Gameshark5

The Good: Some great voice acting, great sound effects overall, pretty good graphics, amazing soundtrack; especially if you’ve seen the movie, good variation in weapons, cars, and general customization, good load of unlockables.

The Bad: Gets repetitive time to time, some very minor issues may tease you.

Scarface: The World Is Yours is a GTA knockoff from Vivendi Games and Radical Entertainment. In more then less ways it borrows from GTA and other GTA knockoffs. However to save this game is a bunch of other new features that make the game fresh and exciting. If you need some good reasons to play or ignore this game, read on.

So let’s start the tour with a look at the story department. The game picks up…5 minutes before the movie ends. In case you haven’t seen it, I won’t be the one to ruin it for you, only because this isn’t one of those lame movie to game games. Scarface is a classic (and my all time favorite) movie, with a perfect actor doing the job right. So anyways, to lead up to where the game is, Tony Montana (scarface) is a Cuban immigrant who comes from a prison. He works a dishwasher, but has high hopes own the world. He eventually gets to that point, but lays heavily on cocaine and takes his eye off his empire and it goes downhill from there. In the game, you’ve lost it all, and you focus on getting your empire back together, and taking revenge on those who have wronged you. Of course this will be many weapons, eff ups, cars, weapons, cop chases, cocaine deals, bullets, casualties and dollars until you take revenge on the person who wronged you most. Sosa.

So the game plays like a typical Gta game. You run around in a third person mode, but you can approach a starting point different ways. Unlike in GTA, you don’t have to load a file, and then steal the first car you can find. This game gives you a couple different choices of what to do. Basically there’s the short and long way to get a vehicle. First there’s the classic way. You steal the first car you can find. That’s actually the long way in this game. In Scarface, you have this neat little menu that helps you run your empire with ease. One of these sub menus is your vehicles. Simply boot up that menu, go to vehicles, pick a car you’ve already purchased, and within seconds your own personal chauffer (who then turns into your bodyguard) arrives with the car you chose. (The same goes for your boats when you’re near a dock) Now that’s only one of the things you can do, but its one of the most useful.

Another couple new features include cocaine deals, the balls meter, mansion pimping and the changed cop chases. Let’s spend a little time talking about these features.

Cocaine deals are your main way to rake in the cash. You start small, and by successfully doing a golf type meter sort of challenge, you can get your maximum amount of cash, depending on how many grams. You start small with like 100 grams, and eventually get into the kilos where you rake in cash and start to turn them into some many needed and unneeded luxuries. Balls Meter. This is where things really get fun. Now something I didn’t mention, was by pushing B (Xbox version) you’ll randomly blurt something out, usually involving a phrase from the movie. But there’s a 90% chance there will be some sort of swear word in there. Now when you get into some gun moments, after shooting or killing somebody you push B and you will make some sort of mockery for half a second, this will give you balls. Yes, balls. Now these balls will eventually add up and make a full circle around your health bar. At the tap of a button, all the balls will kick in. You’ll be put into a first person mode with a reddened screen and the current gun you just had. If you haven’t seen the movie it won’t make as much sense as it should. But now you can run around popping bad guys and getting health while you do it. As another added bonus, you will not be taking any damage to the tens and probably hundreds of bullets you’ll be taking. In the words of Borat: Very Nice!

Pimping of the mansion. Now a luxury does not need to be a mansion theme, vehicle or a foundation. Luxury also means things like stuffed animals, television sets, pool tables, alcohol, and anything else said Cuban drug lord immigrant might want in his large mansion. When you get into your mansion, you can turn on a mode called Pimp My Mansion. Basically you run around selecting goodies to place around your large mansion. While it serves no potential purpose and has no real way of helping you in your adventure…at all. But hey, it’s a means of killing time.

Changed Cop Chases. Could be the worst aspect of the game. Now if you do something bad, like shooting somebody, the cops may find you. Basically, instead of getting a wanted star, (like in grand theft auto) you have a certain amount of time to get out of a certain vicinity, or else it says you effed up. This translates to game over.

