Scarface: The World Is Yours

Did You Know?

• In July 2005, Vivendi president Phil O'Neil indicated plans for a multigame franchise including Scarface 2, 3, and 4.
• On June 23, 2022, gameplay footage of Scarface 2 was leaked, showing the game in a pre-alpha state set in Las Vegas.

Gameplay

Scarface: The World Is Yours is an open world action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. The player controls Tony Montana as he attempts to regain control of Miami's drug trade, destroy rival gangs, and restore his reputation. The gameplay falls into the subgenre of Grand Theft Auto clones: the player can commandeer vehicles, move around on foot, interact with NPCs, engage in missions, and wield a variety of weapons including pistols, submachine guns, shotguns, assault rifles, a sniper rifle, a rocket launcher, a chainsaw, and melee weapons. Unlike most games in the genre, Tony cannot kill innocent people; if the player tries to attack a non-aggressive target, Tony refuses to act, and hitting an innocent with a car only injures them. As the game progresses, the player unlocks employees: a driver, a boat pilot, an arms dealer, an enforcer, and a hitman. The player can switch control to any of them except the arms dealer, and when playing as the enforcer or hitman, the player can kill innocent people.

Plot

The game begins during the final scene of the film, as Tony Montana's mansion is attacked by assassins sent by Alejandro Sosa. Unlike the film, Tony overpowers the attackers and escapes as law enforcement arrives. Hiding in a safe house, he laments the deaths of his sister Gina and friend Manny, decides to quit cocaine, and vows revenge on Sosa. Three months later, in March 1984, Tony returns to Miami to find his assets frozen and his former territory divided among rival cartels. He rehires attorney George Sheffield, then contacts his friend Felix, who tells him Sosa is working with crime boss Gaspar Gomez. To rebuild his empire, Tony must earn enough money to buy back his mansion from the Vice Squad. Felix directs him to a waitress named Coco, who connects him with dealers unaffiliated with Sosa. Tony repurchases his mansion and begins re-establishing his name. Felix later tips Tony about a truck carrying $50,000 from Gomez; Tony intercepts it and uses the money to open a bank account with his banker Jerry. As Tony reclaims Little Havana from the Diaz Brothers, they attempt to assassinate him. After surviving, he interrogates the hitmen and learns the Diaz Brothers had his mother killed. Enraged, Tony kills both brothers and regains control of Little Havana.

Development

The game was announced on August 10, 2004, as a third-person shooter adaptation for PC and unnamed consoles, with a projected release in the third quarter of 2005. The developers initially intended a straight adaptation of the film but concluded that the original screenplay could not be replicated in a game and that players would not want to invest in a doomed character. They decided to tell an original story set after the film. Combat designer Jason Bone explained that a fresh start allowed freedom to keep players motivated. The developers asked Oliver Stone to work on the script, but he declined; they then approached David McKenna, writer of American History X and Blow. McKenna, a fan of the film, wanted to emphasize the over-the-top humor of Montana. When asked how much of the game's 40,000 lines of dialogue he wrote, McKenna stated his involvement. Regarding the changed ending, McKenna dismissed critics who said the game was disrespectful, arguing that it is a video game and he wanted to create something of his own while sticking to the film's tone. In December 2004, Vivendi announced releases for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in addition to PC.

Reception

The World Is Yours received generally positive reviews. The PlayStation 2 version holds a Metacritic score of 75 out of 100 based on forty-six reviews; the Xbox version 76 out of 100 based on forty-one reviews; the PC version 73 out of 100 based on eighteen reviews; and the Wii version 71 out of 100 based on twenty-three reviews. IGN's Chris Roper scored the PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions 8.7 out of 10, giving them an Editor's Choice award, and the Xbox version was awarded October Xbox Game of the Month. Roper argued the game advanced the Grand Theft Auto genre by fixing many of its problematic elements, praising the gameplay, storyline, ball meter, rage mode, and aiming system, though he criticized the map for having too many areas accessible via only one road. Mark Bozon and Chris Roper scored the Wii version 8.5 out of 10, also giving it an Editor's Choice award, praising the controls and calling it one of the deepest experiences on the system. Game Informer's Matt Helgeson scored the PlayStation 2 version 8.5 out of 10, calling it a very playable open-world game with a fresh spin, though he found the side missions repetitive.