The content of the game is purely fictional and should not be imitated
Volition's original Sopranos was released in 2006, the era of the open-world game Renaissance, a time when GTA and The Elder Scrolls were redefining the concept of "open world." New entrants like Volition who want to compete for a place must break the rules and make a difference.
Although "The Sopranos" is not a hit, the follow-up works make it unique with its custom system, wild weapons and abilities, and exaggerated plot, showing a very different style from "GTA". After a decade of development, "The Sopranos" is no longer a nameless person, and the Saints Gang in the game has also grown to become a media giant, the ruling party of the United States, the savior of mankind and the ruler of the world.
To describe "The Sopranos" as "stepping out of the shadow of its predecessors and forging your own path" would be a bit of an understatement.
Today's "Sopranos" is no longer a rookie. The term "dark horse" can no longer be used to describe this IP that is loved by fans, but its plot will still inherit the spirit of winning the strong with the weak. In the reboot that will be released next year, a new young character wants to make a name for himself in a city full of strong enemies – a portrayal of the Sopranos series.
Today, Volition has abandoned the exaggerated setting of "computer simulation world" or "out of hell" and intends to reshape their flagship IP in a more realistic way. The resurgence of The Sopranos is ready to compete with other open-world games.
It will write a new history for The Sopranos.
Say goodbye to the past and start over
When the first Sopranos came out, its resemblance to GTA was a hard thing to avoid. While it also has new elements like character customization, even Volition employees acknowledge that the original had a lot to learn from GTA. Two years before the release of the original Sopranos, R Star had just launched San Andreas.
Jim Boone, Volition's chief creative officer, said: "There's no doubt that GTA has had a big impact on us. We have our own story, but we also learned a lot from GTA."
The series never hides its borrowings, but it has garnered praise from the beginning (Game Informer gives it an 8.75). The original story ending hinted at the existence of a sequel, and two years later, in 2008, players played the series' first multi-platform game, Sopranos 2.
The sequel cemented the series' features and began to take a different path from GTA. The sequel still takes place in Stevens, but this time the game has a richer customization option and the ability to create female protagonists. It has also added flying vehicles such as helicopters and jets, but the most notable change is the new online co-op model.
Sopranos 2 was a huge hit after its release, but it was 2011's Sopranos 3 that really set the tone of the series. Cynical funny, exaggerated scenes, and ridiculously funny weapons make this series even more distinctive. At the beginning of Sopranos 3, the Saints gang has grown from a street gang to a well-known brand, and the energy drinks printed with the word "Saints" and the movies based on them are all proof of the growth of the Saints Gang. In the opening hours alone, players experience massive bank robberies, skydiving escapes, stealing guns from armies, and drone technology.
Sopranos 3 not only set the series on its own path, but also took it to new heights. The studio originally wanted to launch a DLC to continue telling the story of the Saints, but after the idea of "turning them into superheroes", the developers were full of ideas and inspiration. They have so many ideas that a DLC can't fit anymore. So Volition turned these ideas into a complete new game.
If Sopranos 3 set the series moving towards the absurdity of weirdness, then 2013's Sopranos 4 is a game made up entirely of bizarre elements. At the beginning of "Sopranos 4", the protagonist becomes the president of the United States and encounters an alien invasion. That's outrageous enough, and for most of the rest of the day, players will be on a computer-simulated Earth and can use a variety of superpowers — just like The Matrix, except that you're going to take down an alien empire.
In 2015, Volition launched the Sopranos 4 indie expansion pack Sopranos: Break Out of Hell (no need for 4 generations to run), in which players break into the underworld and fight Satan. The plot has developed to this extent that Volition feels that the "Sopranos" series has naturally come to the finale.
Boone explains, "We never explicitly said, 'This is the end.'" We've got it to the top, and if we make a new one, we'll have to restart it." But I think everybody feels that way, we've made it to the extreme, we've had a lot of fun developing it, we tried our best, just get here."
So Volition shelved the SOPR and instead developed Agent of Chaos, which was later released in 2017. The action game's worldview is slightly related to The Sopranos, but it's far from gaining the same level of popularity. And fans are still eager for the return of "The Sopranos Saints". The enthusiasm of the players combined with the love of the studio for the series gave Volition the desire to return to the world of The Sopranos and give it a new look.
The development team explored how to evolve after Breaking Out of Hell. They considered continuing with the story of Sopranos 4 and about flashing back in time to The Sopranos 4, but in the opinion of the developers, the most feasible solution was to restart the entire series and adopt a style between Sopranos 2 and Sopranos 3.
