Tony Montana is Back for Revenge in Scarface: The World is Yours
by Steven Hopper

“He screwed up and now he has to rectify it, and anyone who took over a piece of his business while he was gone is his enemy.”

First you get the money. Then you get the power. Then you get the women. Well, that’s basically the creed that Tony Montana lived by before he was cut down in a hail of gunfire in the classic film Scarface. However, the new game based on the film tweaks the end of the movie by putting you in Tony’s shoes right before that fateful last shotgun blast to the back that finally brought him down. After that, the world is yours.

Scarface: The World is Yours re-imagines the end of the film and goes from there, giving gamers the chance to rebuild Tony’s massive empire from scratch and getting revenge on Sosa, the Bolivian drug lord behind Tony’s downfall.

At a recent press event, GameZone got the chance to sit down with Daniel Badilla, Producer for Scarface: The World is Yours and ask him a few questions about the production of the game.

Why make Scarface into a game?

Daniel Badilla: The grand vision didn’t begin as an open-world game, but as a linear game. However, once the change was made to make it an open world, it was decided that the “open-ended game” genre needed a known character. Tony Montana fit the bill with his ability to draw people in and be a compelling character to play as. We had a list of IPs to go through from Universal and Scarface just seemed like a perfect fit.

The game represents a good connection between a movie and a video game, as it broadens the scope and extends the fiction of the film, allowing the player to mold the world themselves.

With Scarface being such a beloved film, what were some of the challenges you faced while making the game?

DB: There were a ton; the movie is all about Tony and Sosa, going back and forth between them. While characters like the Diaz brothers bear weight on the story, they are only mentioned, and fans have no real face to put to the name. So, we said, ‘let’s stay as true as we can to this universe and give Tony more to play against,’ to feed off revenge and focus on the enemies. He screwed up and now he has to rectify it, and anyone who took over a piece of his business while he was gone is his enemy.

Would you then consider this game to be a sequel?

DB: Yeah, I think this game should be seen a little bit as a sequel, and more of an extension of the fiction, kind of like a “What if” comic book, basically ‘What if Tony had moved on and gone forward?’ The game puts you in control of Tony right before his last moment, and after that it’s up to the player. Whether or not you want Tony to get shot in the back at that moment like in the film or if you what him to live, then that’s up to you.

What kind of involvement role did Universal play in the game’s development?

DB: Universal looked over everything with a close eye, since the Scarface license is their baby. We had to submit things to them, and they’d give us feedback, as in what to keep and what to change. They kept a very close watch, and that helped to validate the game.

Speaking of that, what kind of role did Al Pacino have in the game’s development? I’d heard that he lent his likeness and handpicked the guy to do Tony’s voice.

DB: Those are both true, and the guy he picked for the role actually used to be his drive, and they used to go back and forth doing Tony voices in the car.

With the game itself, Pacino had a huge involvement with the Tony character, approving his facial models and the look of the character.

Like Universal, we wouldn’t do anything without his approval.

The game adheres to a moral code, which is new for an open-ended game like this. Tony actually won’t be able to kill innocent people. How was this concept factored into the game’s development?

DB: One of the reasons was that Pacino didn’t want to be any part of the game unless Tony acted accordingly to how he did in the film, and not just be another goon. However, while Tony can’t go around killing innocent people, his henchmen can. This presents caveats for the player, as each character has their own specialty and each one has their own flair.

Everyone’s going to play a little different right? So, we held Tony up to his own code and the henchmen up to their own.

Thanks for your time, Daniel.

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