Dead To Rights

Get your trigger finger ready and cover up that badge as you take to the streets
of Grant City as former Police Officer Jack Slate! Jack Slate is out for revenge
of the death of his father, who he found killed in cold blood. The story isn’t
quite that simple, and it truly engages you right from the start. Against direct
orders to have no involvement with the case, you set out, with your best friend
Shadow, your K-9 Unit dog, to uncover the crime and corruption of Grant City.

Namco has shown that there’s quite a bit more to them than games like Pac-Man
and other arcade style games, and Dead To Rights, their first M-rated title
lives up the action packed intensity that they set out to deliver. The development
of Dead To Rights was more like a production scene in a movie, and player’s
will enjoy the effort that went into the well-scripted storyline and intense
action packed gameplay.

Character models and environments are done fairly well, movement
animations are just about on the money, while lighting effects left a bit to
be desired. All in all the graphics in Dead To Rights met their expectations,
but a little tweaking before release wouldn’t have hurt. With that being said,
just scrap the screenshots of this game because they really do the title no
justice at all. While the graphics in Dead To Rights certainly aren’t up to
the ground-breaking standards of the Xbox console’s capabilities, they certainly
get the job done, and the gameplay makes up for whatever shortcomings it may
have by leaps and bounds.

If you’re looking for action then you need to go to Grant City!
This title is packed with action right from the start as you go through the
‘tutorial’ on how to control your “forced to be a fugitive ex-cop!” The enemies are all over the place, they just keep coming. At times, a bit unrealistic,
but absolutely addictive. With an arsenal of real life weapons to choose from,
ranging from double pistols to automatic rifles, and everything in between.
There are also items that can be used to create devastating multiple kills,
such as propane canisters, which can be thrown near your enemies and shot in
mid air, creating a blast that will take out several criminals at a time. Let’s
not forget man’s best friend, Shadow, your K-9 companion, who can be called
upon almost at any time to take out those enemies with ease, and then bring
you their weapon!

Since we’re on the subject of weapons, it’s important to note an interesting
feature of the game, disarms. Hand to hand battle will get you nowhere against
an enemy with a pistol, so it’s encouraged that when you’re short on ammo, or
totally unarmed, that you grab a nearby enemy, use him as a human shield, and
then shoot him in the back of the head! Some of the disarms in the game are
truly impressive, and watching it in slow motion brings even more to life the
fact that you’re playing a game that should have been a movie.

Going straight at your foe may not be the best route either, since you are too
often vastly outnumbered . . . You’ll need to learn how to use such maneuvers
as Wall Mode, where you can hide, back flat against a wall, and pounce out quickly,
take out the enemy, and quickly get back to cover. The same effect can be done
by crouching behind certain items, like boxes or crates, and popping up to pick
‘em off. The ‘Matrix’ stlyed slow motion dive will also help take out enemies
with greater accuracy, and gives you another Hollywood style affect to make
use of. While this isn’t the most realistic in nature, it’s just another addition
that makes Dead To Rights the kick-ass game that it is.

There are also some pretty entertaining mini-games, which help tone the intensity
of the game down a bit, and offer a bit of release from the heavy shooting available
in the rest of the game. In one portion, quite early in the game, you’ll need
to take the role of an exotic dancer to distract the guards . . . not really
necassary, but a nice addition to the game.

The controls are easy to become accustomed to. Utilizing
an auto-aiming feature by pressing the right trigger, and firing your weapon
with the ‘A’ button. While this seemed a bit difficult at first, it quickly
became second nature. The only complaint is that sometimes the auto-aim will
aim at an enemy that is far less of a threat than the enemy filling you full
of lead. You could opt to manually aim, but this has proven to get you six feet
under even quicker, as the manual aim feature is a bit tedious. Quickly performing
disarms, wall maneuvers, diving, crouching, and basic movement is quite simple
and effective. The camera at some times becomes another enemy, not quite focusing
on the action at times, and limiting your vision. A nice addition would have
been an enemy fire indicator to show where dangerous fire, that’s just out of
sight, is coming from. All in all, with the immense options offered in the game,
the control aspect is good.

Excellent sountrack and special effects make for a great game.
Dead To Rights went all out on the sound portion of the game, and it helped
add another nail in it’s blazing success. Dolby Digital sound let’s you hear
the bullets passing by, and commentary from your main hero that are step up
from what we saw from the monotone nature of Max Payne, which in it’s own right
was a great game.

Once you reach the end of Dead To Rights, you’ll certainly
be happy to have finished it, since by no uncertain terms is this an easy title
to complete. Some of the levels are far too difficult and unrealistic. Now that
the criticism is out of the way, this game Rocks! The compelling storyline and
intense action is what makes Dead To Rights such a great title, and popping
the disk back in for some shoot-em-up action a second, or third time around
is guaranteed.

Namco has a winner with Dead To Rights, and we look forward
to additional games of this caliber.

Overall Score: 9.0 [not an average]

While the control could have been better,
and the camera sytem needs a little work, Dead To Rights offers an experience
that is well worth it. Suggestions for a sequel would be to improve the camera,
control, and add an enemy fire indicator.

• Official Dead To Rights
  Website
• Namco
• Dead
  To Rights Hints and Cheats
• Dead
  To Rights Screenshots (Temporarily Unavailable, Sorry)

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