As the season starts back up again, fans of The Sopranos will have even more to look forward to as the holiday season approaches. Seven Studios and THQ are coming together to release one of the most anticipated games this season, The Sopranos: Road to Respect. The video will follow up on the success of the HBO series with an almost too real gaming version of the show.

Playing the role of Joey LaRocca, the illegitimate son of Big Pussy, you must start at the bottom of the food chain and work your way up, making money from collections, protecting your turf and building admiration from your family members in order to show your loyalty to Tony Soprano and move up within the ranks of the organization. Elizabeth Dahm, the game’s producer says “the idea was to create a truly Sopranos experience – combining favorite characters, distinctive locations and visceral, modern day mob violence in an engaging, interactive world.” And it looks like they did a hell of a good job with that.

While proving yourself to the rest of the family through interactions with other mobsters, the game offers many ways to combat the opponents of the mob war. You are able to interact and move up through “intense verbal interactions” as well as by the extremely violent moves the series is well known for. Some of the combat features are punishing specialty combat moves (like breaking an arm), improvised weapons, location specific intimidation, performance and cosmetic damage (black eyes, bruises) and dynamic verbal intimidation. The game is also voiced by the original cast and features a compelling storyline by creator, David Chase. Dahm explains “Everything about this game is rooted squarely in the Sopranos universe. We built our environments to set the stage for visceral, modern day mob violence and players will find themselves in combat in locations such as a casino, porn studio, a chop shop and many others. The game play focuses on weapons of convenience and moments of visceral, over-the-top violence, where Joey has to use whatever he can lay his hands on to make his point – whether it is whacking an opponent’s head into a urinal, beating him down with a mop, shooting him execution-style or all of the above.” Say goodbye to all those cheesy video games of the past. Who needs guns and knives when you have meat slicers and baseball bats? Although maybe a bit too realistic for some people, Road to Respect promises an intriguing story line with lots of violent crime sprees and good ole' family values. Road to Respect is slated to be released this holiday season.

A PimpWiz Exclusive By, Lauren Fairbanks

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