Based on the 1983 film of the same title, Scarface promises to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen in a single player action / adventure game before. Create a little twist at the end of the movie and then work your way from there. After being held captive by Sosa’s men, Tony vows revenge and will stop at nothing until he succeeds. Aside from revenge, he also wants to regain his position as the best drug dealer in Miami.
Throughout the game, Tony will have to gain ground and buy fronts for his drug trade. In the process, he must be able to maintain his empire and make more money selling drugs. To make this possible, Tony would have to take down his enemies and increase his reputation level. As rival gangs will attempt to dominate the city under your control, you must make sure to protect them and keep buying businesses to tackle your drug deals. It works on a chain of some kind, as the more money you make, your power increases and an increase in power will also increase your reputation level.
From the beginning, you will only have limited options. As your reputation is key to rebuilding your empire, you must complete quests, buy fronts and exotic items to slowly build your reputation. But you will need money to be able to buy things, and you can get them by selling cocaine. Eventually, when your reputation level has increased tremendously, you will be able to have almost unlimited access to any type of weapon or vehicle you need.
You would start by selling drugs to street dealers, then move on to large suppliers where you can earn more money. Once you have also purchased fronts where you can distribute your medications, the money will simply come to you. This will upset their rival gangs and lead them to conspire to bring down their front businesses. You may need the help of a henchman and employ surveillance to help protect your investments.
There will be four lawns in the city of Miami and on each lawn, you would have to get different fronts. However, some of these fronts are already controlled by certain bands. You will have to eliminate your rival gangs so that you can explore the rest of the city and find new territories to explore. Just speak through the managers to earn their trust and eventually do business with them. On separate islands is where the cocaine is produced and where it will make deals with certain large suppliers. As soon as you’ve secured your fronts and a warehouse, you can smuggle your cocaine supply from the island to there.
As we mentioned a while ago about the need to protect your foreheads, you will need quite a few weapons for that. At first, you will only have access to a limited number of weapons in your arsenal, but you will soon increase your options as your reputation increases. With a higher reputation, you would have a wide range and a good selection of weapons such as pistols, automatic rifles, shotguns and rocket launchers. And as if that wasn’t good enough, you can also fine-tune your accuracy, mute mechanics, and a few other options to make your attack more deadly.
When you are a drug dealer fighting rival gangs and engaging in fierce shooting, you will surely attract the police on your way. When you have committed certain illegal acts, you should reduce the pressure of the police on you by paying them. But you have to make sure you keep the police heat under control, or it will cost you quite a bit of money.
And when it comes to the worst, you’ll be forced to outrun the cops and have to have a set of wheels to make sure you keep them at bay. You wouldn’t get a little more mad at the police stealing a car, so you should get a phone call and ask a driver to bring your own car to help you get out of trouble. Only when you have earned enough reputation will you be able to buy and drive extremely fast cars. And out of a wide selection of potential cars to use, each has its own characteristics that set it apart from the rest. For example, you have a fast car that doesn’t offer much protection or a well-protected car that can be a real drag.
When it comes to fighting your enemies, don’t worry when you feel like the gang seems too much to handle. Tony is equipped with a rage meter that accumulates with each act you perform using the “balls”. These balls can be earned by skillful driving, conversing with pedestrians, and taunting their victims. If the meter fills up, Tony becomes extremely powerful and can attack multiple enemies at once, as well as gain the health of each enemy he has killed. The Rage Meter effects last for a fairly short period of time, but it can be enough to get you out of a really bad situation.
When you have significantly increased your ball levels, femme fatales will appear on your map. If you try to meet with them to convince them to stay in your mansion, they will help you improve your health, rage, and stamina. This, of course, aside from the fact that these fatal women would make a nice addition to Tony’s growing collection of exotic items. With each purchase of these exotic items, you can also increase your reputation depending, of course, on the price and rarity of the purchased item.
One great weapon Tony has in his arsenal is his intimidation meter. Often times, it will work to your advantage by acquiring hefty interest rates at the bank, closing a lucrative drug deal, and exiting a potential police raid. All you need to do is be able to time your button press and release as soon as the gauge fills up. Just make sure you don’t press the button too short or too long, as you could end up with an extremely bad drug deal or lose your money to the police.
Moving on to the technical aspects of the game, as much as the gameplay looks as close to the movie as possible, so is the overall look of the game. When it comes to drugs and all those underground businesses, you have to be able to create a mood for that through the environment. And what better place to set that than in Miami? The game was able to recreate Miami in the Scarface game world.
Being an important part of the game, sounds can make or break the game. For Scarface, the voice acting is simply amazing. There seems to be a great connection between the voice acting and the actual events in the game. Hats off to the actors who lend their voices in this game. And also, not to mention that this game is also aimed at some of the best bands and artists out there. The game uses the official soundtrack of the movie and therefore it can be quite a similar experience, you know, playing and watching the movie, the only difference is in the game, you have control over Tony.
If you can’t get enough of the movie, this could be a great way to further round out the action / adventure feel that Scarface has provided.. Sosa’s treachery doesn’t bring you down, and even though your empire has been taken from you, you’re more determined than ever to rebuild it and gain power. If there’s something that can take you straight into the world of drug lords and see how it works, you’ve come to the right place. Join Tony’s adventures as he proves he deserves to be on top.