Dead to Rights: Retribution

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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.

+ As Jack, 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, stealthy and careful you're going to get frustrated fast. If you try to stay put too long or play too carefully, the AI closes in and kills you.

As Shadow, the opposite is true. You've got to be super stealthy and clear out an environment by picking off guys one by one. If you try rushing guys with guns as Shadow, you'll die fast. The result is that the diverse mechanics keep the experience diverse.

+/That being said, the levels go on longer than you might have come to expect in a shooter. When playing as Jack (most of the game), there are checkpoints, so you don't get punished too badly for dying. However as the game goes on and the bad guys just keep coming, the thought enters my mind, "Sheesh, how many more dudes could there possibly be?"

As Shadow, the challenges are much shorter (e.g. kill all the dudes in a warehouse and retrieve a card key), but there are no checkpoints. So you might have to lure and stealth kill as many as fifteen or so guys. If one of them kills you, you have to start over. If you're an impatient, run and gun kind of player (like me), you might start to get frustrated. However, playing as Shadow is still pretty fun.

+ Ultra-violence, blood and gore. I like it, but if you're squeamish, there is a gore setting to minimize this.

+ Shooting. There's no "auto-aim," but shooting is intuitive and easy. You can carry two guns at a time and toggle between them. After a few levels, Jack finds a stash of awesome weapons. Unlike some games, you don't keep your weapons once they run out of ammo. Jack throws them away. So you have to keep disarming you enemies. The disarm mechanics are fun and prove to be an easy way to kill enemies.

+ 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 are a couple hand-to hand boss fights that can go on a while. My advice: learn to block and weave out of the way when your health gets low. Jack's health regenerates, but the boss's does not.

+ 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). After a level or two, you won't even notice.

+ 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.

+ 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 (e.g. a couple hours after an emotionally crushing event, Jack is already hitting on an attractive doctor). 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. You've maybe read the lukewarm IGN reviews. I have no idea what that's about. I would give this game a solid 8.2 (really good).

Comparing DTR:R to other 3rd person shooters (that I've recently played): I have had as much fun playing through Dead to Rights Retribution as I did KILLZONE 2 and more fun than RESISTANCE 2. But not as much fun as HEAVENLY SWORD or RED DEAD REDEMPTION.

I enjoyed the originality of DTR:R and the varied mechanics of shooting, melee and canine stealth attacks in the game.

Buy Dead to Rights: Retribution Now

I suppose you enjoy shooters or you wouldn't be reading the reviews on them so buy this game and you will not be disappointed. I would buy it if it only had the Shadow parts. WOW!!! what a dog. Does anyone know where I can get one of his pups?

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I purchased this game with a bit of hesitation at first thinking on whether it would be plagued with awful controls. Not only the controls were allright but the gameplay is excellent, the voice acting is good and the story is intriguing.

The dog that the main character owns was probably the former pet of Mc Guyver though, but then again it's a videogame. I liked the disarming options and even though some people might complain about the "overkill" animations, they don't always appear so if you don't want to see them just don't press the buttons.

The weapons feel right, they have that "whomp" to them and overall I'm extremely satisfied with this game, it actually made me care about the character and his pet... it seems like a mix of a detective/rambo/a boy and his dog thing.

I strongly reccomend it if you are into beat 'em ups or a good story overall.

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This is one of the best games I have ever played. The story was interesting and I was always excited to see were the game would take me next. The only problem I found, which was minor, was there was no map which I have become accustomed to, but this never led to any problems during the game. There are no side missions, i.e. Red Dead Redemption, Just Cause 2, Grand theft auto, etc.., that we all have come accustomed to. Those are the only problems I could find, and they were not that big of a deal, because the game made up for it in the missions you played. This game is a great ride, and I cant wait to see how the makers of this game will try and top it.