The statement that most movie games don't live up to the hype isn't a statement that's far from the truth. In spite of impressive sales figures that most movie tie-ins generate for publishers, most veteran gamers shun them, having been burned one too many times. Throw in the fact that a certain installment of a top-selling franchise drew a great deal of its inspiration from Universal Pictures' intellectual property, and you've got seemingly insurmountable odds for the team at Radical Games. But damned if they aren't figuring out how to overcome it. GameSpy got to take a look at an even fresher build of Scarface last week at Vivendi Universal's pre-E3 event, and it's certainly nothing to sneeze at.

Considering that the film ends with Tony having his heart surgically removed by a shotgun shell at close range, one would wonder exactly how he manages to get away to even have this game exist. Without giving away any spoilers, suffice it to say that it's through simple means, and not with someone magically scooping Tony's major organs back into him and showing Al Pacino's likeness in a hospital bed swearing revenge. Instead, it's done in a very cool way that feels highly plausible.


Visually, the game doesn't look too bad, but it could still use some polish at this point. The animations and the settings look decent enough, but need a little more tightening. However, the game is still in its alpha stages with at least four to five months left before it hits stores, so the chance for a good once over in the visuals department can still certainly be in the cards. While the graphics aren't necessarily stellar -- at least, not in motion -- Radical makes up for it in immersion at this point. They've really captured the ambience of early '80s Miami as portrayed in the film. Driving around Miami, seeing the clubs, the cars, and the streets, it feels a lot like Florida circa 1983. The production team has definitely put a lot of work into keeping things authentic. Hopefully, with some visual sprucing, the two should dovetail nicely in the final product.

In the past, naysayers have dismissed the game as merely being a mediocre clone of another sandbox game that, in a weirdly postmodern twist, was inspired by the source material behind this game. And it's not like the Radical team is living in a bubble. They're fully aware that Vice City has come and gone and left an indelible mark on gamers everywhere. With that in mind, the team's mission seems to be twofold: They want to recreate Tony Montana's Miami as accurately as possible, while building a better sandbox for gamers everywhere. It's part of why the game fell off the release schedule for last year; the team wanted to take as much time as possible to do the game justice.