The Sopranos: Road to Respect

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The Sopranos: Road to Respect
Composer(s)
Victor Rodriguez
Platform(s)PlayStation 2
Release
  • NA: November 9, 2006[1]
  • EU: November 17, 2006
  • AU: November 23, 2006
Genre(s)Action-adventure, beat 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player

The Sopranos: Road to Respect is a 2006 video game by American developer 7 Studios based on the

sixth seasons and centers on Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero
's illegitimate son, Joey LaRocca, as he works his way up in Tony Soprano's crime family.

Road to Respect was published by THQ for the PlayStation 2; versions for the Xbox and Xbox 360 were set for release, but were canceled.

Gameplay

The player is able to take missions from the main

Texas Hold 'Em with members of the family and visit the Bada Bing!
. The game focuses almost exclusively on the Mafia aspect of The Sopranos.

Story

The game begins with

hitman
during a rooftop chase.

Joey going to talk to Paulie at Satriale's.

A few days later, Tony's son

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 of 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; he is at peace in the great beyond.

Cast

Cast members who reprised their roles from the show include

Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, and Robert Iler as Anthony "A.J." Soprano Jr
. The main character, Joey LaRocca, is voiced by Christian Maelen.

Other cast members include

Brendan Filone
on the series, voices an entirely new character as LaRocca's friend and associate, Reggie.

Development

The concept for the game originated from an idea that Sopranos creator David Chase had years earlier in his writing career. Chase described the original idea as "an action/comedy about a regular Joe from nowhere who decides he wants to be in the Mafia and how you go about joining."[2] Despite the connection to his original idea, Chase maintained that it wasn't his idea to develop a Sopranos video game and that HBO executives spearheaded the project.[2] Chase did however oversee Alan Rucker's script for the game to ensure "the characters were true to the characters."[3]

In an interview with MTV around the time of the game's release, Chase insisted that Road to Respect had little to no connection to the show: "It wasn't my idea to do a game [...] What I didn't want to have happen was that the game and the show bleed together, that any of the stuff in [the show's] story arcs [...] was in the game or had anything to do with the game."[2]

Many actors from the show reprised their roles for the game, lending their voices and likenesses. Christian Maelen, who voiced the new player character Joey LaRocca, was reportedly Chase's second choice to play Christopher Moltisanti.[4]

Making-of documentary

HBO: The Making of 'The Sopranos: Road to Respect' is a

behind-the-scenes documentary[5] that aired on HBO in 2006; the hour-long special
includes previews of Road to Respect, cast and crew interviews, and footage of actors recording their parts for the game.

Reception

The game received "generally unfavorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.[6] The game received poor reviews from gaming websites like GameSpot and IGN, which complained of overly simplistic gameplay, a small and linear game world with little ability to explore, blocky and unappealing graphics, marginal game mechanics, and various clipping and collision detection bugs. The voice acting contributed by Sopranos cast members received praise.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Gamers Get 'Made' With THQ's The Sopranos(R): Road to Respect(TM) for the PlayStation(R)2 Computer Entertainment System". GamesIndustry.biz. 2006-11-09. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  2. ^ a b c Totilo, Stephen (October 3, 2006). "'SOPRANOS' CREATOR: VIDEO GAME HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SHOW". MTV. MTV. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  3. ^ Pope, Nick (September 1, 2019). "Remembering 'The Sopranos: Road To Respect' Video Game, The Lost Episode True Fans Need To See". Esquire. Equire. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  4. ^ Totilo, Stephen (June 15, 2006). "WHACK OR BE WHACKED IN 'SOPRANOS' VIDEO GAME". MTV. MTV. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  5. ^ HBO: The Making of 'The Sopranos: Road to Respect' (2006) at IMDb
  6. ^ a b "The Sopranos: Road to Respect Critic Reviews for PlayStation 2". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  7. ^ Whitehead, Dan (2006-11-22). "The Sopranos Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
  8. ^ Reeves, Ben (February 2007). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect". Game Informer. No. 166. Archived from the original on 2007-11-25. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  9. ^ Mueller, Greg (2006-11-20). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2006-12-09. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  10. GamesRadar
    . Retrieved 2013-06-27.
  11. ^ "The Sopranos: Road to Respect Review". GameTrailers. December 21, 2006. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
  12. ^ Valentino, Nick (2006-11-28). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
  13. ^ Haynes, Jeff (2006-11-21). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect Review". IGN. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  14. ^ Meer, Alec (2006-11-22). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect UK Review". IGN. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  15. ^ Devlin, Paul (2006-12-04). "The Sopranos Review". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
  16. X-Play. Archived from the original
    on 2007-01-09. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
  17. ^ Antonucci, Mike (2006-12-24). "GAME REVIEW: 'The Sopranos: Road to Respect'". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
  18. ^ Remembering ‘The Sopranos: Road To Respect’ Video Game, The Lost Episode True Fans Need To See

External links

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