Scarface: The World Is Yours is a 2006 action-adventure video game developed by Radical Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows, and published by Vivendi Games. It is based on the 1983 film of the same name written by Oliver Stone and directed by Brian De Palma. In 2007, a version with enhanced graphics was released for the Wii. A port for the Xbox 360 was also being developed, but was eventually scrapped.
The game is not a direct adaptation of the film but is instead a broad-strokes sequel that changes the ending so that Tony Montana (originally played by Al Pacino) survives and sets about exacting revenge on those who ousted him from power by re-establishing his drug empire in Miami. The game features Al Pacino's likeness for Montana, but Pacino does not voice the character, as he and the game's producers felt his voice had changed too much since the film was released in 1983. Instead, Montana is voiced by André Sogliuzzo, who was personally selected by Pacino. Actors from the original film who did voice work for the game include Steven Bauer, Robert Loggia, and Al Israel.
The game received moderately positive reviews, with many critics comparing it favorably to both 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and 2004's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It was also praised for maintaining the tone of the film, for its humor, and for the accuracy of Montana's portrayal. The game was a commercial success, selling over two million units across all platforms.
Gameplay
Scarface: The World Is Yours is an open world action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective, in which the player controls Tony Montana as he attempts to regain control of Miami's drug trade, destroy rival gangs, and restore his reputation in the criminal underworld.
Combat The basic gameplay and game mechanics fall into the subgenre of Grand Theft Auto clones. As such, the player can commandeer vehicles (cars and boats), move around the map on foot, interact with civilians and NPCs both hostile and non-hostile, engage in primary and sub-missions, and wield a variety of weapons: pistols, submachine guns, shotguns, assault rifles, a sniper rifle, a rocket launcher, a chainsaw, and various melee weapons, such as pipes and machetes. In a departure from most Grand Theft Auto-style games, Tony cannot kill innocent people. If the player tries to shoot or attack a non-aggressive target, Tony will refuse to act; if the player tries to hit an innocent person with a car, they will only be injured. This keeps in line with the character's refusal to kill innocent men, women and children. As the game progresses, the player acquires access to some of Tony's employees as he rebuilds his empire: a driver, a boat pilot who can smuggle larger hauls of cocaine, an arms dealer who can supply weapons, an enforcer to protect Tony's businesses and attack those of his rivals, and a hitman who can eliminate other gangsters and dealers. When these employees have been unlocked, the player can switch control from Tony to any one of them (except the arms dealer), and when playing as the enforcer or the hitman, the player can kill innocent people.
When shooting, the player can lock on to the enemy or can aim manually, hitting specific body parts to produce different reactions. For example, if Tony shoots an opponent in the leg, they will fall but will continue to fire. If he hits an opponent in the arm, they will remain on their feet, but their aim will be compromised. Hitting opponents by aiming manually earns Montana more "balls" than using the lock-on system. Earning balls fills the "Balls meter", which is an essential component of combat in the game. Once the meter is full, "Blind Rage" mode becomes available. In this mode, the game switches to first-person and goes into slow motion, the aim becomes automatic, the player acquires infinite ammo and doesn't have to reload their weapon, and each enemy killed earns Tony health. Tony can also acquire balls by taunting defeated opponents, insulting drivers who have hit his car, winning street races, completing missions, and having conversations with random people.
Empire There are four main geographical regions that Tony must control to complete the game; Little Havana, Downtown, South Beach and North Beach. At the start of the game, the entire map is available to explore, but Tony cannot carry out missions, attack rival gangs, or purchase property anywhere except Little Havana. Each turf must be controlled 100% before the next one becomes available for missions. Acquiring 100% requires the player to perform certain actions within each region: purchase a certain number of fronts, eliminate rival gangsters, and carry out smaller missions involving purchasing and selling cocaine. To purchase fronts, Tony must perform a mission for the owner before they will sell the business to him – these missions, coupled with storyline missions, form the core of the main game. Once purchased, fronts can come under attack from rival gangs. To combat this, Tony can install security cameras to alert him to an imminent attack and recruit guards to fend off attackers until he arrives on the scene. Once Tony has purchased the requisite number of fronts in a region, he must then take control of that region's storehouse, which will be in the possession of a rival gang.
A major part of the gameplay is "Reputation". There are eight Reputation levels (each level represented by a letter in the word "Scarface"), and certain items and missions cannot be unlocked until the player has reached a certain Reputation level. Reputation can be increased by various means, such as completing missions and buying fronts, completing side-missions, and buying "exotics" (extras used to decorate Tony's mansion). Rising in Reputation and increasing Tony's balls count also unlocks "femme fatales". If Tony can persuade these women to come to his mansion, they will give him stat increases, such as higher stamina.
