A great, but not perfect, game

I was hard pressed, initially, to figure out which version of this game to buy. I have a PS2 and an Xbox. In light of how GTA looks on both systems, I chose the Xbox version. First off, I'm a big fan of the movie. Being able to actively change the ending of the movie and go beyond that point was thrilling. Also, the opening credits were very cool as you see Tony cruise past familiar movie locations. (For all you instant-gratification-button-mashing-lets-get-to-the-action gamers, I encourage you to savor the scenes during the intro and opening credits.) Now the gameplay: The gunfights are pretty intuitive and pretty graphic. You DO NOT want to play this game when kids are present. Blowing some guys' head off with a shotgun at pont blank range, or blowing a limb off at the joint will make you jump. With this being Scarface, expect to hear the F-word every 10 seconds - I've heard it about 400 times in the few hours I've played it. The environment is great with a real-Miami feel to it. Little environmental touches such as radios playing with original programs and TV programs being viewed are very nice. One extemely cool feature is the random conversations you can have with people. I expected to listen to the same conversation over and over - but was surprised to hear over a dozen separate conversations while interacting with pedestrians(I'm still hearing new ones). The empire building mode is great in depth, yet easy to learn. Rebuilding Tony's influence and fortune has become a driving force while playing this game. Now for the bad parts. I have heard that the PS2 version looks better than the Xbox counterpart. (Someone may want to verify this) Also, the driving, albeit fun, takes some getting used to. The cars you drive feel like they have the emergency parking brake engaged. I have to push the hell out of the acceleration button or it looks as if Tony is learning to drive a stick shift for the first time. I feel they could have improved the sense of speed and the cars should coast better. Also, negotiating a money laundering interest rate every time you want to save money is a pain in the ass. There's nothing like losing 16% of a fortune because you were a nanosecond too late on a button push. I've redone entire missions just to get another chance to try to get a 2% or lower rate on bank transactions. Other than those points, I really love this game. There is a lot of game packed in here and I can't wait to get home from work to play it some more. For the gamers who can handle the over-the-top violence and language, you have to play this game. Don't miss it.