Scarface: Money. Power. Respect.

"Scarface meets Risk"

Scarface and Risk, do not seem like something that would go well together, the adrenaline filled gritty story mixed with the turn based strategy of your normal game of risk, sounds like a yawn fest waiting to happen, doesn't it? Well this is where Scarface: Money, Power, Respect surprises most people, it's still a fast paced strategy game where you battle with the other cartels for control of Miami, you can make and break treaties, push drugs, or just go for all out warfare, here though one wrong move can result in a crushing defeat.

Graphics:
This is the games weakest point, however don't let the poor presentation of this game turn you off of it, the game play will keep you coming back either way, I'll cover on it more later. The majority of the game all you will see is a map of Miami, divided into turfs and colored to represent each cartel. This along with the several buildings and drug icons on the screen make up this screen, however upon moving past this screen you will move onto the battle phase, this is where the presentation is the lowest, the characters move with the all the fluidity of cardboard cut outs and don't even make much of an effort to shoot each other, they just stand there and fire and the camera jumps back and fourth showing them shooting, special moves are done in the same way and you never actually see any combat between the forces. The graphics though aren't the reason we play games now a days and will not be too crucial of a factor when I determine my score.

Sound:
The sound in this game is pretty good, although the voices do tend to get a bit repetitive after you hear them say the same thing over and over and over and over, you get where I'm going with this. They put in clips from the movies and although at times it's a bit hard to understand them through the PSP speakers, you can still make everything out enough to not be bothered by it to much. The generic sounds of drugs being bought are all there and what you expect them to be, not even the battle sounds are that dramatic. It makes most of the weapons sound pretty weak actually, I've never fired an actual AK of course, but I never thought they would sound similar to the pistol.

Game play:
This is the saving grace for this game, if the game play wasn't so addictive and fun, I would not find myself even enjoying this game, this game is one of those ones that prove gaming today isn't all about running and gunning in big graphical powerhouses that rival the real world, no this game shows that with a loving touch and balancing of the combat system you can create a game that shines, without spending a fortune on making it pretty. The game play is just like your normal game of risk, only you can buy drugs, power moves (special attacks) and other things between the turns of moving your forces and attacking, by making and pushing drugs this is how you make cash to buy soldiers, drug factories or even more pushers to sell your drugs faster, all this molds beautifully into what feels like a game that is made to challenge your mind as well as your gaming skill, although the sad lack of Infrastructure game play is a major lacking point, it does have Ad Hoc multi-player, because you will soon grow tired of the stale and boring Enemy AI you face in the game, although you may have trouble finding someone who has the game, I'd recommend you go through the trouble of doing it, the multiplayer is a fun and rewarding experience.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/07