Digital Trends

Buzzsaws, pistols, drawers, meat slicers… If it's not nailed down in the story-driven underworld epic The Sopranos: Road to Respect for PlayStation 2, rest assured it can be used to bruise, batter, maim or kill opponents. But hey, that's what it takes to capture HBO's award-winning TV's show signature menace, with the officially licensed, adult-oriented title (featuring highlights like real-time cursing and topless lap dances) easily earning its M for Mature ESRB rating.

Oddly enough, you play Joey LaRocca, illegitimate son of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, a deceased former family enforcer turned informant. Busting heads and shattering kneecaps for Tony's crew in the wake of a brewing Mafia war – which follows the murder of a Philadelphia mob boss' nephew – making one's bones isn't easy. If Tony himself isn't eyeing you with suspicion (or you eyeing him back… he did kill your father), Christopher will be busy giving you hell or immediate superior (and noted psychopath) Paulie Walnuts busting your chops. Thankfully, one guy we presume you won't have to butt baseball bats is Big Pussy himself, as actor Vincent Pastore returns to lend a helping hand and fill in the role he first popularized.

Never mind having to survive a corkscrewing plotline designed with help from series creator David Chase and set somewhere between seasons five and six. Forget the fact that between visiting familiar locales like the Bada Bing and Nuovo Vesuvio, you'll have to dispense with adversaries using brutal intimidation techniques, arson or murder. Ignore the need to hobnob with familiar faces like Silvio, AJ and Vito as well. The biggest challenge one must face here, according to Pastore, whom we recently caught up with? Just, ahem, getting your feet wet, so to speak. Read on and prepare yourself for what could be the most controversial criminal opus yet.

Are you a tough guy?

Virtual Sopranos

Q: As a serious – not to mention "slain" – actor, just what precisely are you doing appearing here in our videogame?

A: It's a great chance to take a popular character that people know and love and bring it to a new market. There are a lot of kids and adults who love PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and other systems who watch "The Sopranos" and want to see more of Big Pussy. As an actor, games represent a great way to keep a character and their personality alive. Look at all the attention The Godfather game got, or this new Scarface title is getting. People love "The Sopranos," love playing games, and Road to Respect lets them feel like they're a part of the show.

Q: How did the performance compare to your typical acting gigs?

A: Well, it's almost like doing my Sirius satellite radio show or an animated movie like "Shark Tale." You go into a studio, rattle off some lines. Recording for The Sopranos: Road to Respect was great – I pretty much went in, had some fun with it. But I already kind of knew the direction they wanted my character to go, so it wasn't a stretch. It's a lot harder to act on-stage.

I just did a play, for example, and when you're up there with an audience in front of you and you mess up, you can't do a retake. You just have to press on, since you can't do the line again. Acting for the stage or on film is much, much more challenging. But the ability to voice act is a gift in and of itself. I can see why people, once they've mastered the technique, would want to do it for a living… Because I did films like "Shark Tale," and because I do a radio show though, I'm very comfortable behind the microphone.