Scarface: The World Is Yours

Scarface: The World Is Yours
Developer(s)	Radical Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Vivendi Universal Games THX
Composer(s)	Giorgio Moroder
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Wii
Release date(s)	Windows, PS2, Xbox NA July 25, 2006 EU July 28, 2006 AUS July 30, 2006 Wii NA May 28, 2007 EU June 4, 2007 AUS June 11, 2007
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media/distribution	Optical disc

Scarface: The World Is Yours is a video game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games. The game is based on and is a quasi-sequel to the 1983 motion picture Scarface starring Al Pacino reprising his role as Tony Montana, with André Sogliuzzo providing Montana's voice. It was released on the PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox on October 8, 2006 and on Wii on June 12, 2007.

Plot

The game begins in the film's final scene, with Tony Montana's (Al Pacino) mansion being raided by Alejandro Sosa's (Robert Davi) assassins. In a point of divergence from the film, Tony kills Sosa's assassin the Skull, that was to slay him. With the assistance of some of his surviving employees, Tony manages to escape.

Sosa is then informed that Tony's mansion has been seized and his massive drug empire has been reduced to nothing. Hiding in a safehouse located outside of Miami, Tony regrets the decisions he has made and makes a vow to drop his cocaine addiction which led to his downfall, he then swears revenge on Sosa and promises to kill anyone who's in league with his nemesis.

Three months after the mansion shootout, Tony returns to Miami. Since everyone assumes he is dead, all of his assets have been seized and the districts of Miami that he used to dominate have been divided between other drug cartels. Tony's first action is to ask George Sheffield (James Woods) to become his lawyer again. Sheffield reluctantly agrees to this, but at a higher cost than before - Tony's influence throughout the city is gone and he has no choice but to accept it.

Starting off again by selling cocaine to personal dealers, Tony manages to pay off the police to get his mansion back. Later, he travels to confront Gaspar Gomez (Cheech) at his penthouse. Despite Gomez not being there, Tony kills his head of security and many of his men, steals a satellite phone for his personal use and hijacks an armored van carrying $50,000, enabling him to open a new bank account. He reconnects with his original banker Jerry (Michael York), who has since been promoted and although he feels unsafe, he has faith in Tony and agrees to work with him again. Tony then proceeds to take over Little Havana, claiming all of its businesses and turfs, severely weakening the Diaz Cartel. While taking a break at the Babylon Club, Tony is attacked by assassins sent by the Diaz Brothers. One assassin informs Tony his mother has been slain. Tony murders the Diaz Brothers in retaliation and takes their territory.

One of Sheffield's associates, Pablo (Fez), lures Tony to Freedomtown with the promise of information on his missing ex-wife Elvira. However, this meeting turns out to be an ambush, but Tony survives. After killing Pablo during a speedboat chase, he adds Sheffield to his hitlist. Tony takes Downtown from the Contreras cartel. He allies with the Sandman (Steven Bauer), a coke producer in a set of Caribbean islands south of Miami. Tony flirts with Venus; a bartender and a powerful influence herself. Tony finds Nacho Contreras there as well, controlling a floating casino. After a chase through said boat, a wounded Nacho is killed by a shark. After this, Tony slaughters what is left of the Contreras Cartel, seizing control of another tanker belonging to Nacho, which he used to smuggle drugs into Miami. Tony uses the new ship and various ex-Nacho workers to establish a supply line.

Tony slowly takes North Beach and South Beach for his own, fulfilling the various business missions and conquering the storehouses. He now controls Miami, however his supply lines are weak. The Sandman says he is going to war with the Colombians. Tony assists and drives the enemy's influence from the Islands. However, before he can celebrate, the Colombians take over Tranqilandia, a small island that is owned by the Sandman, and a crucial drugs base for the Montana Cartel. Tony takes it back, killing the Colombians, rescuing the Sandman's workers, and preventing the Colombians from seizing the cocaine there. Finally, everything is clear on the Islands. The Montana Cartel's power rises and Tony Montana becomes even more wealthy and powerful than ever before. Finally, he has gathered the strength to destroy Sosa, and heads to Bolivia.

Meanwhile, Sosa is hosting a sit-down in his exotic mansion. Sheffield and Gomez are with, discussing the problem of Montana. The man himself crashes the meeting. Tony moves through the grounds, killing Sosa's security detail. Sheffield and Gomez are killed as well. Tony confronts Sosa in his living room and they discuss the situation from the movie where Tony refused to kill children. Soon enough, Tony kills Sosa, fulfilling his revenge. On his way out, Tony finds one of Sosa's men still alive. The survivor begs for his life on the basis of his family and Tony offers him a job.

The game ends with that surviving henchman now serving as Tony's butler, Venus as his new wife and Tony's empire restored to full power and wealth. Tony finally has the "world" that he felt was coming to him, and with all competition eliminated, the Montana Cartel is the most powerful drug cartel in Miami.

Development

The developers originally asked Oliver Stone, the film's screenwriter, to write the script for the game. When Stone declined, they approached American screenwriter David McKenna, known for writing American History X and Blow, films which also feature criminal antiheroes. McKenna accepted after seeing early gameplay visualisations. As a fan of the film, he wanted to emphasise the over-the-top humour he perceived in the character of Tony Montana.

Although Al Pacino lent his image to the game, he did not do a voice over for the character of Tony Montana, as since the production of the film, his voice has been damaged due to his years of heavy smoking. Instead, actor André Sogliuzzo (who was selected by Pacino) imitated Al Pacino's voice. The commercial for the game featured the Mötley Crüe song "Kickstart My Heart", although the song was not in the game. However, the band's drummer, Tommy Lee, played the role of the manager of Fidel's Records and Tapes.

Reception

The game has received mostly favorable reviews. At the time of writing, only eight of the 29 reviews cited by Metacritic for the Xbox version of the game have given the game a score lower than 75%, with most reviews lying in the 80-90% range (IGN gave it a review of 8.7/10, making it an Editor's Choice game, and Game Informer awarded it 85%). However, a small number of reviews have been less favorable, with GameSpot only giving it 6.6 out of 10 and the G4 TV show X-Play giving it a 3 out of 5, and OXM giving it only 4.5/10. The PS2 reviews have been very similar to those of the Xbox, with the 80-90% range dominating but several notable sources voicing dissent. The PC version had been released with several bugs, especially in controls and map loading systems, thus giving the game mixed reviews, but with a similarly respectable average score of around 72-75% in Metacritic and GameRankings. GameSpot gave the Wii version 5.8 for what they thought was a poor control method, while IGN gave it an 8.5, praising the new controls and saying that it was the best version of the game available, and had been marked slightly lower only due to its late release.In Germany the game was banned for high impact violence and cruelty.

Sequel and legacy

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The game is a quasi-sequel to the movie and a game sequel to the PSP exclusive Scarface: Money. Power. Respect. A sequel was rumored to be released in 2008 after a few leaks showed up on the internet, however the game was cancelled by Activision and the rights went back to Universal, while the Scarface video games now owned by Activision and no news of the sequel has been heard since.

See also

• Scarface: Money. Power. Respect.
• The Godfather: The Game

External links

• Extensive Q&A from the developers
• Scarface: The World Is Yours at the Internet Movie Database
• IGN X360 profile with canceled status
• The Making of 'Scarface' special on MTV2
• Scarface: Playstation 2 Review at Gamestyle