Dead to Rights Retribution (Playstation 3)

I had not played the first Dead to Rights, so this is my review of this game as it stands by itself and not the franchise as a whole. This is a review of the game from the playability aspect and not of the story. You can safely read my whole review and not have the story ruined at all. As I write this I have played it a couple of hours and will update this after I finish the whole game.

Overview:

You play as vice cop Jack Slate. Your job is to clean up Grant City. This game is mostly its a shooter with a different twist where your pet is a vicious fighting machine.

Game mechanics:(+)

If you ever played World Of Warcraft and played a hunter class you will be familiar with playing through your pet, (Shadow). This game takes that mechanic and builds on it by allowing you to control your pet with more "nuance", the end result is that its not just about going in guns blazing. Instead you must anticipate how Shadow will respond to the environment and also the threats. Its a pretty cool mix of the ideas of combat. Of course as Jack you can do your own special moves .

Shadow's forms: (+)

The cool thing is as Shadow you can play three different modes; one being a rogue like class where Shadow actually hunkers down and walks like a ninja dog, you know, if ninja dogs existed that is. Another one of his forms is a neutral fighter mode which is like a standard fighter class. The last form is the berserker form which is like all other berserker archetypal character. You do much more damage but are significantly weaker as far as armor.

Graphics: (+)

On the PS3 this looks fantastic. The textures are really sharp and detailed. At times there are alot of shadows and it can be difficult to see certain areas, but thats where Shadow comes in. Jack is kinda clunky appearing at times, but overall the look and appearance of the game as a whole is really crisp.

Lighting: (+)

The shadows look great! Usually in PS3 games there are jaggy shadows. In this I see them but not nearly as bad as say AC2. All in all they are crisp and flow over the objects in the game very well.

Motion Capture: (+)

The motion capture in this game is REALLY smooth. Especially with regards to Shadow, the dog animation looks very lifelike. During the fight sequences there are times Jack looks a bit like a puppet, but overall the motion is smooth.

Fighting (+/-)

Hand to hand: (+)

The hand to hand fighting in this is spot on and a real fun part of the game. At times the moves are easy to execute because the built in character AI anticipates the moves you are trying to do, just enough to not be annoying.

Shooting: (-)

I didnt like the shooting in this game. It at times seemed off and a bit difficult to aim. I am not sure if it was the lack of aim assist or too much of it. Either way it was kind of hard to shoot at times.

Shadow: (+)

He tears this game up. I almost think that I would enjoy playing solely as Shadow for the whole game and just assume he could talk to people. It really is fun playing him as a pet and also as his own character. Very cool moves and vicious attacks.

Environments: (-)

The environments are standard post-apocalyptic fare. The mobs you are fighting are eh... ok. The ai is fine but the weird thing is the story has some glaring holes in it. I wont cover them here as to keep the no spoilers aspect of my reviews correct. Suffice to say you may be wondering what or where things are coming from, from time to time.

Replayability: (-)

I have not finished this yet but I do not see me being all that interested in replaying this just for trophies like I would for Assassins Creed II or Uncharted 1/2. It looks like I may play it one more time but after that I wouldn't be interested in playing it again.

Summary: (+)

This game sofar has been a blast to play and I look forward to finishing it. While its not perfect, it does offer some great story telling and the animations for Shadow are fantastic. It looks like they used motion capture for his animation. Jack is fun to play and its overall a really enjoyable game to play. I may change my story once I finish it.

Thank you for reading my review.

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Dead to Rights 2 is immediately fun to play and one of the few 3rd person shooters I've found that also works well as a beat 'em up. Plus you get to play levels as the dog, Shadow.

+ The action in Dead to Rights 2 is fast-paced and conducive to an aggressive, up close and personal, playing style. If you're the kind of player who likes to be methodical and careful (i.e. you're a weenie), you might not dig the mechanics of this game. If you try to stay put too long, the AI closes in on you.

+ Ultra-violence and gore.

+ Shooting. There's no "auto-aim," but shooting is intuitive and easy. You can carry two guns at a time and toggle between them.

+ Fighting/hand-to-hand. There are some great blocks and combos and on-screen prompts take you to some gruesome finishers. It's in-depth enough not to be boring, yet simple enough not to be tedious (e.g. Mortal Kombat).

+ There's no one way to clear a room. You can take out enemies in many different ways, depending on how you like to play. Hand-to-hand and shooting tend to be pretty balanced, so there's no superior method.

+ Jack has a feature called "focus" that slows down time for when the combat gets extra intense. This feature is somewhat similar to the "Dead-Eye" feature in Red Dead Redemption.

+ The camera is more like a hand-held camera during fight sequences and while running. It gives the fights a gritty, chaotic feel -- like being in a rough and tumble melee. However, it does take some getting used to (about ten minutes of gameplay), as your immediate impression will be that of disorientation and losing control. (If you can't get over the fact that the camera behaves differently than in other games, you might not like this game).

+ The controls are responsive and smooth. The on-screen prompts are clear and easy to follow. (Another reviewer complained about wonky controls. I do know that there's a patch when you first load up the game. Maybe the patch fixed this problem. Maybe the other reviewer just has crummy eye/hand coordination. Either way, the controls worked fine for me). The learning curve on the controls and mechanics was less than ten minutes of gameplay. After that, I took much delight in creatively dispatching the array of thugs the game threw at Jack and Shadow.

+ Playing as Shadow. Shadow's attacks are not as varied at Jack's, but the dog is fun to play and sets this game apart from others in this same genre. He is brutal and has some gruesome attacks and combos.

+ The hard-boiled cop story isn't the most original (on par with a Michael bay flick), but it's really quite fun and never takes itself too seriously. The overall design and tone of the game are stylized much like a graphic novel.

OVERALL:

Dead to Rights 2 breathes life into the shooter genre and I highly recommend it. The game takes some risks to deviate from other recent shooters like Killzone 2, Resistance 2 and Modern Warfare 2. Although the before-mentioned games are quite fun, I quite enjoyed the originality of Dead to Rights: Retribution and the varied challenges the game presents.

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First off I truly am glad I went ahead and bought this, new and everything. Namco and Volatile really did a great job, get this and you'll know. This game beautifully blends top notch third person shooting and jaw dropping close quarters combat and they do it in a way that keeps you on your toes, excited and begging for more. The classic noir setting fits perfectly with the engaging and memorable characters, story and dialogue, all these are also done perfectly. The voice overs of the main character (voiced by Peter Giles) are literally the BEST I've heard. I was blown away, his voice work for this game is something to behold all on it's own. I'd like to keep it simple so here's my break down:

GAMEPLAY: FUN! Really fun the melee features tons of good combos and choreography and take downs are extremely gratifying, the shooting controls smoothly and headshots are juicy and the rag doll effects are entertaining and done well. Sneaking and killing as Shadow was fun, cute and hardcore. Trolls might say it's "run-of-the-mill" ... NO because "run-of-the-mill" does not provide many many hours of genuine entertainment that even my girlfriend loved watching and playing.

STORY: It was much better than I thought it'd be, it actually moved me and Jack Slate is really awesome hahahah.. It's dark, sweet, tragic and well constructed.

GRAPHICS: They're good, not the best but I liked it and all the motions and expressions like when talking and all that are really great and convincing.

SOUND: The gunshots, the voices, the splatters, the yelling, the everything.. all really crisp and juicy. I LIKE.

I hope this all helps, I really do. Games like this are something everyone should experience. Seriously. I will also be gifting this to friends who don't have it, new of course because a sequel of this game REALLY needs to happen. Thanks for reading. =)

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