Anyone who's read my review of 24: The Game will know about my stance on movie/TV tie in games - I generally want to burn them and curse their families. It just annoys me that cigar-chomping executives pay a shed load of money for a license and sell familiar brands to unsuspecting millions whilst underpinning them with half-hearted, shoddy games. I promised myself that my rant would be kept to a minimum this time so I'm going to stop complaining… now.

The Sopranos. Anyone who's anyone will know the show, and anyone who knows the show will know that it's about people, crime and 'the family'. The first family concerned is that of the boss of the New Jersey mafia, Tony Soprano. The show is a window into the life of this very successful fictional gangster and how his home life is affected by his work, the money he makes, the guns under the bed and the FBI watching - always watching. It's also about how the family cope with the situation; the disgruntled wife, the innocent kids brought up in a life of crime, but also the orbiting lesser family members and the ongoing conflict and traditionally honourable conduct between them.

While this sociological insight into the family is observed, there is also an introspective look into the mind of the family's head, Tony. He is a deep and brooding man, seen as a monument of leadership by his followers, a bastion of solidity in a chaotic and unpredictable business climate. But his weaknesses are also seen by a privileged audience who bear witness to moments of his personality that no member of his family or crew will ever get to experience. He goes to see a psychologist, something vigorously frowned upon in his culture, and he also has strange dreams, reminders from his guilty subconscious of the terrible acts he has committed in his career.

The Sopranos is also about another family - the mob, the mafia, wise guys, whatever you want to call them. They're a crime syndicate operating out of New Jersey, intent on making as much money as possible regardless of insignificant annoyances such as, you know, the law. The Sopranos gives us an insight into how business-like organised crime is and how much the family is structured like a modern corporation, with Tony as the chief executive. It turns out that organised crime is about managing people, making decisions and knowing your market, and if a couple of people stick their necks out of line just a little too far and accidentally get clipped, they should have known better. And that's just the thing - that's the single point upon which the majority of this review will hinge. Notice how many things The Sopranos is about before it's ever about violence. Sure, there's a lot of violence in it, it is after all about organised crime, and organised crime would be highly unsuccessful if it wasn't willing to get its hands dirty every now and then, but violence doesn't define the show - it's simply a necessary ingredient.

So, you can imagine my concerns when I heard that there was a game to be made of The Sopranos. You may have guessed at this point that I'm a fan. So what, I ask myself, are developers going to put in it? Will it be a dark and brooding look into the psychology of its protagonist? I hope not, because as much as that works for the TV show it would make a seriously bland and boring game. No, that's not the road they went down unfortunately my worst fears were realised. Some goon with a budget seems to have watched a trailer for Season 3 and thought, "Hey, that's got loads of violence and boobies and James Gandolfini in it. That would make a great game!" What a cretinous individual that man must have been.

The game's introduction sees Pussy's illegitimate son breaking into a car and stealing a purse right outside Satriale's butcher shop. Tony happens to see this and clotheslines the escaping felon, bringing his short-lived career as a petty criminal crashing to the ground. After a stern telling off, he is offered a job at the Bing (Bada Bing to give it its full title) and so begins your journey from lowlife street urchin, along the 'road to respect' to, er, respect. I feel I have to interject here and point out to you, if you haven't noticed already, that you aren't going to play this game as Tony Soprano. Instead you're going to play as some upstart who was kind of but not really related to a fat guy who died so early on in the TV saga that no-one really remembers him any more. It seems that in this game you will be a tourist, exploring the world of The Sopranos as a guest, rather than a member of the family. I don't know why games do this. The Godfather sucked because it was a bad game, but also because you played as a nobody. The great thing about the new Scarface game is that it's a great game, but the best part about it is that you're Scarface, not some second rate thug that works for him, what would be the point?! Sorry, am I ranting again?

