It isn’t often that I come across a game that I have such little opinion on. Normally, I can’t wait to pound out a review and voice my thoughts on whatever I’m working on at the time. This however has not been the case with Dead to Rights. As if some cosmic shift had occurred, Dead to Rights seems to have completely polarized me. But how could one solitary game cause such complacency? I’ve been puzzled by this question for what seems like weeks, and then it finally dawned on me. There, like a beacon of light the clouds began to lift and I could see the answer! Dead to Rights is just…eh. That’s right two little letters can some up an entire game, EH!

     Now don’t get me wrong, Dead to Rights does have its fan base and has spurred several sequels. Despite my lack of enthusiasm about the game, people do seem to enjoy it, although I can’t understand why for the life of me. Admittedly, Dead to Rights does have a few good qualities but they are overshadowed by the game’s averageness.

  Dead to Rights is a tale of revenge, which takes place in the fictional setting Grant City. Grant City is a haven for crime and corruption. What little justice there is gets handed out by a roughneck cop named Jack Slate, and his canine partner Shadow. Grant City isn’t about go give up easily though, and Jack’s shoot first ask questions later attitude catches up to him when he responds to a call in a nearby construction zone. It is here, Jack finds his father murdered. Obviously, he’s not about to let this slide so goes out on the hunt to find his father’s killer. Unfortunately for Jack, things don’t go exactly as planned and he gets framed for murder. After receiving a death sentence and is facing his own execution, Jack has no choice but to break out of prison and get retribution the only way he and Shadow know how. With hot searing lead and fists of fury, Jack is going to make the criminals of Grant City beg for mercy. Dead to Right’s plot feels like it was ripped right out of a bad 80s cop movie, and its presentation is mediocre. To make things even worse the voice acting in Dead to Rights is spotty. Although there is a few good voice overs, others are just down right terrible and really hurt the game. But lets face it, this game wasn’t designed to be a gripping narrative like say Max Payne for example, which shares similar mechanics as Dead to Rights. Everything about this game revolves around its nonstop action.

     The biggest draw to Dead to Rights was of course its game play. Dead to Rights is a level based experience, which is broken down into different play styles. Some levels are traditional run and gunners, where players will have to shoot anything that moves, use a primitive cover system, use a bullet time feature that feels blatantly ripped off from Max Payne (hence the earlier reference), and call in Shadow for a little doggie back up. In other levels, Jack has nothing to rely on but his good old fisticuffs and marital arts training. With enemies mindlessly running at Jack in either play style, Dead to Rights feels like a Super Nintendo game on steroids…and yes I mean that I a compliment. The element that really puts Dead to Rights’ action over the top is the use of lethal disarms attacks. When bullets start to run low, Jack can close in on an enemy (albeit you will take damage), and forcefully take whatever weapon is being used. These lethal disarms are really the only memorable aspect of this game, and there is a variety attacks that can be unlocked. As for the rest of Dead to Rights’ game play, it is again hurt by a few design flaws. First of all, camera angles are your biggest enemy. On many occasions, your view will be blocked off or obstructed. Although annoying, the bad camera angles can be overcome being gunplay relies strongly on the auto-locking feature which targets the nearest enemy when pressing the right trigger and using A to fire. I have never been a fan of auto-locking targeting systems in almost any game, as personal preference I’d rather be able to use a manual aiming feature. But for what it is, Dead to Rights’ targeting system does get the job done. Another annoyance to game’s design is controls. Dead to Rights has a very complicated control scheme, and does take a while to get used to. Early in the game, this prevented me from really getting into the action, but after a few levels I was able to adjust. To rookie gamers however, this could be a major turn off. Possibly the worst element to Dead to Rights’ game play is the use of mini games, and Dead to Rights’ mini games down right suck. In certain games, a mini game can be a welcome addition, but can easily get on a players nerves if not done correctly. In Dead to Rights case, the mini games feel unnecessary and have big difficulty spikes which can easily detour a player from wanting to continue on with the game.

     Graphically, Dead to Rights looks very dated compared to other games that were released around the same time. Character movements are rather stiff, and although level designs are alright nothing really seems to stand out. The same can be said for Dead to Rights use of sound. Gun shot effects, explosions, even Shadow’s bark just doesn’t seem realistic enough and take away from an already mundane presentation.

     And so we come to the end. With the review finally written, I feel I have given Dead to Rights its final eulogy. Its era of EH is over, my thoughts have been conveyed. Now your opinion of this game my differ, it has qualities that obviously does appeal to some. In my case for ever, Dead to Rights…is officially Dead to RB.

Written by RB

OVER AND OUT!

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