There’s a special moment in some games, the kind of unusual, novel event that lets you know that you’re in for a long sleepless haul until completion. In the new Scarface: The World is Yours, that defining early moment came when I received bonus points for shooting a gang member in the left nut. Just for the record, the right one also gives you a decent amount of points.
Stemming directly from the ending moments of Brian De Palma’s landmark 1983 film (well, except that here Al Pacino lives), the game’s narrative follows the once-mighty, now-disgraced drug czar Tony Montana as he attempts to regain his throne, a goal which involves tooling around Miami for a variety of car chases and shootout-based missions while an assortment of ’80s cheese blares on the soundtrack. If you’re thinking this all smacks slightly of Grand Theft Auto, you’re not far off base, although this potential criticism may be somewhat lessened given that GTA: Vice City so clearly cribbed much from the movie. (Which came first, the motherfucking chicken or the cocksucking egg?) Granted the similarities, this game does have one distinct ethical edge over the earlier series, in that Tony’s moral code, however twisted, makes it impossible to tee off on innocent passersby. (Although, er, if that’s your thing, you can always temporarily switch to one of his henchmen, who have no such qualms.) In all other regards, though, we’re talking enough sin to make holy water smoke, from cold-blooded assassinations to running prostitution rackets to getting the best price while selling dope to street dealers.
Completing said missions increases the player’s reputation levels, which allows you to unlock nicer cars, boats, and other examples of bling for purchase. Such gains increase your standing in the community, which often spins the gameplay in intriguing ways. Once reaching a certain level of prestige, for example, as long as a cop doesn’t catch you with your weapon out, you can attempt to fast-talk him out of further pursuit. Successfully pulling off this and other such maneuvers also boosts your balls meter, which in turn allows you to occasionally fly into handy, hilariously obscene first-person bouts of raging invulnerability. Those rages are often badly needed, given the increasingly difficult nature of Montana’s enemies. When under constant threat of an angry gang member creeping up behind you with a chainsaw, getting into the main character’s paranoid, coke-fueled mindset proves shockingly easy.
Concerned parents may squawk, of course—and after reading some of the internet postings by younger players looking for ways to maximize their drug profits, I can’t say that I blame them all that much. Still, for those with the sufficient moral fiber to handle it, Scarface delivers the escapist goods and then some. Whatever the inherent moral depravity, the thrill involved in using, say, a speedboat to successfully evade the Coast Guard while transporting 30 kilos of coke to your warehouse carries a visceral, venal charge that more genteel games can’t hope to match. Let’s see that Sonic the Hedgehog eff with the yayo. 