"So we can have room to continue to evolve," says narrative designer Jennifer Campbell, "if we cram everything into it, it's going to be hard to design a follow-up game, and if that's the climax at the beginning, what happens later?" A lot of fans want us to go back to the way we were, a little... A little more reasonable game. We want to make it possible for the reboot to continue to evolve and evolve."
While Volition reduces the absurdity and makes reboots less exaggerated than the last games in the series, don't get me wrong: it still has cynical humor, an ungodly attitude toward ghosts, and disdain for the establishment. "What's clear to us is that we don't want to throw away humor or give up something more extreme," Boone says. But we also make it clear that those extreme things must not be exaggerated like "Sopranos 3". That's one thing we care about: don't overdo it. That's not to say that there won't be any of those weird things in the game, but mainly, a lot of people may have forgotten how outrageous some of the things in Sopranos 3 are."
Reboots will use new characters and cities, which will free Volition from past plots and gameplay. "It gives us a lot of freedom to tell the story we want." When we talk to Sopranos players, they often say, "Volition, if only you could do something like a prequel and tell the story of the Saints Gang." ... Now with reboots, we have the opportunity to tell an origin story, but not in the '80s, nor in the Third Street Saints (from previous games). We can talk about the origin of these new saints."
Using the new role wasn't a rash decision, but the development team thought it was the right thing to do.
Campbell said: "I was really nervous at first because the first few games raised the bar too high. We want to create characters with full images, and if the image is too thin, it will not stand the test of time. We looked back at past characters and looked at what made them stand out, and where they were positioned in the story. We never thought, 'We need a character like Johnny Gat, skin him, change his name, and add it to the game.' We want all the characters to have their own independent images."
After shelving the old characters of The Sopranos, Volition enters a new world, where a new gang is gearing up to take over a new city.
Saints and sinners
Default Version "Boss"
New stories, naturally there are new members of the Saints. This highly customizable protagonist will become the "boss" sooner or later, but at the beginning of the game, she can only start from scratch. The story takes place in San Dorrezo, a city modeled after the Southwest region of the United States. At the beginning of the plot, the protagonist is a low-level member of the martial arts organization "Marshall", but life is not easy, and the rent is expensive, so he can only put aside his differences and share an apartment with members of the rival gang.
Her first roommate, Nina, was from the Leopard Gang, a muscle-talking street gang with predominantly local members; her second roommate, Kevin, belonged to the Idol Faction, an anarchist group that wanted to hinder San Doriso's development.
The last member of the protagonist group is Eli, who is usually the most intelligent and sensible one, which can make the team a little more organized. Eli is in the real estate industry and does not belong to the three major gangs, but his criminal record is far from spotless. He came to San Doriso, originally intended to make a profit from the real estate, but ended up becoming the protagonist, Nina, and Kevin's roommate, and getting involved in a shared relationship that seemed to end sooner or later.
Nina
These roommates, who don't deal with each other, occasionally clash, but it doesn't take long for them to set a "house rule": when they enter the apartment, they don't talk about "work". "This little hassle isn't a big deal compared to paying only a quarter of the rent," said Jeremy Bernstein, chief level designer.
The members at the bottom don't have much money, and they can only survive if they cooperate with each other. In view of this, they began to participate in illegal activities together to make ends meet, such as colluding to rob stores. Although several people have different backgrounds, their personalities and skills complement each other very well. The player character is the backbone of the team, a person who will put the collective first. Kevin was a brilliant warrior who would prioritize the well-being of his friends and had many connections in San Dojreso. Nina is the top driver and the best mechanic in the protagonist group, and she knows the city inside out.
Eli is the brain of the protagonist group and the glue that brings all the members together. "He often tells people in inspirational books and tapes, 'We're going to work for ourselves and take control of our own destiny,'" says Creative Director Brian Traficante.
Eli
In the first mission I tried to play, I saw how the protagonists interacted with each other. In the quest "Making Rent," the buddies, who had just become friends, robbed a money lending company online called Payday. After listening to Eli's plan( including celebrating karaoke), they arrived at the target location. Before the guard, who was busy calling and bragging, realized that something was wrong, the protagonist had already held his gun to his head, telling him to "get away with him before he died in the honorable line of duty." The guards had no choice but to leave to save their lives, and the only defensive measure was solved.