The foundation of Tony's empire is dealing cocaine. To acquire cocaine to sell, players must complete side missions called "Felix leads". These involve Tony carrying out a mission for his contact Felix. Upon completing the mission, Felix will put Tony in touch with a cocaine supplier, from whom he can purchase cocaine. If it is a "small supplier", Tony can only purchase a certain amount of grams, which can be sold directly to street dealers or distributed through fronts. However, if it is a "large supplier", Tony can purchase kilos, which must be transferred to a storehouse. He must then go on a drug run, distributing cocaine to all of his fronts in a single mission, whilst being pursued by rival gang members. Later in the game, Tony can purchase larger amounts of cocaine directly from Caribbean islands to the south of Miami, which he must then get back to the mainland via boat, avoiding pirates and the coast guard, before distributing the drugs to his fronts via a drug run.
Money and heat Tony has access to two different types of money in the game. Cash on hand is called "dirty money". If the player dies, is arrested, or is shaken down by another gang, the player will lose all their dirty money. The only way to protect Tony's money, and ensure it is not lost when the player dies, is to launder it in a bank. The player is free to launder money at a bank any time they wish (except during missions), but each time they launder cash, the bank will take a cut of the total. The percentage of their cut is determined by the level of "cop heat" Tony currently has; the higher his heat, the higher their cut.
"Cop heat" and "gang heat" are two meters that are active at all times during the game. Cop heat determines the rate of interest at banks, and gang heat determines the price of cocaine; the more heat, the less Tony can charge. If Tony, or any of his associates, engages in a lot of public violence, cop heat will rise, and the police will arrive, pursuing Tony. Cop heat can be lowered with bribes, and gang heat can be lowered by intimidating other gangs. If Tony continues to commit crimes in public, cop heat can rise to the point where he enters "You're fucked" mode, in which he cannot escape from the police alive. A "golf swing"-style minigame, where the player must attempt to stop the meter in a certain zone, is used to control negotiating drug deals, intimidating other gangs, and bribing cops.
Plot
Scarface: The World Is Yours begins during the final scene of the film, in which drug kingpin Tony Montana (voiced by André Sogliuzzo) makes an apparent last stand as his mansion comes under attack from assassins sent by his former business partner-turned-enemy Alejandro Sosa (Robert Davi). Unlike in the film, however, Tony manages to overpower Sosa's men and barely escapes the grounds, just as the DEA and Miami-Dade police arrive. One of Sosa's men calls Sosa after the attack, saying that Tony's mansion is being seized by law enforcement, his drug empire is reduced to nothing, and Tony himself is most likely dead. Meanwhile, hiding in a safe house in the Miami glades, Tony laments the deaths of his sister Gina and his friend Manny, curses himself for killing Manny and for not listening to the advice of others due to his stubbornness, decides to quit cocaine, and vows revenge on Sosa.
Three months later, in March 1984, Tony returns to Miami. All of his assets have been frozen, and the districts of Miami he used to dominate have been divided among other drug cartels. His first act is to ask criminal attorney George Sheffield (James Woods) to become his lawyer again. Sheffield reluctantly agrees but at a higher wage than before. He next travels to see his old friend and contact Felix (Carlos Ferro), who tells him Sosa is working with fellow crime boss Gaspar Gomez (Cheech Marin) to take over all of Tony's old turf. To rebuild his empire, Tony must first make enough money to buy his mansion from the Vice Squad, but he doesn't know any trustworthy drug dealers, as most report back to Sosa now. Felix tells him to speak to a waitress named Coco (Nika Futterman), who puts Tony in touch with some dealers with no ties to Sosa. Within a day, Tony earns enough cash to re-purchase his mansion and begins to slowly re-establish his name.
Felix later tells Tony that Gomez is smuggling cash, and gives him a tip about one of his trucks, which is carrying $50,000. Tony intercepts the truck and uses the money to open a bank account. Reconnecting with his old banker, Jerry (Michael York), he uses the bank to launder his money as he sets out to reclaim control of Little Havana from the Diaz Brothers. As Tony's reputation increases, the brothers plan to have him murdered. After surviving one of their assassination attempts, he interrogates the hitmen and learns the Diaz Brothers had his mother killed. Furious, Tony kills them both and regains control of Little Havana.