Review of "Scarface: Money, Power, Respect"

Image via Wikipedia

This is a mobile game review, based on my play of Verizon V.Cast version on LG VX8300 (BREW phone).

Scarface, the movie that made "Tony Montana" a household name, recently enjoyed a revival. PC and consoles got the game Scarface: The World Is Yours, and smaller handheld consoles got Scarface: Money, Power, Respect. Mobile recently got the latter.

Before this, the only Scarface game for mobile was "Scarface: Rise of Tony Montana", and I hate to say this, but that's a pretty lousy game. It's as if two separate teams worked on different parts of the game, which makes no sense. The "car driving" section just have you punch whatever keys displayed when prompted for. It's almost like typing tutor than an action game. The house-to-house section fared better, but the level design makes no sense as a real house, and you basically mow down anyone in your path what whatever weapons you got in your hand. This one one of the few games where I do NOT want to touch a powerup, as the powerup makes it HARDER to fight. One of the powerup is a 360 spin. As the spin is too slow, this move is NOT useful in close quarters, and actually HURTS you as you can't dodge while it's in play. All in all, it's a sad game to watch.



However, Scarface MPR is a much better game. You drive around Miami, and actually into different neighborhoods (not all on the same map) if need be. Typical mission: Tony gets instruction to go somewhere to handle some business. The driving is done in GTA style, though with more pixels on screen and actual driving, it's actually quote tolerable, and don't run over too many people or police will chase you! When he got there, one of the parties got insulted, and starts shooting, and Tony start blazing away with his weapons.

The actual combat INSIDE the buildings is done a lot like Ikari Warrior or Robotron, if you remember that far back, albeit with auto-aim at the closest enemy. Again, more pixels, more weapons (upgradeable at a weapons dealer) and thus, looks better. Levels are bigger, like warehouses and such, and you can dodge bullets, and even engage "rage mode" where you move faster and do more damage by using some of the "adrenaline shots".

The driving is done in GTA style, though with more pixels on screen and actual driving, it's actually quote tolerable, and don't run over too many people or police will chase you!

The missions increase in difficulty but so does Tony's looks. From an FOB in Miami in a tanktop, all the way to Crime Boss in full dark maroon suit and light MG.

This game actually ends at the shootout at the end of the movie, where you last as long as you can as Tony Montana.

If you want a rating, I'd give this one a 7, which is pretty high for a shooter on a cellphone.