They kicked open the gate and raised their weapons. Nina told the only customer present that they didn't want her money and asked her to leave. The cashier wanted to be the head bird and began to make a big fuss. Kevin knocked the cashier unconscious with his left hand while telling Nina that she had made a big mistake. Eli was not idle, he jumped over the counter and sprinkled powder on the safe, trying to find the traces left by his fingers. "This guy's password is a bunch of 5s," Eli said in disbelief as he pulled money out of the safe, "and thought it was going to take a bit of trouble."
Kevin
As planned, Eli and Kevin follow home with money, and the player and Nina drive away the cops. The police did take the bait and began to chase after me and Nina, completely ignoring the car containing the stolen money. But it also means that we have to run away.
The game also reworked the driving system. In the reboot, walking feels a lot more real than In Sopranos 4, so I'm happy to find that whether it's racing on a trail or drifting around, the hand feels great and the response is very responsive.
My favorite, though, is the new vehicle combat system. During a car shootout, the player can climb to the roof of the car for more space to shoot without being restricted by the window. But now I was driving, so I decided to use the "car movement" to drive the police car out of the road. I can use the X key and the left stick on my Xbox controller to control the vehicle to crash in a specific direction. After hitting several police cars on the bridge and roadside buildings in quick succession, I threw them off with super cool drift.
The police were dumped but they remembered our car, which was no longer safe. So we drove into the desert, ready to change into a fleeing vehicle that Nina had prepared in advance. Unluckily, this wild land is the territory of the Leopard Gang, and Nina did not inform them in advance in order to save the high commission. The Leopard Gang had already spotted the car and had dismantled it. Without speculating for more than half a sentence, we immediately got into a fight with the Leopard Gang.
Gunfights can be seen everywhere in the game, so combat has a big impact on the gameplay experience, and Volition's shooting mechanics are excellent. In my demo version, I used several weapons, each with its own strengths. I blasted off the truck with the vehicle-mounted machine gun with a rocket launcher, and then used the submachine gun to solve the remaining enemies.
The Leopard Gang was solved, but the police were also on their way to hear the noise. The car used to escape had become parts, and the original vehicle was wanted by the police, so Nina and I jumped on the cross-country motorcycle we found nearby and fled into the desert. Unfortunately, this meant that the celebration of karaoke was about to fail, and Eli said annoyedly, "Every time."
After a fierce chase in the desert and "flying" a long distance in the air on a motorcycle, we once again shrugged off the police and ended the mission. As a bonus, I earned money and experience points. Points can be used to unlock new skills, increase health caps, or reduce skill cooldowns. The more money and experience, the better, but perhaps the biggest takeaway is that they find out how well they work together.
"At this time they hadn't formed the 'saints', but they found themselves quite good at this kind of thing, and they should do some more preparation and a few more votes," said Rob loftus, executive producer, "at this time your characters tell them, guys, don't keep staring at this kind of little thing, we should do something bigger." 」
The men formed an unexpected friendship and began to see each other as writers. In the end, they decided to set up their own portals, build their own criminal empires, and create the wealth they dreamed of. Eli, a businessman by training, knew that any good organization needed an office space, and Nina happened to know that the Mercado District had an abandoned church for them to use.
The church was dilapidated at first, but you could pay to renovate the headquarters. When the protagonists first enter the church, they find an iris coat of arms representing catholic saints. So the coat of arms became their logo, and the gang's name was identified as "Saint". The protagonist, who is the core of the team, has also officially embarked on the road to becoming the "boss".
Take what belongs to you
The newly formed "Saints" began to operate as an independent organization. As you might expect, several of the old gangs in San Dojreso were not happy with this, especially since this new gang was formed by their members. So, no matter where you go, there's a chance you'll come across some unfriendly faces. One of the things that struck me was that depending on the differences in the enemy, each encounter could have a very different unfold.
"When it comes to designing the faction, we want to go one step further than in the past. In the past, each faction had a similar difficulty and fighting style," Traficante said, "and this time, the fighting methods of each faction are fundamentally different." We want each gang to present a different challenge, and to make sure that there is a big difference between them."
Under this design idea, different factions have different weapons, abilities, and even tactics.
Most of the members of the Leopard Gang are muscular, using powerful close-range weapons and high-damage melee attacks. They don't have much high-tech equipment, but the members are very strong and know how to live the equipment at hand, so they are still terrible opponents.
