"Gangsters, thugs and smugglers are thoroughly respected," rapped Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel on their 1982 classic, White Lines. They were talking about drug dealing, of course, but they could so easily have been referring to videogaming's love affair with the urban underworld. And a big TV or movie license which involves the urban underworld? Well, that's marriage material.
This very morning three press releases concerning branded gangland shooters ricocheted off my in-box and imbedded themselves into my brain. First up, Vivendi has announced the star-studded voice acting line-up for its Scarface: The World is Yours shooter. According to the release:
"The cast includes stars from the original film including Robert Loggia (Jagged Edge), who played Frank Lopez, Steven Bauer (Traffic), who starred as Manny Ribera, and Al Israel (Dangerous Minds), who appeared as Hector the Toad. Al Pacino lends his likeness to the lead role in the game and hand-picked the voice-over actor playing Tony Montana. In addition, key lines from Mr. Pacino's performance in the original film appear in the game."
So Pacino had time to pore over the performances of other voice actors, but couldn't spare five minutes to record himself shouting "say hello to me leeetle friend"? What a primadonna. Anyway, loads of other 'top-notch' actors did turn up including James Woods, eighties b-movie baddie, Robert Davi, and Ice 'available for family comedies, stratight-to-DVD action flicks and bar mitzvahs' Cube. They still haven't announced the lead role yet - what's the betting the lucky actor will turn up at E3 looking awkward and quite a bit richer?
Elsewhere, Eidos has released a couple of screenshots (that's one of them above) for its third-person action adventure conversion of Reservoir Dogs...
The game allows you to take on the roles of several characters from the ground-breaking movie, including Mr White and Mr Pink. Rather like the decent PS2 version of The Thing, the game promises to answer a few questions about the film including: 'What happened to Mr. Blue and Mr. Brown?', 'Where did Mr. Pink hide the diamonds?' and 'What actually happened at the heist?', yet seems to avoid the crucial, 'Why did we all find that Like a Virgin scene so funny at the time?'
In another licensing coup, the tie-in features all the music from the film. But, as far as I know, only one actor is returning for voice duties: Michael Masden. I saw it being demo'ed when I visited Blitz last year but am not sure whether the NDA I signed at knifepoint is still valid. Best keep the other details to myself for now then.
Finally, THQ is set to create a videogame based around The Sopranos. Set for release this Christmas on PS2 and Xbox 360 the game will feature several familiar voices from the show, including James Gandolfini. From the extremely proud and excited press release:
"A mob war is brewing as Philadelphia's and New Jersey's most powerful families are about to collide. As the illegitimate son of "Big Pussy," you have been born into the organization and are now being given an opportunity to demonstrate your loyalty to Tony Soprano. As a soldier you must earn money on collections, protect your turf through intimidation, and gain admiration within your own family to move up in the ranks of the organization. Carry out orders from Paulie, Silvio, Christopher and Tony in familiar locations such as the Bada Bing!, Nuovo Vesuvio's and Satriale's. Storyline collaborated with show creator David Chase and voiced by the show's key cast members."
I'm sure all the subtle nuances of character and situation, as well as the insightful probing into the skewed psychology of violence, will be perfectly realised in the videogame interpretation.
Stop laughing at the back.
