Dead to Rights

I got Dead to Rights hoping for some great shoot-em-up action. And while I got that in bucketloads, it's only rarely engaging. The story plays out like film noir and has a hardened cop called Jack Slate (who really belongs in an 80s action movie) investigate his dad's murder only to end up being framed for various crimes and in the middle of huge conspiracy.

And so the game has you blast and fight your way through prisons, mines, air-force bases, dockyards, factories, cliff-sides, nightclubs, construction yards, hotels and out of control airplanes. It feels like a cross between Die Hard Vendetta and Resident Evil 4 as you seem to do nothing but shoot generic bad guys from start to finish. It becomes incredibly boring and is only slightly redeemed by a few intense shoot-outs. There IS the occasional fisticuffs but the mêlée system is poor to non-existent and there is no skill involved in defeating your opponent outside of button mashing.

Plus, the graphics are rotten. The cut-scenes look right out of a mid-90s CD-ROM and the gameplay graphics may look adequate but have a very jerky habit and the camera system will drive you crazy. And the voice acting is quite bad too with the exception of a few lively characters. The guy who plays Jack Slate sounds as bored as a living human can possibly be.

I can't rate this game particularly high. Find it somewhere cheap if you must, otherwise it's not the best shoot-em-up out there and I suggest you invest your time and money in something else.

Graphics C+ Sound B+ Gameplay B- Lasting Appeal C-

I've read countless of posts about this game being so similar to Max Payne, when i played it the first time i thought it was a bit weird arcade-like game with a desire to rip-off the Max Payne style (not just bullet-time). So when i played it for a couple of hours i realized how much fun it is! and how different from "Max Payne", yeah the bullet time is a bit similar but i think it fits differently to the game-style. This game is non-stop action - a mix between a shoot'em up and a fight'em up, so much fun, as a big fan of Max Payne i must say that the storyline of DTR is not near to the greatness of Max Payne, the graphics are a bit average and some of the levels look the same, but if you want a bit more of that "bullet-time" you should definitely own this game.

"Dead To Rights" is a non-stop actiongame. You will constantly be diving into extremely violent and stylish gun-fights where you literally kill hundreds of bad-guys. You play Jack Slate, a cop framed for the murder of his own father. This game sees Jack Slate`s personal vendetta against his father`s killers, and everything is not what it appears to be. The story here is very simple, but yet it often surprises you as a gamer. The controls are easy to learn but the graphics are pretty average. This game is in many ways very similar to "Max Payne" and Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne". The PC-versions of the "Max Payne"-series are much better than "Dead To Rights", but on the consoles it is a different matter. "Dead To Rights" is in my opinion superior to the console versions of the "Max Payne"-series. This is mainly because of the gameplay. "Dead To Rights" was created for the consoles and for being played with a joypad and not a keyboard+mouse. What this means is that "Max Payne" was created for the PC, and playing these games on consoles using a joypad was not very good at all. On PS2, X-box or Gamecube. "Dead To Rights" is superior to MP1 and MP2

7,5/10

You play a K-9 Cop named Jack Slate, whose father is killed and must figure out who did it. The thing is, after a while this seems like just another Action Game. The slow motion effects are not great, nor the graphics. The main interesting thing about the game is that you can unleash your dog upon the criminals and perform painful-to-watch dis arms. Also, the player can use criminals as human shields.

Not great, after a while the plot just seems like it's been thrown together just so you can shoot people. Maybe I'm wrong and am under rating it because I have played the far more superior Max Payne Games. my advice, rent this if you want but you'll get a bigger kick out of renting the Max Payne games, especially number 2.

**/****

Featuring the voices of: Chris Bruno, Patrick Dollaghan, Christopher Bay, Jeannie Elias, Greg Eagles, Jennifer Griffin, Granville Van Dusen, and John Di Crosta.

Jack Slate is K-9 cop in the hardest place on earth, Grant City. He is out one night, investigating a crime scene, and finds him father, Frank Slate, murdered. He investigates in a strip club if anyone had anything to do with it. He finds somes thugs, but no leads. He follows a thug to an apartment, and is framed by an assassin.

Slate is in prison for seven months, and is put on death row. He hears that a few boys have planned to break out. Jack breaks out with them, and escapes from the sewers. He hunts after the triads, who are now the main leads. After a plane crashes, Jack, with the help of the TV Reporter, Waterman, and your dog, Shadow, pursue the person who really deserved to die.

With the same style as Max payne had, Dead to Rights is a very entertaining game. Some features of this are even better than Max Payne(automatic aim, longer slow motion, etc). This game not only is good, but a good entry in comparision with other Action games.

7 out of 10. Format: Playstation 2.