Scarface: The World Is Yours review (Wii)

Scarface is a film that sparks much debate. For some, my sister included, it’s an utter classic. For others, myself included, it’s fatally flawed and carried only by Pacino’s brooding intensity. It’s likely that Scarface on the Wii is going to divide audiences the same way, though without the ‘classic’ label. There’s a lot of (hopefully guilty, hopefully escapist) fun to be had bringing cocaine and bloodshed to 1980’s Miami, but there’s quite a bit wrong here too.

He’s Got Big Balls

Scarface: The World Is Yours is a port of a PS2 and Xbox game that appeared a year ago. Back then, it was criticised on a couple of counts, but garnered some not inconsiderable praise for fixing many of the problems some pointed to in the GTA series, from which it borrows so freely.

This is a big and brassy, free-roaming, open city trip through a crime-soaked Miami (and islands). As you probably already know, the anti-hero of the piece is Tony Montana, and the story picks up from the final and previously assumed fatal battle at the end of the film. Montana’s excesses have caught up with him, and his mansion is under attack. Packing the oft-quoted ‘little friend’ (an M-16 and slung grenade launcher) your first task is to help Tony blast his way clear of mansion, movie plot and any last vestige of morality tale.

The game is all about swearing as much as possible and shooting people, thinly disguised as rebuilding Tony’s cocaine empire. I don’t say that because I disapprove in any way (though after a short while the shouting and swearing begins to wash over you unheeded, along with the plot). I say it because that’s what the central game mechanic is all about. If you prefer, I could point out Montana’s balls are the main point of the game, but that might put some of you off reading any further.

She’s Got Big Balls

The previous incarnations of the game praised the driving, the mission-centric gameplay, and the way the earnings in the game translated into something palpable, as opposed to remaining just a pointless score total. This is all largely intact in the Wii version, you’ll be pleased to know. There’s a lot to do, and the game is largely bereft of aimless city-wandering.

Unfortunately, the things the game was criticised for are still there too, and there are a few more things to add to that list. The graphics were never all that and, a year on, that is even more obvious now. While the speech in the game is, in the cutscenes, really pretty good, the majority of the time it provides unintended hilarity. Walking up to someone in the street and hitting the ‘A’ button on your controller results most of the time in wonderfully mismatched stock dialogue.

For example, Tony has just banked a serious wedge of bloodstained cash. He comments on how positively marvellous certain parts of the bank teller’s anatomy are. She tells him that she’s sure the bank can do much better next time. Either that or she assures you that your custom is very valuable to the bank. Gotta love that broken bark dialogue.

But We’ve Got The Biggest Balls Of All

As mentioned earlier, the keys to the game are Tony’s balls. Combat and empire building are based on reputation and violence as much as on cocaine and money - without the respect and blood-letting, you don’t get the powder and the green.

Much of this philosophy is reflected in the wonder of the ‘balls meter’. Taunt your enemies as you slaughter them and Tony’s meter fills up. Once filled, you can unleash Tony’s blind rage attack, viewed in discoloured first person. As Montana spouts profanities, you are immune to damage, instead recovering hit points from every blasted enemy. This is just as well. Thanks to the controls, you’re going to need Tony’s balls. Unfortunately, getting at them can be a problem.

The basic controls are not too bad, it must be said. They don’t add the usual immediacy to the Wii version (with the glorious exception of the chainsaw), unlike with titles like Zelda. This is due to some terrible, terrible button mapping. It takes either quadruple-jointed fingers or more time than should have been necessary to get the hang of where does what and, as a result, you’ll be watching Tony’s corpse hit the floor more times than necessary. Mind you, the driving seems oddly unaffected. In short, more time needed to be spent on the controls. They’re manageable when, with more effort, they could have been great.

Your Little Friend?

Scarface is the closest thing to GTA you’re likely to see on the Wii, and has a lot to recommend it. If you’re not a fan of that genre, or if you don’t want your folks banning you from playing videogames for the rest of your life, you may want to steer clear. This is a flawed but decent conversion of an older title based on a flawed but decent movie. That level of consistency is pretty rare these days.