This would be his game. Dead To Rights has everything a typical Hollywood action movie should have, but yet, it’s a game! You get to dictate movement, progression, and gunplay while trying to solve two mysteries and participating in vital mini-games. Some will make the obvious comparisons to Max Payne, but Namco has done a fine job of making Dead To Rights stand on it’s own.
One Good Cop; One Very Bad Situation
And so says the tagline on the back of the game. You play Jack Slate, just a regular cop on the K-9 unit on his regular beat in regular Grant City. Then, he gets a normal call to investigate a gunfight at a local construction yard. When he gets there, he finds something that begins the downward spiral into corruption, betrayal and crime. Someone has executed his father.
I can’t really say to much more about the plot because there are some plot twists throughout the game that are quite interesting and I wouldn’t want to give anything away. The flow of the story takes the form of chapters. Each chapter is it’s own little mission where you must accomplish certain tasks in order to proceed. How you complete the tasks is up to you: with your fists or your guns.
“I needed two things: Guns and information...preferably in that order”
Is it strange to have a favorite line from a video game? Well, the above is mine. Let’s get one thing out of the way: the guns. Because this game resembles a Hong Kong flick straight from John Woo, then guns are the first thing you should talk about. Of course Jack carries his standard issue .45 automatic and when the opportunities arises (which is often) he carries two. And two is always better than one. Also in the game are shotguns, double barrel shotguns, assault rifles, M8s (similar to Magnums), fire canisters, and Shadow.
Did I just say fire canisters and Shadow? Yes, I did. Throughout the game, canisters can be found. Pick up one of these canisters, throw it at an enemy (strategically in a group of baddies) and wait until it is over their heads, aim, and shoot. The canisters provide a nice little firework display while extinguishing the bad guys. And Shadow? In the second paragraph, I mentioned Jack Slate is on the K-9 unit. He has a partner, who looks like a cross between an Malamute and a German Shepherd. The dog is also considered a weapon. When you call Shadow up, whoever the target it he will maul the enemy, then take his weapon and bring it to you (or the ammo). This is particularly useful if you don’t have a weapon or need extra ammo. It is also useful, if there are a lot of bad guys around because the only thing that hurts Shadow is his Stamina gauge. Each time you use him, his stamina gauge depletes and you can’t use him until it is full again. Normally, this is after about a minute. Also, in different parts of the game, you may have to use him to get to places you can’t. For instance, in the beginning, you have to guide him through two tubes and push a barrel over the edge to knock down some scaffolding so you can cross a large gap. But mostly, Shadow just loves to maul and bring you guns.
Colorful Film Noir
A game could be good or bad on the Xbox, but usually everyone agrees that the graphics are typically decent, above average, or superb. Dead To Rights operates somewhere between above average and superb. Characters are done nicely, with a good amount of detail, though similar types of characters (cops, inmates) look alike. The boss characters seem to have some distinct feature(s) that distinguish them from the normal characters: like tattoos, a stylish uniform, etc. With their attitudes and clothes, the characters in this game have some great personalities.
The areas in Dead To Rights vary a bit in regards to graphics. Some areas are just too plain and some are nice-looking. The prison, for instance, is very boring. Yeah, I know that it is a prison, but maybe a little bit of color or some paintings would spur some reform in those guys, eh? One area that looked really good was Chinatown. Bright neon signs, lots of light to kill by, detailed storefronts and differentiating litter on the streets make walking through Hong Kong bearable.
One feature that Dead To Rights excelled is the FMV sequences. These must have been directed by John Woo or Jerry Bruckheimer because they can rival most of the movies out there. Besides the great action and awesome filming, they looked spectacular. One of my biggest pet peeves was quelled as I watched them. My pet peeve is that the mouths in video games tend to just “flap” and never resemble words nor do they shape to form the words they are talking. Games have gotten better, but Dead To Rights has done a nice job with mouth movement and syncing the words.
