The Rest -
John Singleton, the Director of films like Poetic Justice, Higher Learning and, of course, Boyz N The Hood, is not only directing the movie that will be released simultaneously with the game, but he has written and directed the game and created the story boards. Adding this cinematic quality to the third person action game along with the street cred, voice and likeness of Snoop Dogg creates what looks like a perfect formula. It’s quite obvious Fear & Respect is aiming to get more respect than it’s apparent inspiration San Andreas.

The main character will be Goldie, a digitized Snoop Dogg who has just been released from his second bid in prison. As is typical of this sort of game, Goldie is planning on going straight until the kidnaping of his nephew pulls him back into the game. Fear will have much more of a realistic take on Los Angeles than San Andreas - locations like Crenshaw, Compton, Watts and others will be modeled after the real thing. There’s also going to be more of an emphasis on realistic gunfights and daily life of a gangbanger. You won’t be able to run amok in the streets like you do in GTA. Weapons that are not commonly used by street criminals will not be found in the game such as rocket launchers and grenades. There will be consequences for the players actions in the RESPECT system. Using the theme of Fear & Respect, players can either become respected in the hood or feared depending on the way they decide to interact with NPCs which will in turn have an effect on the storyline. With Snoop on the development team you can bet the musical score will rival the best soundtrack - he’s contributing two original songs.

Despite any comparisons to GTA: San Andreas, the developers of Fear & Respect are going more for a dramatic environment and the recreation of “a day in the life” of a real person on the streets of L.A. instead of an open-ended free for all.

With rumors of a delay, we’ll be lucky if this game makes it out before the end of the year. If so, we’ll see two of rap’s most popular figures, Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent, battle it out in the game world when both hit the shelves later this year.

Posted: December 30, 2004