving), the more points you'll earn. Points go towards unlocking rewards and increase your Balls Meter. Yeah, your Balls Meter. When your swinging full Ball, you can enter a berseker mode that acts like a smart bomb. Tony goes f'ing bananas and lays down sprays of gunfire to mow down all enemies in sight.

Earning all that cash is no good unless you're willing to spend it. With satellite phone in hand, Tony can order guns, fancy cars, henchmen and the hottest accessories from the Exotics catalogue. While Miami is fully open for exploration, Tony won't be committing grand theft auto. This is no thug, this is Tony f---ing Montana, he doesn't roll in someone else's ride. If you want a car, dial up a henchman and he'll bring a car from your garage.

Vivdendi has secured the rights to all of the music from the film and is adding a slew of early '80s tunes so you can enjoy the city of vice in style. The Xbox 360 will include custom soundtracks (a requirement of the system). While we saw only the Xbox an PS2 version, the PC and 360 renditions will have the same story and set-up. The Three-Six-Oh will also have some extras, which Radical isn't ready to reveal just yet.

At 60% complete and set for a 2006 release, Scarface looks surprisingly good. Visually the game just isn't that hot on PS2 or Xbox, but hopefully a year of development can spruce up the visuals. With more than 140 missions and open gameplay, Scarface could be the first GTA-inspired title to break out as its own, unique title.