The introduction FMV is fantastic to watch. The first time I loaded the disc up, I watched the intro, then restarted it to watch it again!
I Haven’t Met a 3-D Action Shooter Control System I Did Like
A problem plagues many 3-d action games and that is a poor camera system. Dead To Rights follows in the footsteps and unfortunately is in my top ten of Bad Camera Systems. While not horrible, you will find yourself in corners, small corridors trying to fight your way out, but you can’t see your opponent, or even yourself. And don’t bother trying to use the Right Thumbstick to swing the camera around because it seems to me to be reversed and if you think you’re going to go one way, you’re actually going the opposite and that got really frustrating. While you can invert the aim, you can’t invert the camera movement.
Otherwise, everything about the control is decent. The left thumbstick moves you around, the left trigger crouches, the right trigger auto-targets, and the D-pad switches weapons. A and X are kick and punch respectively, Y is your dive/adrenaline rush, and B is your disarm skill.
I didn’t mention the adrenaline rush because I didn’t want the comparison to Max Payne done right away with this knock-off feature. Basically, you hit Y (hitting it once just lets you dive) and your adrenaline kicks in allowing time to slow down while you dive in slow motion. Yes, yes...I hear everyone chanting Max Payne, Max Payne, Max Payne...but there are two good things that I liked about Namco’s version. One, is that you can auto-target in slow-motion much better, letting you take out groups of enemies before hitting the ground. The other thing I liked is that it replenishes over time instead of having to find pills to increase the level.
Now disarms and human shields are a very cool and different addition to the shooter genre. When you are close to an enemy and you don’t have a weapon, you can hit B to engage in a disarm and instant kill. You will get his weapon and terminate his bad guy career in the same breath. If you want, you can just turn on the random Disarm option or input your own combos (direction plus B) for a fun, slow-motion disarm. And as you progress, you will unlock and learn different disarms to use. The human shield is the most fun you will have in this game. I know I had fun. If you are close to an enemy and you have a weapon, hit B and you will grab the bad guy by a choke hold and use him as a...you guessed it, a human shield. You will hold him in front of you while bullets riddle the body and you are shooting away. You can say the person acts as armor until he dies. If you decide to relinquish his duty as the shield and he isn’t dead, Jack Slate has no problem kicking him to the ground and firing a Goodbye slug to the back of their head. Wow, no wonder the game is rated ‘M’ and has the warning ‘Violence’ on the back.
Play That Funky Music
Hopefully, there will be a soundtrack to this game. The sound effects are rightly-placed and sound like they are suppose to, especially on a surround sound system, but it’s the music that increases your enjoyment of the game.
There is a stripping song (see below) that should be in a porno. There are the fast action sequence songs and the sad ‘My father just got murdered’ songs. The music pops on in the right places and diminishes when it is suppose to. Imagine the music from the Gladiator in the opening scene and how much it moved you when you watched that scene. I had similar feelings about the scenes in this game. It just goes to show that the right music can enhance a game-playing experience.
It is a Game, but 1/8th the Original Size...I shall Call It Mini-Game
There is much more to do than just shoot people and unleash Shadow’s fury upon those who don’t understand that Jack Slate is the man. Mini-games are dispersed throughout the game so you don’t get bored of the shoot/run through a level to get to the next. Sure, some levels are straight from point A to B, but most have at least 1 or 2 mini-games for you to solve. A lot of the mini-games involve button presses and maintaining a certain level of consistency, but they are fun. The best mini-game? Early on, you have to enlist the help of a stripper to distract the bouncers so you can get into the next room. You make the stripper dance and you must succeed (in every gyration possible) by timing your button presses at the right time. Think Dance Dance Revolution without the rhythm. But hey, you get to make a stripper dance...I guess that’s where the Mature Sexual Theme comes into play.
Despite the less-then-mediocre camera movement and control, Dead To Right is a fun romp through a Hong Kong-like movie with all the thrilling elements and action sequences that would make John Woo proud. Perhaps I see a movie spin-off in the near future.
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