Successful movie tie-in video games are few and far between, but they are well worth people's money, unlike most of their ilk, such as E.T., Aliens: Colonial Marines, Catwoman, and more recently, Marvel's Avengers.
Scarface: The World Is Yours is one such successful movie tie-in video game that did its source material justice and then some.
However, what made it so successful in the first place?
Scarface: The World Is Yours History, Gameplay
Scarface: The World is Yours is an action-adventure video game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Games under Sierra Entertainment for the PC, PlayStation 2, and the original Xbox in 2006, per the Scarface wiki. The game eventually became available for the Nintendo Wii sometime between 2006 and 2007.
Radical Entertainment supposedly worked on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game but was unofficially canceled.
The game has players take on the role of Tony Montana, a role that Al Pacino reprised, as they go through an alternate timeline when (spoiler alert!) Montana didn't die during the final scene in the original "Scarface" film.
The game has a lot of similarities with the games under the Grand Theft Auto series, wherein players can explore different parts of the game's setting to rebuild Tony's criminal empire, change outfits, buy vehicles, and even customize Tony's mansion, with each upgrade increasing his Reputation points.
Much like GTA, Scarface has a notoriety system that has police officers change you down and eventually arrest you if you're not careful.
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According to IGN, this aspect of the game was not done well, with it filling up even when you're on a mission involving actions that could easily fill its respective bar.
The aiming system in the game is superb, allowing you to freely aim and take out enemies by shooting them in the head, shoulders, and even the groin for more humiliation. Shooting, killing, and taunting them as they due increases Tony's Balls Meter, which, when full, allows players to activate Blind Rage mode, per GameSpot.
Hilariously, the Balls meter can also be filled by taunting a fellow driver when you hit them while driving and even by just conversing with NPCs.
This mode puts the game's camera into first-person mode and heals Tony every time he kills someone while he remains invincible. It also gives players unlimited ammo, helping heal themselves in a pinch with this mechanic.
Critical Reception And Dreams Of A Remake
Critical reception for Scarface is favorable, with critics and players giving it mostly positive reviews. The game has a Metacritic score of 75 based on 46 critic reviews due to the freedom it gave players for them to do whatever they want. It also stayed faithful to its source material, with the game being full of violence, swearing, '80s music, and sleaze.
IGN and Gamespot gave the game average of favorable reviews, with them giving it an 8.7/10 and a 6.4/10, respectively.
Gamespot found the game's missions to be boring while its dialogue and storyline weren't inspiring. However, all critics agree about the excellence of the game's targeting system.
Gamerant mentioned that the Scarface was so great that a team of developers that call themselves TeaserPlay released a concept trailer of what the game would look like if it used Unreal Engine 5 for its theoretical 2022 remake.
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