Official Webpage

Platform: PlayStation 2, Xbox

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1

After the original Matrix film was released, it brought a new element into video games; bullet time. This opportunity to slow down the action and still be able to fire off a bullet or twenty, sometimes in real time for yourself, began to show up more and more. Max Payne is the game that many will remember that utilized the ability, but I honestly was never a fan of the game and found it to be nothing more than a dismal action title that tried too hard and failed so much. Dead to Rights however, now that was a game that did bullet time up right, and quite a few other things, and the gritty, hard boiled police action game that had both fans and critics wanting more. It's taken quite a while, but Jack Slate is finally back and ready to take on more of Grant City's criminal underworld.

Dead to Rights II actually isn't a sequel to the original game, but rather, it is a prequel, but that doesn't mean that things are going to be any easier. Once again you will be taking on the role of Jack Slate, a police detective with a short fuse and lots of ammunition to burn. With his partner Shadow, man's best friend and criminal's worst nightmare, Jack is off on another case. Judge Alfred McGuffin, a friend of the Slate family, has been kidnapped, and now Jack is trying to save his life. But, what he finds deep in the underbelly of Grant City is a trail of corruption that will soon be nothing more than a trail of bodies.

I loved the first Dead to Rights quite a bit, and honestly couldn't get enough of it, so when we initially got the press release talking about the sequel, I was pleased on one hand, but also curious. I wondered if anyone else even remembered the game. Really though, that wasn't the main concern. Instead I was hoping that Dead to Rights II would shatter the fond memories I had of the first game with something that would leave me floored.

I hate to say it, but the prequel did shatter my memories, but not in any way that I would consider to be beneficial. Instead, DtRII feels too much like a haphazardly thrown together sequel that is merely hoping to rekindle gamer's fascinations with the franchise, and I don't think that this is going to do it. It sticks to a gaming formula that comes across as being almost lather, rinse, repeat instead of trying to take the things that made the Dead to Rights impressive and add in new features. But, I suppose if you're looking for a straight-ahead action game that requires very little thought, this is the ideal solution.

I can't say that I completely hated the game; it just isn't quite what I was hoping to find. Dead to Rights II plays as your standard run-n-gun game for the most part, though time has seen those types of titles improve little by little, so while you do have plenty of opportunities to blindly shoot down criminals, there is some methodology that needs to be applied here. As you play your way through the various stages in DtRII, Jack will find a number of different weapons to use ranging from various firearms to hand held weapons, but ammo should be your main concern for all of these. Even something as simple as a bottle will only allow you to attack with it so many times. The auto target system can be helpful in all instances to make sure that you use your weapons to their full extent, but unlike many other games, running out of shotgun shells for example won't default your to a pistol with infinite ammo. No, Jack will comment (repeatedly) that he's out of ammo. There are a few ways to get around this.

First off, if you have a foe close by, grab him and use him as a human shield. In most instances his buddies will pump him full of lead, killing him in the process and leaving you free to grab his weapon. More fun however is the classic disarm method. You do have to be standing in front of an enemy to do so, inevitably taking some damage in the process (hope you're wearing your flak jacket) but disarming give you whatever weapon your foe has in hand. Disarms feature a number of creative animations, making it part of the fun. My favorite tactic however is to simply send in Shadow. If you can target someone, Shadow can be sent in to attack them, mauling them in the process and returning with their gun. It's a quick and easy way to accomplish two goals; eliminating criminals and getting more weapons or ammunition.

Like the case was with the original game, you will also have the ability to hit the adrenaline, Dead to Rights answer to bullet time. This puts you into slow motion, often times making combat easier and allowing you to dive, avoiding a swarm of bullets in the process. Obviously, this will drain your adrenaline, as will using disarms or grabbing human shields. It will build back with time however.

Honestly however, this is really about it for gameplay as far as Dead to Rights II goes, and often the overall design is set up where you will have a stage that involves gunplay followed by another that has hand to hand combat. You will also have the occasional boss battle, but that's really about it. There really isn't too much depth here, and even though the original game was set up the same, Dead to Rights II doesn't feel like a sequel (or prequel) so much as it feels more like it was merely an attempt to cash in on the same engine with very limited changes.

Even visually DtRII doesn't stand out too much. The enemies, even the bosses, tend to look rather bland and unimposing, and the same could be said for the background and stage layouts of the game. Most of the games stages are set up in a maze like fashion that requires very little skill to navigate through. There was an attempt to throw in some minor puzzle elements, but it isn't really anything that is going to tax your brain. The only saving grace for visuals however comes with the computer generated cut scenes that as the case normally is with Namco's products, looks outstanding.

If action with very little and an uninspired story, you could either rent any Steven Segal film or pick up Dead to Rights II (and personally, I'd rather be playing this.) However, Dead to Rights II doesn't quite have the impact that the original game does, and there isn't anything here that is going to be revolutionizing the gaming industry. Instead, this is somewhat of a mixed bag that, as far as pure action goes, will kill a bit of time, but it certainly isn't going to be anything that is going to make fans of the original crave yet another game. At best, Dead to Rights II is moderately entertaining, but it's not the hard-boiled action title that the first game was.

-mike-