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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Another sequel for a game series not known for high quality as is. DtRR is a 3rd person action game with an emphasis on fisticuffs in addition to gunplay.

You play psychopathic hero Jack Slate, who deals with crime by, arguably, being meaner and crueler than the criminals he deals with. You get to torture numerous people, some of whom that even deserve it. You are a cop of Grant City and you initially team up with your father and his dog, Shadow. Of course, bad things occur and you end up teaming with Shadow to kill anybody who thought an improper thought in the city.

You have to rely on melee heavily as ammo is in short supply, so you have to dis-arm your foes. The melee is really far too shallow for a game that relies on too much. You get a few takedowns that you will use incessantly and two button combat to string together combos that don't ever seem to have much impact behind them. The guns all fire rather well and seem to have suitable impact, but since you won't use them nearly as frequently as you do the melee, it's a bit of a moot point. An inability to lock on to an enemy makes the fighting markedly worse. They will run at you and when they get behind you, it becomes a headache to attempt to grab them. It almost seems that the AI is aware of the shortcomings of the engine and seeks to manipulate them more than a hardcore online player.

The character models, to be gentle, are terrible. They don't look better than PS2/XBox models at all. The faces look ridiculous, the bodies look absurd, and the lighting on them makes them look all the worse. The camera doesn't do the trick all that well either and you will spend a lot of energy fighting the camera. I'd argue that the best parts of the game are the Shadow levels, where you have to use stealth to allow the dog to kill enemies. They aren't amazing (the stealth mechanic is quite basic), but they are more enjoyable than the far-too-frequently tedious main storyline Jack missions.

Legitimately, I got so bored with the game that I didn't finish it because I refuse to waste time and energy on a game I just cannot justify playing over several options I have and this is one of those games. It's not a good game, period.

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Since you can't give half stars, this game gets a 4. It would be a 3.5 otherwise. But it has enough going for it that it doesn't deserve a 3. Dead To Rights: Retribution, to me, is a cross between Max Payne and Gears of War. The comparison comes from the fact that the character models are total beef buses. I haven't seen so many guys ripped this hardcore since 300. The cover system and the overall feel of the game is also very Gears of War-ish. However, as in Max Payne, you get the "bullet-time" ability, the ability to slow down time. And, as in Max Payne, this is invaluable when surrounded by enemies and taking damage. And, to build on that further, you'd have to be an idiot, or not have played either Max Payne game (the third is on the way...yay?) not to see the similarity. And now an adendum, because what I am going to say next effected both my judgement of the game, and will be a deal breaker for some people:

The story is told in chapters, with narration by your character. The game starts after you have been shot in the arm, and you are relaying what happened to an EMT/goth friend (ho) named Faith. And the story itself falls squarely in the noir genre. And if you don't like that sort of over-the-top, intentionally cheesy, violent and bloody story, you will probably not like this game. And that's okay. I for one love the genre, since a lot of the darkest video games come from it. However, the story is VERY convoluted, and some people might not be able to accept this game, with its flaws, for that reason. And they aren't wrong.

Okay so you play Jack Slate, an on-again off-again police officer who, whether he currently has his badge or not, doesn't wear a uniform. Because...that would just be boring, am I right? So instead you wear some sort of weird...armor/JC Penny clearance hybrid that doesn't really provide much damage protection. I say it doesn't provide much damage protection because, well, I died a lot playing this game on the medium setting. Which brings me to my first set of cons:

>Cover doesn't always work: Sometimes you take cover, but enemies seem to shoot through it or over it and still manage to hit you. Incredibly frustrating when you happen to be up against one or more snipers.

---------->Cover continued: Blind-Fire: Sometimes when you are positioned behind cover, you line up a shot at an enemy, and you fire, but for whatever reason the game doesn't understand you are trying to shoot AROUND your cover, so you end up emptying your magazine into the wall you are taking cover behind. "Why don't you just position your character right next to the corner so you don't shoot the wall, Faceless Amazon Video Game Reviewer?" I can hear a lot of you asking? Well, because if you get right up to the corner, your character very stupidly leans his mongoloid head out, along with part of his arm. I mean, the whole point of taking cover and being able to blind fire is that it's inaccurate and you DON'T take damage. It was one frustration and caused quite a few deaths. Honestly, if you're going to take damage in cover you might as well just rush the enemies and not bother with cover (this tactic works better than I thought it would, and in the end is much less frustrating and will cause many less instances of death.