The main fraction of gameplay will be running and gunning people. Simple as pushing a button. By pushing a button you can lock on, and by pulling the R trigger you can fire. It’s simple, it works, life goes on. The other large portion includes driving. Driving, similar to shooting is very simple but effective. Basically pushing A accelerates the car, B brakes the car. Holding X and steering will assist you in power sliding. Simple as that.

As far as graphical performance, Scarface won’t disappoint you. First of all, Tony looks amazing. He’s got the haircut, the viscous eyes, and even the scar on his face. The guns and other weapon models look really top notch, and they also look incredible in action. Most notably the chainsaw. It looks fantastic, and even more so when it’s rammed into somebody’s torso. And the effects of this look good too. Blood spreads out better than ever on the Xbox. That goes for other weapons as well. Especially when you master headshots. Shot after shot, head after head blowing up before your eyes. It’s just so satisfying.

Another good aspect in the graphics department is the vehicles in the game. You’ve got a lot of different vehicles varying in sizes and shapes. No cars really look better than others, they just all look great. Even when they’re getting dented and shot down, the cars look amazing. Some of the best seen on the Xbox, perhaps the last.

One of the most important things in a shooter of any sort is frame rate issues. Usually in other GTA knockoffs or other shooters, when the heat picks up, the frame rate and you suffer. This one particular game however, does not bog down noticeably. This is excellent. Because time and time again you’ll get into one heck of a mess. A mess involving many thugs who want you dead. And to your advantage, the frame rate won’t slow you down. So there will be no frame rate issues to stop you and your glorious quest to power.

The sound in Scarface is all in all at the top of its game. Now GTA is known to have great soundtracks, but Scarface has a 10 times better soundtrack then any GTA games to date. Scarface’s soundtrack includes many different genres, which is a good mix if it’s executed. It has newer music from some well and not so well known bands, and it even has the original Scarface soundtrack from the movie. Some say a game is only as good as its music. The music in Scarface is top notch.

In the sound effects portion, Scarface is dressed to impress. The guns sound fantastic, different car sounds are great, everything in sound effects in great. Most notably, the chainsaw. We’ve already established the chainsaw looks greats, but in this case, its bark is just as bad as its bite. The chainsaw has one nasty sound, but then again if some random guy came up to you with a chainsaw in hand, it wouldn’t exactly be music to your ears if you know what I mean. Bottom line, sound effects isn’t depressing in the least.

Finally it comes down to the voice acting. First of all, Andre does an absolute fantastic job of Tony’s voice. In fact Al Pacino hand picked him from a crowd of others to do the voice of his character. Now that says something. There are lots of other voice overs from some famous and not so famous people. One of the people who’s not quite not so famous, but not quite fit to be seen in the game is Bam Margera. Yes he’s in the game. One person who’s notably heard is James Woods. He makes a memorable appearance which was almost better than his appearance in San Andreas. Either way they were both very memorable. As far as the value of the game goes, Scarface does a decent job. If you go straight through the story mode, not bothering to dig up any shred of extra content, you should finish the game in about 8-10 hours. But if you go through the trouble of unlocking all the other content (which is quite worth the extra time), you’ll easily add at least another 4 hours to your total play time.

The game does a fairly good job of keeping you entertained throughout. However you’ll find in some points of the game that you’ll get to a point of the story that gets you revved up to keep going, but then your shot down and your told you need to do something. Like boost your reputation or something like that. Moments like that really take away from Scarface. They just really make you feel like not playing and finding something else that will make and keep you entertained throughout the course of itself. Overall, Scarface makes for a solid action game. Compared with Grand Theft Auto, some aspects are better, some aspects are worse. In my own opinion, I seem to think that if a knock off of a popular series or genre can succeed in doing something better (or for lack of a better term, beating it at its own game), then it’s got to be good. Unless of course the superior or original genre/series blows. But I don’t think many would come to the conclusion of GTA sucking. All in all, Scarface is a lengthy; jam packed adventure with tons of unlockables, great variations, very little problems and a great treat to get for somebody who’s a fan of the movie. Scarface is most definitely worthy of a purchase for anybody who’s a fan of Grand Theft Auto, or anybody looking for something similar to it. Hell, if you’re just out looking for a good way to waste your time with a good action packed shooter, it’s still worth checking out. (And honestly, why wouldn’t you play a game with a balls meter?)

