LADYDRAGON.COM - Dead to Rights

Developed and published by Namco, Dead to Rights is done exclusively for the Xbox and is an original action noir video game that was inspired from movies like John Woo's famous Hong Kong action films Hard Boiled and The Killer plus books like Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and Frank Miller's Sin City series.

You will play as Jack Slate a good cop that lives unfortunately in a once bustling gold mining town that is now a crooked and corrupted town called Grand City, USA. Jack is an honest cop who does not take any crap from anyone and is trying to find out who murdered his father Frank Slate a private investigator and former cop. Before Jack can find out what happened to his father he is frame from a murder he did not commit and thrown in jail.

Now he must find a way to get out of jail and find out what is going on in this city.

Fortunately Jack is part of the K-9 police division so at least he knows that he can count on the loyalty of Shadow to help him out. Shadow is an Husky dog that will help Jack through out the game.

The way Shadow helps you through out the game is that he is included in your weapon inventory. On the upper left corner of you screen you will see the Head of Shadow with a green Stamina gauge under it. When the gauge is full that means you can select Shadow as a weapon. When you select Shadow to attack an enemy, Shadow will go and always kill the enemy you have assigned him to plus he comes back with the enemy's weapon.

Do not worry Shadow can not be injured or killed at any point and time during the game Namco did an outstanding job when creating Shadow when being order to attack you see a cut scene where Shadow successfully kills the enemy that he is assigned to then you will see him bring back the weapon to Jack.

Here is the list of weapons in the game beside Shadow; .45 Automatic Pistol, .50 Automatic Pistol, AKM Assault Rifle, Flamethrower, L96A1 Sniper rifle, M4 Carbine Assault Rifle, M11 Silenced Submachine Gun, M60 Machine Gun, M79 Grenade Launcher, M92 Silenced Pistol, M202A 1 Rocket Launcher, M210 Double Barrel Shotgun, M629 .44 Magnum Revolver, Mark 3-A2 Automatic Shotgun, MP-A5 Submachine Gun, PSG 1 Sniper Rifle, SPAS-12 Shotgun.

In your Gun Inventory, you can carry up to 10 guns of any types but not 10 of the same type. Each weapons as a maximum like you can carry up to four M11 Silenced Submachine Gun, the M92 Silenced Pistol is two and a PSG 1 Sniper Rifle you carry one at a time. And the only way you can drop a weapon is to empty his load then pick up an other.

There is also Items you will pick up during your game that will help you like Health packs, Armor, Canisters, Cigaretes packs, Fire Extinguisher, Fuse, Keys and Wire cutters.

There is a cool innovating feature that allows you to disarmed an enemy and use him as a shield. When you do that an orange gauge called a Human Shield Meter will appear in your upper left corner of the screen so it is like having an extra armor for a short amount of time and when the gauge is depleted Jack shoot the enemy down. The Human Shield Meter will also appear when you are asked to protect someone but this time you need to make sure his gauge does not deplete.

There is an other feature where Jack can dive in slow motion. When you dive that way everything goes in slow motion except the bullets that you are firing at your enemy. This feature is ideal when you are having troubles with too many enemies.

Unfortunately they included mini games through out the game that. It does interrupt the flow of the game and it kills your fun actually, it would of been better to put a cut scene instead to follow the story or more action but not mini games. Its like going to a rock concert and having the singer talks for 15 minutes between each songs.

An other place to improve the game, would be to have a function to drop a weapon and pick one up quickly instead of unloading the ammo.

Namco approach the production of this game like a movie they got talents like the screenwriter Flint Dille known for his work on TV shows like Transformer and G.I. Joe.

As for the visual they hired the Smashcut Action Team known for their visual affects in movies like the Matrix, Fight Club and Batman Forever. They even hired the same stunt doubles used to portray Keanu Reeves in The Matrix and the Brad Pitt in Fight Club.

And as for the sound, they hired 2 of Hollywood's most prestigious audio production companies to recreate an audio adventure similar top the Dolby Digital sound effects of movie theaters.

GDH Digital known for their work with ABC, Disney, Miramar, Showtime and Nickelodeon Network.

Weddington Productions has accumulated 7 Academy Awards nominations and won 2 Academy Awards for its outstanding audio contributions in such film in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Robocop, Aladin and the Fifth Element

Kevin Manthei a music composer known for his work in Resident Evil, Scary Movie 2 and Invader Zim.

Dead to Rights is a refreshing action game with innovating features combine with great talents hopefully Namco will continue to build a great franchise starting with this title.

Companies

Developer
Namco

Publisher
Namco

Category
Action

Notes

Originality:93 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphic: 92%
Interest: 92%
Control: 90%
Sound: 92%

TOTAL: 92 %

Requirements

Console
Xbox

Multiplayer
1 Player

Rated by ESRB
"M" Mature

Jennifer Morgan

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