-------------------->Cover concluded: Actual Cover: The last gripe I have with cover is that, as with most third-person shooters, you will always know when you are about to have a fight, because the cover (t-rails, barrels, crates, cars) are situated VERY CONSPICUOUSLY. They might as well just paint all the cover objects banana yellow so we don't feel like the developers were being so patronizing. Just once I would like to see a game that utilizes some sort of creative cover system instead of just building strategic maps filled with the same objects again and again. "Oh, you would like to engage with me in rocket launcher to sniper rifle combat? Well, good thing we are surrounded by concrete pylons!").

>Ammunition: For a third person shooter, this is where the real frustration lies for me. So basically, even though your character looks like he can lift a bus full of elephants, apparently he just can't carry more than one spare magazine. Yes, that's right, he does not and will carry more than a full magazine in the gun, and one extra one filled to capacity. Which means that even for the assault rifle, you're carrying max 80 rounds. So unless you're planning to make them all head shots (good luck with an assault rifle), you are going to run out of ammo, and quick. I thought maybe it was just a "while you learn the ropes this is how much you can carry" thing, but nope, it lasts throughout the entire game. What this means is that once you run out of ammo you discard the weapon you're holding. Really? At least let him hang on to it to use as a melee weapon (you can can only use guns as melee weapons when you have ammo...useful occasionally, but not practical or logical that it is set up this way). So I guess this must have been implemented to add another challenge to the game. But to me, it felt more irritating than something I was challenged in a fun way with. You CAN use Shadow to go and fetch you weapons while you stay behind in cover, but if you send him out there, you run the risk of him being incapacitated, in which case you are screwed. Because now you have no ammo and no killer wolf-dog hybrid.

>Hordes of Enemies: The only other complaint I can make is how many enemies there are in the game. It's something that is kinda...eh, yunno, I'll let it slide. But the problem is that it almost ruins the atmosphere of the game. The graphics aren't amazing (they're good, mind you), so it kind of takes away from the ambiance and atmosphere when you can' just go through an area WITHOUT having to fight off enemies. There is really something to be said for less being more, especially in the noir genre. You leave some areas empty to keep us, the gamers, guessing. Because at any minute you might be ambushed or rushed by a horde of enemies. It keeps you on your toes (this is something the Max Payne franchise did amazingly), and adds another dimension to the game.

So now on to what the game does RIGHT:

>Shadow (The dog): The parts of the game where you control Shadow are actually pretty fun, and when you take an enemy down, it is vicious and gory (and insanely fun to watch). You can sneak up on enemies, or charge them and take them down. The way they implement Shadow is...eh, creative enough, I suppose, though I think in many instances they built the story around an idea they had for Shadow. It's not bad, and using Shadow is a nice change from controlling Jack. And even though Shadow occasionally will get in your way when you're trying to take cover, he is handy at time when you're overwhelmed.

>Weapons: They are fun to use, and varied pretty greatly. The only problem with them is, as I stated before, that you hardly get any ammunition for them.

>Takedowns: Another reviewer said it perfectly, that they are interesting enough not to be boring, and short enough that they aren't tedious. And they are VICIOUS. Most all of them involve breaking the bones of your enemy.

>Blood: Honestly, I'm a sucker for games where there are realistic (or over-the-top in some cases) blood effects. And this game is one of the greatest I've played. If you take someone out with a shotgun, well, they don't explode, per se, but expect the blood splatters to end up on everything, and sometimes as far as twenty feet behind your enemy. I can't say I have ever played a game so brutal.

>Lighting: It's very dramatic, and it serves the game well. And to add on to this, as with Max Payne, most of the game takes place during rain/snow, which serves to make you feel truly alone in the wilderness.

>Voice-Acting: Even though it can be what some people would call incredibly cheesy, that is the way noir films and games are meant to be. So if you don't like the style, you won't like this game. So even though your character has pretty b-movie one-liners ("Lights out!" "You have the right to remain SILENT!") it is all done in a very tasteful way that does credit to the genre.

So, in conclusion, the game doesn't push the boundaries of originality, it just sticks with what has worked before. And even though there is more action, and more frustrating action than I would like, it's still worth playing, in my opinion. If you are a fan of Max Payne or The Darkness, you should definitely get this game, it fits into that genre seamlessly. However, maybe buy it used. $50 is still a bit much (for ANY game).