There have been many great first person shooter games throughout time, but one particular generation, involving the Xbox, Gamecube, and Playstation 2, has had some of the greatest this world has ever seen. You may or may not remember a particular game called Halo which came around mid-November in 2001. Dubbed one of the greatest shooters of all time. One year later, Metroid Prime was released by Nintendo and Retro Studios. Without going into technicalities, it’s safe to say Metroid Prime is Nintendo’s Halo.

The Metroid series if you don’t already know revolves around a female Bounty Hunter named Samus Aran. But she’s not your average female Bounty Hunter. She’s got a nifty little thing called her Power Suit. A gold and red, shiny, cyborg like outfit that surrounds her entire body. Also, in a Megaman like fashion, she has cannon like thing where her right hand should be. Anyhow in this particular encounter, Samus receives a distress signal from a planet called Tallon IV, which once was inhabited by the Chozo. An inhuman like species, who also created Samus’ power suit. Samus goes to the planet to explore what may or may not be happening…and then it’s all on you. Your first and only objectives…explore.

Of course exploring is limited at the beginning, only because your Power Suit isn’t tricked out…yet. Samus’ Power Suit is much more capable then being shiny and looking cool. It also has the ability to maintain 5 different weapon types, 12 different power shots, 4 different visors, and morph ball capabilities. Samus’s main weapon is just the power beam. It’s your average beam that shoots tiny little circular energy balls. Then there are missiles, a more powerful, though limited, alternative. Samus will also gain access to the Wave Beam, an electric type beam which can stun enemies, an Ice Beam that can freeze enemies, and a Plasma Beam which can burn enemies to a crisp. All of these weapons will be able to charge up and will be able to be combined with missiles for some very cool attacks. Another cool feature of the Power Suit is its visors. These are different types of HUD’s that are used for different things. Your most used one is your battle visor. Basically your standard screen for shooting things. Then there’s your scan visor, which is used to scan certain things like enemies and computers to activate and deactivate things, as well as get information for research logs (these logs all add up to boost your completion percentage). You’ll start with these two visors, but will gain 2 more that really change the games feel, and look for that matter.

One other important Power Suit is the Morph Ball function. It turns Samus into a very much smaller little ball. Though it doesn’t sound like much, the morph ball is capable of much more than just rolling into tiny crevices and slots. There are numerous upgrades for the morph ball, though your most basic is the morph ball bomb. A simpler, tinier, blue ball is dispersed and a small explosion follows. Simple, but there’s much more to it then just dropping them. The bombs can help damage your enemies, and can also make you (in morph ball mode) jump. And with precise timing, you can even pull off a double jump.

Those are the 3 main functions of the power suit, but there’s much more to that Chozoic technology then the eye meets. And by that I mean you’ll be finding a few more goodies that will help you on your way to victory. However, sometimes you have to ask yourself something. “Well gee whiz, with all these nifty little features, wont the controls be horribly, horribly awkward, clunky, and uncomfortable?” Well the answer is simply, no! Even with all these functions, everything plays smooth and comfortable. For example, tap A, and you’ll shoot a healthy stream of fire. Hold A, and you’ll charge your shot. At the touch of a button, you’re shooting a missile, transforming into morph ball mode, dropping a bomb, changing visors, or weapon types, everything at the touch of a button! Though due to the Gamecube controllers’ right thumbstick absence, aiming feels a little bit more unnatural when pitted against a game such as Halo, which benefits from a double thumbstick layout. To aim in Metroid Prime you generally have to hold the R trigger, and then move the control stick to aim. Of course while aiming, you are unable to move. But, Nintendo has come up with a much simpler alternative to manual aiming. In most cases, you can simply hold the Left trigger down, and you’ll automatically lock on to enemies. Simple and comfortable.

