Games based on movies are usually fifty-fifty when it comes to a success rate. However, games based on television shows are currently at a 100 percent failure rate.

“The Sopranos: Road to Respect” continues this trend.

From the beginning the game just screams miserable failure. Anyone who has watched the television show knows there is little action. So the task put forth for the video game programmers was to make an action-packed video game off of a television show known for interesting characters and intricate plots, not action.

The cut scenes feature voices of almost every character from the show, including the voice of James Gandolfini.

This would be great if the show’s writers also came along. Instead, the game has this horrible plot with the son of dead mobster Big Pussy coming into the family. The job of the player is to move Pussy’s illegitimate son.

He must complete sets of missions for Sopranos characters Paulie, Christopher, Silvio and the boss himself, Tony. Every few cut scenes the ghost of Big Pussy shows up in a mirror or water reflection.

The story isn't everything. For a game, it's just a plus. There have been hundreds of great games with crummy storylines and characters.

What saves a game is its playability, which "Sopranos" lacks. The missions require the gamer to visit characters and see what they want. A character will ask you to follow them somewhere and help them with something. It’s just to beat up someone for money 99.9 percent of the time.

The game claims it has a negotiation meter that lets players choose to be negative or positive in their dialogue, but it usually just ends the same way: with a fist to the face.

The fighting in the game is awkward and lacks combos. If it's just one opponent, then pressing the X button a lot will finish the job. There are special moves, but they are just different forms of choking or nut kicking.

There is no targeting system, so sometimes punches are thrown into the air to the right of the opponent, leading to the controller being thrown to the right of the TV. Fighting two or more opponents leads to the old "Double Dragon" problem where the punches come from the front and back, making it impossible to do anything with your character.

Just forget about shooting. You're given little ammo, and drawing it out to shoot is extremely awkward. To kill one character might mean emptying a whole clip on them from 10 yards away.

That is everything involved with this game. Nothing changes as the game progresses. It appears that instead of taking the time and effort to make a game about the notorious happenings of the New Jersey mafia, the publishers at THQ wanted to push out a crappy game at the same time as the season six DVD release.

Just follow the advice of Tony and his crew and pretend like you never saw nothing about a Sopranos game, capisce?

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