I’ve watched it. The extended look at the game humanity’s breath is currently held for. The one that doesn’t have a PC release date right now, making it hard to know how to feel about covering it extensively if, say, your job revolves around writing about PC games. For today, I’ve left those concerns at the door. I’ve taken in all the extended look had to offer. Honestly, I think I can finally see what all the fuss is about.
It starts with a balding man emerging from a pork store. He lights up a cigar. There’s no confirmation the person controlling him has pressed R1 to make him smoke this cigar, but I think we can safely assume that. Suddenly, that classic sound of a window breaking. Our heavyset friend turns to see where it’s come from. A man’s breaking into a car, a classic activity in this series we all know and love.
He smacks someone challenging him about this crime with a wooden board. Interesting, the melee combat looks solid. He then runs down the street and straight into the brick shithouse we saw smoking at the start. Ooh, uncle Tony, so this boss-looking guy with the cigar is related to the scrappier young man who seems to fit the protagonist mold. Now they’re seemingly inside the pork store. Uncle Tony slams the kid up against a fridge, asking him why he’d pull a stunt like that on this street. The kid tries to defend himself by saying it was just sitting there for the taking.
I’m sensing some tension between these two, a strained bond between a would-be mentor who teaches hard lessons, and a younger crim who wants to make his own way in the world, but still craves the approval of his teacher. There’s talk of families being shamed, so clearly this is about more than just business – stature and reputation are clearly important to this Tony fellow. Anyway, the kid’s name is revealed to be Joey and for some reason his father’s name is bleeped out. I can’t see why that is. It’s not like people are regularly named curse words like shit or rude slang terms like, wait I can’t think of one. Pussy. There, that’s one. Maybe his dad’s a secret agent or something.
Tony then softens up, there’s talk of him being able to help Joey get money or find work. He tells Joey to beat it and Joey stares at the purse he just stole before leaving, so that temptation to go his own way’s still there. Tony yells at him to get a move on and he goes. The seeds of a relationship between these two have been planted, and we can only assume it’ll ebb and flow throughout the game’s plot. I must admit, though, I’m struggling to see how they’re supposed to be Bonnie and Clyde-inspired lovers. That’s probably just me not being open-minded enough. Love, after all, can be a familial bond rather than a romantic one.
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Overall, it was a bit shorter than I expected for an extended look, but I’m thoroughly hyped up. We can only hope The Sopranos: Road to Respect gets a PC release date soon, so those pesky console bastards aren’t the only ones who can enjoy it.