The Sopranos: Road to Respect


The Sopranos: Road to Respect is a 2006 video game by American developer 7 Studios based on the hit HBO series The Sopranos, which aired from January 10, 1999 to June 10, 2007. The game was released on November 7, 2006.
The game's storyline takes place between the fifth and sixth seasons and centers on Big Pussy Bonpensiero's illegitimate son, Joey LaRocca, as he makes his way through the family business.

Gameplay

The player is able to take missions from the main characters of the series at certain points in the game. Road to Respect differs from other mob-influenced games in that it is in a linear, story driven action game as opposed to Grand Theft Auto's open-world type gameplay. However, players are able to play Texas Hold 'Em with members of the family and visit Bada Bing. Unlike the TV show, the game focuses almost exclusively on the Mafia aspect of The Sopranos rather than the blend of family, business and therapy to which fans of The Sopranos have become accustomed.

Story

The game begins with Tony Soprano offering Joey LaRocca, the protagonist, a place in the Mafia. During his first job, he accidentally kills Mario Buscetta, the nephew of Angelo Buscetta. Angelo is the boss of the Philadelphia family. Angie sends a hitman to kill Joey, but Joey kills the hitman during a rooftop chase.
A few days later, Tony's son A.J. has a drug deal go bad on him; his partner wasted the drug money, prompting the dealers to kill his partner and steal his dad's car. Joey retrieves the car and kills one of the dealers, only to have the car stolen by Angie's men. While Joey is fearful the theft of Tony's truck may get him whacked, Tony says that A.J. admitted responsibility. Tony has Joey retaliate for the theft by burning down one of Angie's businesses.
A few days later, Angie returns Tony's car, completely wrecked, and containing Joey's girlfriend, Trichelle, beaten and raped. Joey vows vengeance. At the docks, he finds Angie and throws him off of his yacht, killing him.
Through various intervals in the game, Joey is visited by the ghost of his dead father Salvatore, who warns him about some of the trouble ahead. For eliminating the rival boss Angie, Tony makes Joey a new official affiliate to the Soprano clan. Just before the ceremony, Joey is visited one last time by Salvatore, who is not bitter about his son joining the same mobsters who killed him and only wants the best for him, and that he is at peace in the great beyond.

Cast

Cast members include James Gandolfini returning as Tony Soprano, Michael Imperioli returning as Christopher Moltisanti, Steven Van Zandt returning as Silvio Dante, Tony Sirico returning as Paulie Gualtieri, Joseph Gannascoli returning as Vito Spatafore, Vincent Pastore returning as Big Pussy Bonpensiero, and Robert Iler returning as A.J. Soprano. The main character is voiced by Christian Maelen as Joey LaRocca. Other noted actors Monica Keena as Trishelle and Robert Costanzo as Angelo Buscetta. Anthony DeSando, who played Brendan Filone on the series, voices an entirely new character as LaRocca's partner in crime, Reggie.

Reception

The game received "generally unfavorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game received poor reviews from gaming websites like GameSpot and IGN, which complained of overly simplistic gameplay mainly involving beating endless numbers of anonymous thugs by repeatedly mashing the "punch" button, a tiny and completely linear game world with no ability to explore, blocky and unappealing graphics, marginal game mechanics such as nearly-useless money and a "respect" meter which is almost always irrelevant to gameplay, and various clipping and collision detection bugs. The voice acting contributed by Sopranos cast members received praise.