Leopard Gang
"Marshall" is the opposite. The dominant company likes to trade wealth for strength, spending large sums of money on high-tech equipment and the training of its members. Marshall's members know how to use strategy, and the advanced equipment makes them more powerful in gun battles. In addition to conventional weapons such as smoke bombs, thermal imagers, and laser sights, Marshall also has a variety of restraint devices such as laser lasso, and their other high-tech equipment is enough to make Iron Man smile.
The Leopard Gang is physically strong, Marshall is financially strong, and the "Idol Faction" comes from numbers. They want the city to shut down and let disorder and chaos rule everything. This idea resonated with many people, making the idol faction seem to have endless fans. They don't have advanced weapons or well-trained warriors, but they take advantage of overwhelming numerical superiority. Once you have a fire with them, you can't end it by killing a few people.
Based on the second story mission I played, the Idol Faction is definitely not an organization that does not blame the traitors in the past. The "Idol Threat" mission takes place a little later in the main storyline. The mission begins with a phone call from Kevin, who is about to return to the Saints' headquarters to brush up on a night of TV series, but the Ambush of the Idol faction has dashed his dreams. In the evening, the protagonist and Eli find that Kevin has never been home, but both guess that he has hooked up with a passerby. The next morning, though, they decided to go out and find out his whereabouts.
Idol pie
Eli uses signal tracking to find Kevin's cell phone in a nearby bar. The protagonist makes a phone call to Kevin, but a strange voice comes out of it, telling the protagonist that "Kevin is tied up." The protagonist's first reaction is that he can really play, but don't tell me so many details. When he arrives at the bar and sees several idol motorcycles and cars, the protagonist reacts and turns out that Kevin has really been kidnapped.
The protagonist walks into a bar full of idol members and smashes a man's head into a jukebox, igniting barrels of explosives and sparking a massive brawl. The game's melee system is relatively simple, basically pulling the trigger in melee mode, waiting until the metering slot at the bottom of the screen fills up, and also releasing a specially animated finishing skill, similar to what we saw in the previous "Sopranos Saints".
After the battle, I found Kevin's phone outside the house, but more idolists flocked to me at this time. These idols are not difficult to deal with, that is, their fireworks grenades are a bit troublesome. After solving the new wave of enemies, I still haven't found Kevin's whereabouts, but I found a member of the idol faction who can still breathe in a mobile toilet. The protagonist kicks down the mobile toilet and drags the hapless egg through the camp with a car (this is a new system in this game, where the player can tie objects to the back of the vehicle and drag it with the car). After getting close and personal with various things, he finally gave up resistance and told them about their plans.
The Idolists kidnap Kevin in order to kill the monkeys and let people know the fate of the betrayal of the Idol faction, so they tie Kevin to the huge San Doriso logo and prepare to detonate the logo with explosives. At this point, the countdown appeared on my screen, so I unhooked the mobile toilet I was dragging and drove towards Kevin. Then the idols used their classic tactics – winning by numbers, and they surrounded me with cars, but I don't have time to deal with them now.
When I arrived, more idol members gathered, and I quickly solved them as I climbed up. Along the way, the protagonist disarms five bombs, and it seems that Marshall's training has finally come in handy. After stopping the idol faction's plan, saving Kevin, and making an appointment to change the date to brush the TV series together, we decided to take revenge on the idol faction a little. The San Doriso logo offers a bird's-eye view of the city, and it's not far from the idol celebration party.
Without hesitation, the protagonist jumped off the sign and opened the wingsuit. While vehicles are the primary means of transportation in the game, wingsuit flying is probably the most efficient way to get around. To fly in wingsuits, players can jump from a height, or use special catapults scattered around the place, or even start flying from the roof. Players can even complete quick trips with wingsuit flight.
The flight path of this mission is very clear: just follow the lights of the idol faction. I finished the landing (though not very gracefully) and then started tackling the idol faction members who were rushing towards me. They tried to suppress me and Kevin, but this was obviously wishful thinking, but after we drastically reduced the number of enemies, some special enemies with shields joined the battle. Dealing with such enemies requires more strategy and patience, but just kill them and the mission is over. This time I was rewarded not only with regular money and experience points, but also with a mobile toilet loot that I could use to decorate the Saints' headquarters.
The mission may have been a success, but I had a hunch that this time ruining their plans and killing all the guests of the celebration would certainly not help to ease the conflict between the saints and the idols. The whole city is now in a state of extreme tension, but this situation is not caused by the saints. Although the several factions in the city did not see the saints rise, this did not mean that they could put aside their previous suspicions and work together.
