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The Sopranos: Road to Respect

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The Sopranos: Road to Respect
North American cover art
Developer(s)7 Studios
Publisher(s)THQ
Director(s)Douglas Carrigan
Producer(s)Mo Davoudian
Writer(s)Allen Rucker
Paul Golding
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 HBO series The Sopranos (1999–2007). The game's storyline takes place between the fifth and sixth seasons and centers on Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero's illegitimate son, Joey LaRocca, as he works his way up in the Soprano crime family.

Road to Respect was published by THQ for the PlayStation 2; a version for the Xbox 360 was set for release, but was canceled.[2] The game received mostly negative reviews.

Gameplay

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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 a linear, story-driven action game as opposed to Grand Theft Auto's open-world type gameplay. Players are able to play 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

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The game begins with Tony Soprano offering Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero's son Joey LaRocca (the player character) a place in the Mafia after discovering that he's become a petty thief and punk. While working as a bouncer in the Bada Bing, Joey accidentally beats a man to death after he insults Paulie. The victim turns out to be Mario Buscetta, the nephew of Angelo Buscetta. Angelo is the boss of the Philadelphia mob. Angie orders a hit on Joey, but Joey kills the hitman during a rooftop chase. However, Tony then forces him to whack his friend Reggie after he and Silvio conclude that some kind of punishment is necessary.

Joey going to talk to Paulie at Satriale's

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 black dealers to kill his partner and steal his dad's car. Joey, who had agreed to keep an eye on AJ, retrieves the car and kills one of the dealers, only to have the car stolen by Angie's men. While Joey is fearful that 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 porn studio run by his brother Dino.

Angie then 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 approves Joey becoming a made man 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.

An alternative ending is unlocked should Joey lose all of his respect; the game has a brief scene of him on a boat with Tony and Paulie, asking if he can keep his eyes.

Cast

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Cast members who reprised their roles from the show include James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante, Tony Sirico as Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri, Joseph Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore, Vincent Pastore as 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 Monica Keena as Joey's girlfriend Trishelle and Robert Costanzo as Angelo Buscetta of the Philadelphia mob. Anthony DeSando, who played Brendan Filone on the series, voices an entirely new character as LaRocca's friend and associate, Reggie.

Development

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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."[3] 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.[3] Chase did however oversee Alan Rucker's script for the game to ensure "the characters were true to the characters."[4]

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."[3]

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.[5]

Making-of documentary

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HBO: The Making of 'The Sopranos: Road to Respect' is a behind-the-scenes documentary[6] 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

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The game received "generally unfavorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.[7] 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.[19]

References

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  1. ^ "Gamers Get 'Made' With THQ's The Sopranos(R): Road to Respect(TM) for the PlayStation(R)2 Computer Entertainment System". GamesIndustry.biz. November 9, 2006. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  2. ^ Harrison, Dave (July 29, 2006). "Xbox 360 Sopranos whacked". Gamesradar. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Totilo, Stephen (October 3, 2006). "'SOPRANOS' CREATOR: VIDEO GAME HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SHOW". MTV. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Totilo, Stephen (June 15, 2006). "WHACK OR BE WHACKED IN 'SOPRANOS' VIDEO GAME". MTV. Archived from the original on June 4, 2024. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  6. ^ HBO: The Making of 'The Sopranos: Road to Respect' (2006) at IMDb
  7. ^ a b "The Sopranos: Road to Respect Critic Reviews for PlayStation 2". Metacritic. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  8. ^ Whitehead, Dan (November 22, 2006). "The Sopranos Review". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  9. ^ Reeves, Ben (February 2007). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect". Game Informer. No. 166. Archived from the original on November 25, 2007. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  10. ^ Mueller, Greg (November 20, 2006). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 9, 2006. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  11. ^ Grisham, Richard (November 13, 2006). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect". GamesRadar. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  12. ^ "The Sopranos: Road to Respect Review". GameTrailers. December 21, 2006. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  13. ^ Valentino, Nick (November 28, 2006). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect – PS2 – Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on April 5, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  14. ^ Haynes, Jeff (November 21, 2006). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect Review". IGN. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  15. ^ Meer, Alec (November 22, 2006). "The Sopranos: Road to Respect UK Review". IGN. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  16. ^ Devlin, Paul (December 4, 2006). "The Sopranos Review". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
  17. ^ D'Aprile, Jason. "Reviews – The Sopranos: Road to Respect". X-Play. Archived from the original on January 9, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  18. ^ Antonucci, Mike (December 24, 2006). "GAME REVIEW: 'The Sopranos: Road to Respect'". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on February 16, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
  19. ^ Pope, Nick (January 10, 2019). "Remembering 'The Sopranos: Road To Respect' Video Game, The Lost Episode True Fans Need To See". Esquire.
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