The Metroid series always has been renowned for its great graphics, and Metroid Prime doesn’t lose that tradition in any way, shape or form. Now a lot of Nintendo made games are often cartoon like or artistic in perspective. They for the most part don’t push hardware to its limits. However, Metroid Prime may be one of the few exceptions. It delivers some of the greatest graphics of its time. With realistic effects in absolute general. Especially when it comes to up close and personal encounters. For example, a burrower (one of the many creatures you’ll come across) will pop up from the ground and spit blue waste at you. But instead of this just dealing damage, your visor will actually be drenched in this blue liquid for the time being. Another realistic effect is if your running in a smoky area, your visor will (like in real life) fog up. There are many other realistic effects that change the look of things in your visor. And it’s these sorts of things that really make you feel like your actually there. It makes it seem like you are actually fighting off a horde of space pirates, or exploring the depths of the deep blue. Of course realistic visor effects don’t just make graphics great. The game just really looks fantastic. Samus’ power suit is a worthy mention. The times you get to see it in small or large cut scenes, it looks fantastic. It glistens and reacts to every speck of light or energy that may come near you. And the various customizations that happen to her suit all look and react phenomenally. And what would a game be without its great looking bad guys. You’ll encounter many unique looking enemies all with distinguishable features, though some of the enemies are recycled, but have a different feature or two. For example, Space Pirates are one sort of enemy that you’ll encounter on numerous occasions. And by god they do look fantastic in their own special way. However, in addition to Space Pirates, you’ll find Shadow Pirates, Flying Pirates, Aqua Pirates, and weapon specific pirates with a few special exterior features, which are usually colored stripes. But think of that as a bargaining point. In exchange for some linear baddies, you’ve got some mind blowing bosses. The bosses are tremendous in size, with excellent details and you’ll also find that they’re non linear. They all look different and are beautiful in their own hideous, appalling way. Sound and sound effects go hand in hand with graphics. There’s no speech in this game, at all. Hell, there’s not even one bit of dialogue in this game, but that doesn’t mean the sound fails. Metroid Prime’s key sound source is from the sound effects of things. Making up more then half of the sound category, are the various creatures and monsters you come across. As mentioned before there’s a decent amount of bad guy you’ll face. But not only do they look it, but they sound like they really mean business. All the different creatures have varied battle and attack cries, as well as their own unique death cries. Another hefty portion of the sound section, are the various sound effects. Samus herself has 4 different weapons which all have charging and missile capabilities. All of these provide a very unique and distinct blasting effect. These weapon effects added to the painful screams of your average bad guys are oh so satisfying.

When you come across a game you want to play, you ask yourself whether it’s worth actually buying. Or if its one of those games that’s only good for a few days, otherwise known as a rental. Well, especially since its been about 5 years since its release, it’s definitely worth the full blown purchase. Considering you can now buy it anywhere from 5-20 dollars, it’s practically a steal. Metroid Prime will take average players about 15-20 hours. Add a few more hours if you’re going around Tallon IV collecting every single object, expansions and scanning every object there is to scan. To boot, after beating the game for a first time, you unlock hard mode which is definitely worth a shot as it the A.I. is considerably tougher and will push players even further. To add to the games worth, you can unlock 4 different image galleries, and if you own a copy of Metroid Fusion, a GBA, and a GBA-Gamecube cable, you can play the original Metroid on your Gamecube, and also unlock the Metroid fusion suit for Metroid Prime. So all in all you really are getting a great bang for your buck when you purchase Metroid Prime.

Overall, Metroid Prime is just a phenomenal game. It delivers some of the best controls, gameplay, sound, and graphics the Gamecube has ever seen. It delivers some very realistic graphics and effects, a reasonable difficulty for everybody, and it delivers a great first person experience all around. It has just enough of that Halo sort of feel, and just enough of that classical exploration element that Nintendo knows how to deliver oh so well. Metroid Prime is definetly worth the purchase as is recommended for First Person Shooter lovers, or anybody looking for a game with a vast land ripe for exploring.