20 Years Ago, The Sopranos Officially Replaced Tony As Main Character

There may be no more iconic or beloved character in television history than The Sopranos' legendary Tony Soprano. James Gandolfini's performance as the New Jersey mob boss helped redefine what a television protagonist could be, turning a violent, deeply flawed criminal into one of the most complicated and compelling characters of all time.

The Sopranos became a cultural phenomenon in large part because of Gandolfini's role, and throughout the show's six-season run, his layered performance earned widespread acclaim and influenced an entire generation of prestige television antiheroes that followed. More importantly, Gandolfini became almost completely inseparable from the role. His voice, mannerisms, humor, volatility, and vulnerability are so fundamental to Tony Soprano that imagining anyone else at the center of The Sopranos feels nearly impossible.

That makes one unusual chapter in the franchise's history all the more bizarre. In 2006, while the original series was still airing, The Sopranos officially attempted to move Tony aside and introduce an entirely different main character, and it went about as well as you'd expect.

The Sopranos Officially Replaced Tony In Road To Respect

Back in 2006, during the height of the show's popularity, The Sopranos: Road to Respect made the completely absurd decision to sideline Tony Soprano as the franchise's main protagonist and instead put players in control of an entirely new character. Released for PlayStation 2 in 2006, the game follows Joey LaRocca, the previously unseen illegitimate son of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, as he attempts to earn a place in Tony's criminal organization.

Rather than playing as Tony, players experience the Soprano crime family from Joey's perspective. The story takes place between Seasons 5 and 6, beginning with Tony giving Joey an opportunity to work for the family. His rise quickly spirals into a larger conflict after he accidentally kills Mario Buscetta, the nephew of Philadelphia mob boss Angelo Buscetta, eventually dragging Joey into a violent dispute between the two organizations.

Gameplay is similarly centered on Joey's climb through the ranks. Road to Respect is a linear action-adventure and beat-'em-up rather than an open-world crime game, with players completing missions for familiar characters, fighting enemies through melee combat, and visiting recognizable locations such as the Bada Bing! and Satriale's. James Gandolfini still returned to voice Tony, but Tony effectively became Joey's boss and was featured as a supporting character while this brand-new protagonist occupied the role players actually controlled.

Road To Respect Is The Lowest-Rated Sopranos Release Of All Time

I'm not sure if it's entirely owed to the fact Tony wasn't the main character, but Road to Respect was an absolute disaster and will likely go down in history as the worst Sopranos spin-off project ever released. The game currently holds a dismal 42 Metascore from 28 critic reviews, with Metacritic categorizing its reception as "Generally Unfavorable," which is generous honestly.

At the time, critics took issue with its repetitive mission design, clumsy combat, poor controls, dated presentation (even for the time), and extremely short runtime. IGN scored it a 45, specifically criticizing its linear structure, combat, conversation system, and lack of replayability.

It actually makes The Many Saints of Newark, another Sopranos spin-off that received a decidedly mixed response from fans, look like a major success in comparison. The 2021 prequel movie still managed a 60 Metascore, even though its current Metacritic user score sits at just a 5 out of 10.

Replacing Tony was certainly not the game's only problem. Even with Gandolfini and much of the television cast returning to provide their voices, stronger combat, better mission design, and a more ambitious structure could have made Joey LaRocca's story work.

Still, asking players to enter The Sopranos universe only to control an entirely new character instead of Tony was an enormous gamble. When practically every other part of the game failed to justify that decision, and the main character switch only made the absence of television's most iconic mob boss feel more ridiculous. Sadly, Road to Respect may have ultimately sealed the fate of The Sopranos in gaming, with its disastrous reception helping ensure the franchise never received another major video game adaptation, for better or worse.