Metacritic Games

Sopranos: Road to Respect, The (Playstation 2)

A mob war is brewing as Philadelphia's and New Jersey's most powerful families are about to collide. As the illegitimate son of "Big Pussy," the gamer has been born into the organization and is now being given an opportunity to demonstrate loyalty to Tony Soprano. As a soldier, players must earn money on collections, protect turf through intimidation and gain admiration within their own family to move up in the ranks of the organization. Carry out orders from Paulie, Silvio, Christopher and Tony in familiar locations such as the Bada Bing!, Nuovo Vesuvio's and Satriale's. The storyline was created in collaboration with show creator David Chase, and the show's key cast members provide the voices. [THQ]

THQ
Action, Adventure
Players: 1
M (Mature)
Developer: 7 Studios
Released November 7, 2006

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

42 / 100

Critic Reviews

72 Cheat Code Central
The combat is at least fun initially and the storyline will keep you playing until the end. Fans of the series should definitely play through this title.
71 PGNx Media
The combat is somewhat fun but unbalanced, there are problems in the presentation, and the game like this would have benefited from being less linear. However, fans of The Sopranos will probably enjoy the story which really does play out like an episode of the television show.
65 Digital Entertainment News
The Sopranos: Road to Respect could have been one of the best games this year. It was very engaging, but just when it seems to hit it’s stride, you run out of game.
60 Game Informer
The framerate chugs from time to time, and the controls feel looser than the strippers at the Bada Bing. Still, the story and dialogue had me laughing out loud a few times. If you are a big fan of the show it is worth a look, but don’t expect much.
50 Gaming Age
The game really is very simple. Perhaps it’s too simple for the majority of Soprano fans. It’s definitely too simple for the serious gamer.
50 Games Radar (in-house)
One of the shortest full-price console games in our memory. Despite impeccable voicework, the subpar visuals and dreadful combat controls forced us to dump it unceremoniously under a bridge in Jersey - never to be spoken of again.
47 GamingTrend
For the sake of the people in our profession, please quality check titles before publishing them. If at any point in the testing you sense an urgency to find something sharp and jab yourself with it repeatedly then make a mental note that it’s the fault of a poor game.
46 Games Master UK
It's not really much of a game, unless you really like watching cut-scenes and fighting. [Jan 2007, p.65]
45 IGN
Road to Respect does a disservice to the series. A linear plot, flawed combat and conversation system hinders the title, and a lack of difficulty doesn't help the replayability factor at all.
45 PSM Magazine
Too bad The Sopranos: Road to Respect doesn't give respect to either the franchise it's based on or its fans. [Feb. 2007, p.85]
44 GameTrailers
One of the shortest, sloppiest games of the year. With such amazing source material, it’s really disappointing that all we got after such a long wait was a half-baked beat-‘em-up with broken controls and sub-par presentation.
42 GameSpot
Road to Respect shoehorns the Sopranos license into a clumsy, poorly designed action game that isn't the least bit enjoyable to play.
41 Pelit (Finland)
Makes mockery of a great TV-series. Nothing works and everything makes you angry. This is one offer that is easy to refuse. [Feb 2007]
40 Worth Playing
Plays like the developers took all of the worst points of Grand Theft Auto - the frustrating, often counter-intuitive combat, the tricky camera, the ugly indoors settings – and made it into a game without including anything that made Grand Theft Auto a hit.
40 G4 TV
Even if you don’t find all the vulgar, absurd, and criminal stereotypes of Italian-Americans in the Sopranos offensive, the number of brain cells you’ll lose due to the idiotic gameplay, terrible graphics, and headache-inducing frame rate is enough to enrage anyone.
40 GameZone
Thanks to its broken controls, awkward combat mechanics and uninspiring mission objectives, it’s hard to recommend this game to dedicated fans of the show.
40 GameDaily
Despite the involvement of many of the show's stars, The Sopranos: Road To Respect fails to live up to the high level of the show. The boring combat mixed with pointless situations make it less than enjoyable.
40 Jolt Online Gaming UK
Whether running around the Bada Bing nightclub or a casino, the locations are boxy, linear and woefully outdated in terms of texture quality. Frankly speaking, it just isn’t up to scratch.
40 AceGamez
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.
40 PSM3 Magazine UK
It feels like a clone of "The Godfather," but nowhere near on the same level in terms of depth and enjoyment. [Jan 2007, p.81]
30 VideoGamer
Nothing more than a shockingly lazy attempt to plunder some loot out of a great brand.
30 Eurogamer
As we perch on the cusp of a bold new console generation there's simply no justification for games this anaemic and sloppy, especially at full price. Even in its best moments, The Sopranos is dull, shallow and repetitive - a game already five years past its sell-by date.
30 Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK
Dull, short, unambitious and misguided, Road to Respect has all the appeal of Big Pussy's body - after it got riddled with bullets. [Jan 2007, p.77]
30 PSW Magazine UK
With a slew of better mob games out there - "Scarface" for one, "Made Man" and even "The Godfather" - there's no reason for settling on this mess of a game.
25 Detroit Free Press
Despite its huge weaknesses -- trust me, you don't want to shell out $40 for this thing -- it has two superb elements: dialogue and voice acting.
20 Thunderbolt
Whilst gamers are happy to purchase badly developed, poorly contrived games such as this, sadly those examples will still be a rarity.
19 Play UK
This game is unbearable. We didn't even want to waste time babbling on about getting straight to the point. [Issue #150, p.91]
16 GameShark
EA’s "The Godfather" may not have been perfect, but it took typical gameplay elements, tweaked them in their own way, and made the game compelling in its storyline, graphics, and gameplay. The Sopranos got one out of three, and it isn’t the most important element, which is fun gameplay. This game sleeps with the fishes.

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