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I loved the first DEAD TO RIGHTS and I actually love DTR2. It is a wonderful combination of a first person shooter/fighting game. It has a great noir graphic-novel atmosphere. I like the story. Fighting corruption in the U.S. makes a lot more sense to me than fighting the Russians in games like BATTLEFIELD BAD COMPANY 2 (a great game nevertheless). And I love the dog.

However, the character's movements are awkward and clumsy, especially for a fighting game. Great games in this regard are BATMAN, ASSASSIN'S CREED and, as I recall, the MATRIX games. The character's mobility in DTR2 is not much better than Jill in the early RESIDENT EVIL games, and Jill never had to fight with her fists.

The other BIG PROBLEM is the PS3 controller. It's almost as if there is some delay built into it. I'm a big fan of PS3 but I hate the controller. Its sloppy controls and response time almost spoils the game. This should have been a great game rather than just a good one. Should you buy it? Of course--unless you suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome.

Change of heart... I'm still playing the game. I don't like rushing through them and I try to play them on the most difficult level because I believe doing that actually brings out the best in the game. I wrote the above because I couldn't beat the Kung fu King in chapter 4 or 5, and had to finish the chapter at the 'Officer' level. But I have continued the game at the 'Detective' and manage to get through. Okay. (1) It's great that the game let's you switch levels mid-game. Otherwise, I might have had to replay the entire game at an easier level to get through the one point where I got stuck.

(2) The enemies' AI is pretty impressive. They are alert and aggressive. They will run from you and seek you out, which makes the game more challenging and interesting. The dog, Shadow, for example, can lure enemies into traps. (3) I like the fact that I can run out of ammo and there's not lots of ammo to pick up as in BATTLE FIELD BAD COMPANY. And the weapons are adequate, having acceptable limitations that enhance the use of strategy. (4) Thus far I would say I enjoy most the dog, especially in the stealth missions--and the fact he rip the enemy apart.

So I must relent and give DEAD TO RIGHTS a great rating, perhaps as a sleeper game such as HEADHUNTER, DEUS EX, VELVET ASSASSIN (played totally stealth) and COLDWINTER. It's been LOTS OF FUN for me to play--but I couldn't increase the star rating for the FUN category and don't want to rewrite the review.

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Wow this game has some cheap production value.

First off you do the same thing all the time, MASH the triangle button and watch chintzy, cheap fighting that never changes. The Hero always over shoots his target and it looks funny, the screen wobbles and makes you sick to look at after a while, shooting mechanics are poor executed and slothy and wont keep up with the AI popping back and forth like some 80s arcade game.

No story at all. I hate the fact it auto throws your gun down and makes your run up and hold a button to pick up, lots of stupid timed missions.

This game is just bad and another rip off in the long line of cheap material that continues to get released.

Don't even bother renting.. Hope I saved someone some money

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Dead to Rights, which made its debut in 2002, is back with a new entry in the series, Dead to Rights: Retribution. While eight years isn't a long time in the general scheme of things, its eons in video game time but unfortunately the third person shooter/fighter doesn't show a great deal of progress.

Once again you play as Grant City rogue cop Jack Slate who is accompanied by his faithful killer canine Shadow. You are dropped into what seems to be the middle of a story as an injured Jack is being hunted by a gang of thugs in an industrial plant. His only hope is to use Shadow to quickly dispatch the gang before they can pick them off. Now, its great to jump right into a game but you feel like you're watching the third chapter of a DVD and wondering what happened. Zero back-story in the game or the manual and don't expect things to get much clearer from there.

After this initial prologue Jack is off to a high rise that has been taken over by the Union Gang who is holding numerous hostages on the 15th and 97th floors. Again there's very little story buildup other than Jack has a run-in with his commanding officer and disobeys his order to enter the building to try and save the hostages. Eventually Jack will discover that the Grant Police Department is rife with corruption but plot is definitely not one of the game's strong suits.