"If something happens and the Idol Faction catches up with the Leopard Gang and you're fighting the Leopard Gang, the Idol Faction won't necessarily chase you," said Rojé Smith, chief producer, "but will get caught up in a three-way scuffle, because if you think about it, the Leopard Gang doesn't like the Idol Gang, and the Idol Gang doesn't like the Leopard Gang." They are all fighting for themselves. If they want to break into the territory of another gang, their target must not only be the protagonist, they will also shoot at each other. Also, if the police come, they will attack all the forces."
San Dojeliso is a beautiful city with different areas and unique landscapes. But after the saints were founded, the major forces were trying to hold the remaining territory, and the police tightened their strings. A battle for the city that fights for everything begins.
Welcome to San Dorreso
The first few Saints of the Sopranos story take place in the fictional cities of Stevett and Steeltown, two cities based on Chicago and Detroit. In this reboot, developer Volition wanted to create a completely new setting. The result is the city of San Dorèreso, a city that mixes the characteristics of many parts of the Southwestern United States.
"We spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of place we wanted to set the game in," Boone says, "and in the end we chose the American Southwest." What we want to do is more compatible with there... And the richness of the content is what makes us the last decision, because the southwest has a lot of styles, elements to learn from, [designing the city of San Dorreso] has become a creative challenge, but it is an interesting challenge, and the very diverse background is exactly what we want."
To make this fictional city as authentic as possible, Volition created a thick history book that chronicles the history of San Doriso since the 17th century. "[We set up] the whole history, including Jesuit missionaries, events during several Mexican-American wars," Campbell said, "so every time I want to ask, 'Why is this building here,'" I always find an answer."
San Doriso is made up of 11 different districts, including the retro and opulent casino district El Dorado, the lavish commercial and residential area lakeshore, and the "Old Town" with the flavor of the standard American Main Street. San Doi Leso has different flavors of the Southwest, and you can see inspiration from Vegas, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and more.
San Doreliso is not all urban landscape, it also replicates the deserts of the Southwest. The city has two sides: arid wasteland with oil wells and sandstorms on one side, and beautiful oases, lush vegetation and pleasant skies on the other.
Whether you're in the desert or the El Dorado neighborhood, there's a chance to encounter a large number of side quests for players to play when they don't want to push the main line. You can take photos of attractions, collect items to generate income for saints while taking a ride around the city, and do side hustle missions. The two side jobs I played were called Riding Shotgun and Pony Express. In the former, the player travels to the destination to complete a transaction, but your companion kills the seller, and you need to mortgage the pursuing enemy as he drives away. In "Pony Express", players need to ride a off-road vehicle through the desert and deliver a package to a designated location within a specified time.
Compared to story missions, these contents can only be regarded as a small appetizer, but they greatly enrich the gameplay of the game and can also provide a good reward - after completing the "Pony Express", the player can get the off-road vehicle used in the mission. But the most attractive rewards in the side quests come from Criminal Ventures, where players need to run some legitimate business to disguise your criminal activities.
Put on a smiley face
In the "Career of Crime" project, the "Zobo cabura" project, Zobokabra is a legendary vampire monster
The saints were not yet proud enough to feel that they would lose their identity by doing it themselves, but if they really wanted to make a name for themselves, they still needed some strategy. And that's where the "criminal enterprise" side quest comes into play. As the saints continue to expand their influence, they also need to expand in more ways.
"We hope it fits the theme of 'growing the criminal empire' and has an impact on criminal activity," Traficante says, "and companies are not just for retail purposes, they are also a cover for illegal activities." Each industry corresponds to a different criminal activity, which is really interesting."
When you want to carry out a "criminal cause" for saints, you need to open the "Empire Map" at headquarters. It looks like nothing more than an old table and a tourist map, but this is where the saints were planned and the san do ileso was taken step by step.
When the Empire Map is opened, the player can see 15 open spaces throughout the area. "There are specific areas for 'Crime Cause', which allows the player to influence San Doriso and make it your own city. Every player's city is different," says Project Manager Ray Hazlip, "let's say you want to open a military store, you can open it on the edge of the desert or near the city center, it's up to you." If you want to say, "People hate military shops, so I'm going to open it in the most prosperous area," that's no problem."
