The Sopranos: Road to Respect

Overview

The Sopranos: Road to Respect is a game adaptation of the HBO crime drama series The Sopranos. It was developed by 7 Studios and published by THQ as an exclusive to PlayStation 2 in 2006.

The game serves as a side-story to the TV show, taking place between seasons five and six. You play as Joey LaRocca, the illegitimate son of Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, an infamous rat in the Soprano crew. After attempting to rob a pedestrian outside of Satriale's butcher shop, Joey is taken under the wing of Tony Soprano. The game has you completing missions for him, most of which are comprised of be-em-up levels. Originally planned for a Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 release, the game was cancelled on the Xbox 360 for undisclosed reasons. The game was released on the Playstation 2 November 7, 2006 and was developed by 7 Studios and published by THQ and HBO. The game received mostly negative reviews due to its highly repetitive gameplay, weak graphics and poor collision detection. In a Gamespot review of the game critic Greg Mueller said the game was "...The Sopranos: Road to Respect is a straightforward mission-based action game with a strong cast of identifiable characters and a fairly interesting story, but it's also ugly, short, riddled with bugs, and just no fun to play."

Gameplay

The missions in The Sopranos: Road to Respect mainly consist of beat 'em up style combat throughout. You're given a gun, but using it too many times during a mission will ultimately cause you to lose all of your respect, and thus getting "whacked" via cutscene by Tony and the gang. There are a few chase missions that ultimately lead up to you using the gun in a primitive targeting mini-game. A target reticle is placed on the screen and you must aim it correctly to pull off the shot. There are also timed button press finishers that can be performed when near an object such as a file cabinet, toilet, or table saw. When the player has worn an enemy down significantly, they can proceed to finish them off by performing a gruesome finisher. There is also a poker mini-game accessible from the game's main menu in which you play against the Soprano crew.

Trivia

• An Xbox 360 version of the game was cancelled late in development for undisclosed reasons.