On the other hand, its greatest weakness is also its greatest strength. You're not required to think a whole lot, just kick ass and take names later. Outdated thought it may be, DTR's melee system is simple and fun. In hand-to-hand, Jack can pull off numerous bone-crunching combos. When your opponent is vulnerable, you'll be prompted to hit the "X" button to pull off a finishing move that has Jack cracking limbs, necks, or backs, or smashing his opponents head into the ground...archaic but effective. Jack can quickly disarm his opponents and use their weapons against him firing from the hip or using the targeting button for more precise firing. Defeating enemies raises Jacks "focus" level. Focus allows you to put the action into slow motion so Jack can easily target the enemies for clean head shots.

As you will find yourself often up against multiple enemies firing on you at once, Jack can use his stealth abilities to take cover behind walls, furniture, poles, etc to more easily trying to pick off the bad guys while keeping himself relatively safe. This also leads to one of the game's downfalls in that when you're surrounded by enemies, especially in hand-to-hand combat, the frame rate really drags and you feel like you're playing a PS2 or even a PS1 game. The finishing moves and the slow-motion ability draw heavily on older games like Mortal Kombat and Max Payne which further adds to the dated feel of Dead to Rights: Retribution.

You able to utilize Shadow in a couple of different ways. You can essentially become the dog to take out enemies or go on reconnaissance missions. Shadow can sense heartbeats of nearby foes. It's particularly fun to rip out a guy's throat and drag the body away to hide it. Jack can also remotely control Shadow to attack enemies in places he cannot reach, find ammo, etc...Shadow is even better at performing stealthy kills which is a must when you're trying to keep a low profile and save hostages.

The voice acting is nothing special but it doesn't detract from the action. The characters are all two-dimensional and there isn't much depth but for the style of game it works well enough. The graphics feature some excellent effects in terms of explosions and kills. The Elevator crashing to the ground inside the high rise was also cool. But the enemies are all cookie cutter, offering little variety as you defeat the same looking guys over and over.

Dead To Rights: Retribution offers a light, button-mashing diversion that you can jump right into but it feels like a game that is about six years too late.

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First off, why is he fighting crime in an Alpinestars jacket? Did he just get off his crotch rocket and decide to beat up some bad guys. I've never played any Dead to Rights games so I may be missing something.

Now, imagine taking a roided-up character from Gears of War with a similar cover system and placing him in a brawler similar to Bourne Conspiracy and having a stealth section similar to Batman AA where you are the dog. See the pattern. This game basically plagiarizes from other pretty decent titles, which isn't a bad thing; you would actually expect the end result to be somewhat decent. The problem is that they don't excel at any one aspect and actually they are all worse than the aforementioned games they lifted from. The cover system stinks as does the aiming, the brawling sections aren't fluid, and the stealth section is not well laid out. It just feels like there wasn't any love put into this game. Or if there was, they need to hire a better skilled team. There is no attention to detail--graphics are average to poor, there are invisible walls everywhere, if you shoot objects or walls there are no marks left, you can't move any object such as a chair if it's in your way--just the way games used to be on the original Playstation. Also the AI is nonexistant; they'll run back and forth, to and fro, for the heck of it. I'm sure I could add to my list of gripes, but I think you get the picture. This is a last generation game. With that being said, you can still get some fun out of it. You can use enemies as human shields, ahem Gears of War 2 ahem, and throw them off ledges or kick them into enemies. The finishing move cutscenes, ahem Bourne Conspiracy ahem, are amusing to watch. It's just a shame because the game had potential but in the end, winds up as just another average game to the already long list of sub-pars. Look for it in a bargain basement bin near you.

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I could just see the meeting used to pitch this game. The executive asks "What makes this different from every other shooting game?" The response: "Well this one has a dog."

And that about sums up the game. The cop you play isn't remotely realistic, as he walks around without a gun. If you want a gun, you have to get one from a dead bad guy. The slow motion take downs just distract from the game. They're long winded and you can't skip through them. I decided to stop doing them until I found out that causes you to lose points.

The plot revolves around a "false flag" conspiracy in which dirty cops seek to put the city under martial law. The bad guys planned for months while training in a run down sports stadium. Which makes the plot about as realistic as Elvis joining your mom for dinner on Sundays. It's filled with holes, beginning with the fact that a few thousand cops secretly conspiring to take over a city wouldn't go unnoticed by any good cop worth his salt (i.e., the protagonist).

The only reason why I gave the game two stars is because of Shadow, the dog. He has assassination missions, which are fun. But those levels are few and far between and the rest of the game is crap.

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