"Bright Future"
So, should I choose the most central location in El Dorado, or should I open the shop in the museum of "Lakeside"? Finally, I picked a vacant lot in the charming "business district", which is just on the same road as the headquarters. After choosing a place, you have to consider what company to open. I could have chosen the lucrative "Bright Future" to illegally dump toxic waste for other large companies, but considering that this was a business district, I chose the "Zobecabra" program.
In the "Zobocabra" scheme, the saints would package themselves as fast food truck companies, but they would sell more than just the Mexican Taco. The city's fast food trucks have been selling "medicine", and now the saints want to stick a foot in it. To do this, you must first steal the hottest food trucks in San Doriso and use them to earn some extra money.
The food trucks aren't copied from Uncle Fried Chicken's shops, though Volition admits they designed the task with pop culture in mind. "There's definitely some pop culture influence in the Saints," says Executive Producer Loftus, "like those fast food trucks."
After turning the land into a Tucker restaurant, Nina detailed her plans, which included finding someone named Chuy to help. According to Nina, Chuy is not only proficient in selling goods, but his Michelada cocktail is also a must.
Saints can also run the Shady Oak clinic, and it seems that the task of touching porcelain is about to return
Like "side hustles", each "criminal career" has different gameplay elements and a chain of missions to complete. In order to steal the first food truck, I needed to repel several waves of enemy protection trucks and then safely return it to Tucker's restaurant. In another "criminal enterprise" I tried to play, "Bright Future", I had to find the truck containing the toxic waste and then drive it safely back to the waste disposal site to make sure it didn't explode halfway. The more complete waste bins I have, the more money I make when I arrive at the yard.
Sometimes Criminal Cause also offers rewards based on the business you do, and while I didn't play it, it's said that a business about weapon development can provide you with experimental weapons, as well as a hoverboard.
Each "crime career" has unique gameplay elements, some will test your ability to use weapons, some will require you to complete the wingsuit flight challenge, and the mission rewards will also have their own characteristics. "Players get practical rewards, so they're more motivated to do 'criminal work,'" Hazlip says, "and if you do all these tasks, you'll get a whole bunch of different weird things."
"Criminal Cause" highlights one of the themes of the Sopranos series, which is to expand your criminal empire through illegal means. Based on the two "crime careers" I've played, these side quests are the things I'm most looking forward to experiencing in depth after the game's official release next year.
Build your saints
In an interview, Volition made it clear that customization is an integral part of Sopranos. Since the original was released in 2006, players have been able to customize their characters. The three words customization have run through the history of the entire series, and today, it is more than just clothes and sounds that can be customized.
"Customization is one of the most iconic elements of Sopranos," says Chief Creative Officer Jim Boone, "and not only the characters, but the vehicle can also be customized." In Sopranos 4, we've also added weapon customizations. This is already an element of deep into the DNA of the series, and if it is not customized, it is not a real "Sopranos Saints"."
Today's customization system has reached unprecedented heights, and now players can not only adjust the color of their eyes and skin, but also install prosthetics on the protagonist, and even code the protagonist's nude with emoji. Art Director Frank Marquart said, "Our dream came true, there were some things that we tried and tried again and again, but we never came to fruition, and in this game, we did it all."
We don't yet know how much room for customization will be available for the official "Boss," but we learned that players can constantly unlock new customization options for characters, weapons, vehicles, and more. "From day one, our goal was to be the king of customization," says Creative Director Brian Traficante, "and we wanted to keep everything we had before and add a lot of new stuff." That's what we do."
The reboot of Sopranos may have ditched some of the exaggerated elements of Generations 3 and 4, but custom elements do reach a new level. Players can choose from a variety of genders and races, and can even pinch a monster out.
In addition to character customization, players can customize many other elements to create their own gaming experience. As the game progresses, players can unlock customizations for vehicles, weapons, and gangs. In addition, after completing a certain number of missions and expanding the Saints to a certain size, players can also customize the appearance of the church headquarters.
The "boss" returns
The upcoming reboot of The Sopranos takes the series in a bold new direction, but there's no doubt that many of the iconic elements are well preserved. Like walking a tightrope, Volition is trying to find a balance – to move into new areas while retaining the essence of the collection. And based on what we saw, heard, and played, the studio has stabilized on a tightrope, injecting fresh blood into this tried-and-true series.
The faces of the characters, the setting of the game, and the enemies they fight may have changed, but in my experience, I can tell you without hesitation: this is still the Sopranos we've loved for 15 years.
Translator: Liu Sheng Non Love Sword Editor: Tony
By Brian Shea
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