Short but sweet.
Bada Bing and the Pork Store act as hubs where you get missions assigned to you with very little to no choice in where you are going next. This is definitely not a free roaming game and very linear. Hiowever, there you have a ever so slight freedom within each level to talk to people, do some tasks that offer no benefit other than offer more dialogue or search for "loot" such as cell phones, wallets, etc. to pay off tribute. Instead of being policed by the police during missions you are basically policed by The Sopranos themselves. You have a respect meter that goes down if you start making your self to conspicious at the wrong times such as blowing a guys head off in a gym full of people. If the family loses total respect for you the next thing you will know you will be sleeping with the fishes (literally) and its game over. Fortunately, there are quite a lot of times that you can get very brutal either in finishing moves or special moves (think The Punisher game). The characters and their going ons are so engrossing it almost makes the gameplay forgivable. Almost. Most of the actual game parts consist of fighting people whether it be at a rave or at a law office. The only place I think they did not bring any fighting was at a Bar Mitzvah. The fights often seem strange and out of place but give excuse to use combos and finishing moves. Its hard not to feel guilty when you find yourself pounding on an old lawyer that looks like Matlock. Well, maybe not.
You get limited times that you use your gun and there is nothing to it at all. Just pull the L1 button which automatically pulls your tartget and hit R1 to fire. That's it. There is no crouching, no diving, no precise targeting. Nada. As for firearms, you get a pistol and can pick up a shotgun temporarily towards the end of the game. It makes the game more realistic but less fun for some.
Basically, this game is not for someone looking for a deep and thrilling experience. Its not like Godfather, its not like Scarface, its not like GTA. Oddly, the game reminds me of 24: The Game in that it nails its source material but doesn't quite fit into the shoes of a game. Its almost like an interactive movie where you are just going through the motions of the game to progress the story. Don't expect a full season either because its 4-5 hours long which as you will see my most comments was really disappointing. Definite rental material.
Thanks for reading my review.
Bryan "SpookyX" Danek