$20 Game of the Week: Scarface – The world is yours (PS2, PC, Xbox)

In 1983, director Brian DePalma created a film starring Al Pacino that would forever change the way we would think about drug dealers, cocaine, Cubans, immigration, and pelicans. This film would be known as the story of a man named Tony Montana. It was the chronicle of his journey from yet another Cuban refugee looking for the American dream to the biggest drug dealer in all of Miami, all the way to his violent end as a desperate man consumed by a coccaine-fueled blind rage. This film would be the stuff of legends, serving as inspiration to entire generations of rappers, actors, gangsters, and other entertainers. This film is called Scarface. Nearly 2 decades later, Tony Montana’s story would continue on as a video game courtesy of Vivendi Universal.

Yes, I did a review for this game several months back, but it’s such a solid title that it’s worth looking at again. Sierra’s alternate look at a world where Tony Montana escaped the big shoot out at the movie’s end makes for a compelling set up. Not only that, it’s one of the few good games to make use of Grand Theft Auto’s style of open-world gameplay. It does a good job of putting you in the shoes of Tony Montana, excessive cursing, extravagant spending, and all. You have to make your way back to the top by making drug deals and waging war upon your rivals. You’ll visit all the familiar locations in the movie such as the Babylon Club, Freedom Town, and the Sun Ray Motel. Some repetition sets in with the drug deals, but the sheer fun of cursing out people and going into a blind rage make up for it. So for a $20 spot*, you can get what is a faithful tribute to one of the greatest movies of all time.

*Or you can spend a $50 spot and get the Wii version with new motion control actions.