As far as the graphics are concerned, significant time and care has gone into recreating James Gandolfini's face for the role of 'virtual' Tony Soprano. As in-game facial recreations go this is one of the better ones (although not as good as another Tony in the recent Project 8). Tony's face is well animated too, chomping away at a fat cigar as his character occasionally does. The only issue here is that the effort has been focused mainly on the pre-rendered cut-scenes, apparently at the expense of the in-game graphics. No doubt the fat cigar chomping executive producer wanted to make sure the trailer looked good so he could sell more copies of the game to unsuspecting punters. Ahem. Sorry. As you play the game it doesn't look terrible, but it doesn't blow you away either. The first location of the game is The Bing, where you must complete a series of tasks for a number of the show's characters. The Bing itself has been recreated fairly accurately and includes a number of dancing girls on stage. One of the first girls you see asks you to confront the DJ so he'll change the music and after the request she makes a subtle, sultry gesture. This involves her moving her slightly blocky breasts in a rocky and clunky motion, which I'm sure is supposed to be sexy but actually looks quite funny and even borders on scary. The location itself looks quite detailed, but you'll never get to see much of it because of the way the camera veers wildly. It is far too sensitive and as you run around it gets quite twitchy and unpredictable. Plus the indoor environments are usually quite tight so the camera keeps bouncing off walls and ceilings. Grrr.

The Sopranos have decided not to be a sheep in a flock of… sheep, and haven't gone down the road that The Godfather and Scarface have before it by using a free roaming environment. Instead its attempt at being original has crippled the gameplay by leading you through set pathways, more often than not indoors, and if you do venture outside it will often stop you from crossing the road. There are nooks and crannies to explore, but there's rarely anything in them of note; for the most part you run in a straight line.

One positive note is that most of the original cast are on board to provide their likenesses and voices. They're all pretty well acted; luckily the actors are familiar enough with the characters now that they don't sound flat and uninspired. The creator of The Sopranos, David Chase, was also involved in writing the script. You'd think this would add some weight to the plot and actually give it some depth, but you'd be wrong - so very wrong. The plot involves little more than a series of criminal activities that showcase the show's characters, fetching Paulie's sandwiches and giving the developers a chance to recreate every location seen in the last six seasons, or so it seems. There are no plot twists and this isn't like watching another mini-series of the show with its biting drama and chilling sense of unease - it just happens to have the same characters. Boo.

And so we come to the gameplay, the reason we pick up the controller in the first place, rather than the DVD. I'm going to right out and say that it's shoddy, in case you get your hopes up. As you begin, outside the Bing with Sal watching over, you are led through a series of button combinations that do different things. X performs a quick attack, circle grabs and so on. Once the game picks up momentum you'll be hammering the fast attack button, occasionally finding time to throw a heavy attack and throwing in the odd grapple out of sheer boredom than anything else. You can put a guy to the floor and pummel him there if you want, or you can perform a special move when prompted. This involves kicking the guy in the nuts or something equally as banal. Oh, and you can smash people's head in drawers and against urinals and such. The reason this all sounds so dreary is, well, because it is dreary. The character models don't even interact properly, so when punches are thrown they don't look like they've landed, and every now and then your arm will go through the other guy. The only thing that's mildly amusing is slamming somebody's head into something, but even then it only looks half convincing.

Get this, you can use guns, but you really can't. Brilliant isn't it? There are guns available and you have the ability to shoot them, at people if you wish, but every time you do you lose respect (we know this thanks to the handy respect-o-meter in the corner). If you lose too much respect then Tony comes and kills you. At least one element of the game has stayed true to the show, but it's not good for gameplay though. Oh no.

There are a couple of extras in the game, like the ability to rob people you've beaten and spend the cash on pictures from the production gallery, and there's a poker game that really feels like a last minute add-on, which completes The Sopranos experience. If you play this and can put up with it for long enough like I had to, you'll be through it in about eight hours, max, and when you do get to the end you'll wish you'd spent the time learning pottery instead. Of the recent gangster tie-ins that have come out over the last few months, Scarface is top of the pile for me. It has character, it has some really stunning visuals that tell me the PS2 still has some life in it, it has longevity (I've been playing for nearly three weeks now), and it's really good fun to walk around being Tony Montana smoking cigars, hitting on women and making massive, multi-million dollar cocaine deals. The Sopranos: Road to Respect pales in comparison unfortunately; it has the feel of a game that was brought out simply to make money off the back of a popular TV show, not something that has had loving care poured into it so the gamer can have a great experience. As far as games go (because when it comes to The Sopranos the show and Scarface the movie, my opinions are a little, not a lot, but a little different), steer clear of Tony Soprano and head for another Tony that will actually show you a good time. And not in a Bangkok hooker kind of way either. Not that I would know about good times with Bangkok hookers. Okay, I'm going to stop writing now…

Reviewed by Jim Powell for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).