Dead to Rights: Reckoning

"Control issues and monotony abound in this throwback shooter"

Dead to Rights is Namco's answer to Max Payne, complete with your betrayed cop protagonist, guns blazing akimbo and bullet-time. To mix it up, they also added an admittedly dull brawling mode, several hokey minigames and the ability to use your police dog to maul enemies. The first game had a cliche, over the top storyline, but it was all in good fun. The sequel took a huge step backwards, and the PSP port follows the sequel's steps.

Story:
Dead to Rights: Reckoning's story is beyond paper-thin. This little narrative, told in 10 second long snippets of text preceding each level, hearkens back to the days of Doom and Rise of the Triad, where you needed little explanation as to why you're shooting the people you are in the place you're in. Jack Slate, apparently the only cop on duty in Grant City, must rescue an informant kidnapped by some criminals. With no leads and nothing more than a ransom note, Slate grabs a pair of guns and kills every two-bit thug in his path. Jack isn't much of a cop, since he kills everybody who might give him a lead in the case. The game fully embraces every cliche in the book, as you race from one location to another shooting bikers, Triads, militia men, hired assassins, etc with no rhyme or reason. This story is actually worse than the ones in the previous games, but if you're the kind of person who's playing this game, then story doesn't amount to anything to you.
Score: 2/10

Graphics:
Everything looks nice and clear on the PSP's ample-sized screen. Rarely is there any slow down in the game, and many of the environments look fairly nice. Characters are fairly blocky though, and all of them look like they were created from the same template of several basic geometric shapes slapped together. There is only one model for each enemy, so depending on the level, you'll fight that same type of enemy over and over again. If you're fighting Triads, you'll kill the same Triad repeatedly. Clipping issues are abundant, and most of them are related to your dog, Shadow. See, Shadow has the ability to warp anywhere on command as long as you have a target-lock on your enemy. You'll see your dog warp through walls and floors in a highly comical fashion. This problem has been around since the first game, but it's really pronounced this time.
Score: 6/10

Audio:
One word: generic. Dead to Rights features no voice-overs whatsoever, the gunshots all sound dull, and nary a death scream or a grunt of pain from any of the enemies when you shoot their faces full of lead. There's a rock soundtrack that reminds of those old '80's action movies starring the Governator, such as Commando and Predator. Move along.
Score: 4/10

Gameplay:
Dead to Rights: Reckoning takes after the second game, Dead to Rights II: Hell to Pay. What this means is that the minigames from the original are gone, and the game focuses completely on the action. You'll go from one area to the next shooting bad guys with a variety of guns. This is accomplished by holding the R button to target an enemy, and then hitting X to attack until they die. Some guns do more damage and shoot faster, but they're all pretty much the same. Just about anything that isn't a shotgun doesn't do a lot of damage, so you'll find yourself firing off 10 rounds from an AK-47 to kill somebody. Sometimes waves of enemies will spawn until you can move onto the next area. When you can, you'll walk up to a door and Jack will viciously kick it down when you press Circle. Repeat this process until the level ends.

You can crouch with the L button, which is great since there's plenty of cover and enemies will usually outnumber you 10 to 1. You can dive around with the Triangle button, and holding the button down will activate precious slow motion and allow you to fire at full speed while moving at a molasses pace. You can disarm an enemy in close range with Circle and send out your dog Shadow to maul enemies with Square. This all sounds well and good, and it would be if not for the crazy amount of monotony and the terrible camera and lock-on.

The camera in Dead to Rights: Reckoning isn't fixed, and often times it moves far too slowly on its own to track the action. You can use the target button to centre the camera, but it's only slightly faster. Whenever you have to move down long corridors or narrow areas, the camera confuses itself and will shift to a first person viewpoint, making it impossible to get your bearings. The target lock-on itself is quite faulty since it's too good. You'll often target enemies or explosive objects through walls, and often the target lock will pick someone at random instead of the closest threat. It'd also be great if the target lock would lock onto the conveniently placed exploding car instead of the two enemies ducked behind it. In order to acquire a new target, you can hit the Up button to switch targets, but this means taking your hand off of the analog stick and standing still. Instead, you'll have to hit R over and over again and hope you get lucky and lock onto the guy in front of you holding the Uzi instead of his buddy 30 yards away.

The insane amount of repetitiveness also brings the game's quality into question. You're given a variety of ways of dispatching your enemies, but you do nothing more than kill everyone in this game. The game will keep track of your score, arcade style, and there's a simple combo system wherein you get extra points for killing enemies in quick succession or using disarms to kill them. Disarm moves will be performed often, since you run out of ammo a lot. Too bad that you're basically a sitting duck while you're in the process of a disarm. Occasionally you'll fight a boss, who's the same as every other enemy except that he has much more health and is a coward. Shoot him a bit and then he'll run away and sic his henchmen on you. Take care of his henchmen and he'll come back and shoot at you some more. Repeat until the boss dies. This process can be quickened by sending Shadow to knock the boss down and make him hopelessly unable to defend himself as you fill him full of lead. The wacky camera and often stupid target lock-on hinder the fun in this somewhat, but the fact that this is what you'll be doing the whole game really makes it an entertaining diversion for no more than 10 minutes at a time. There are no minigames, nor are there any sort of puzzles or platforming elements in this game. Throwback shooters aren't bad, but Dead to Rights isn't terribly compelling in its execution.

Not only that, but the game is very short. It can be completed in about 2 to 3 hours, and in less time on the easiest difficulty. You'll unlock multiplayer models, maps, cheats, extra difficulties and challenge modes as you play and replay the game. You might want to replay the game to beat your high score or just to vent. There's a multiplayer mode present that features a whopping two multiplayer modes: deathmatch and last man standing. It uses the same target locking as the singleplayer, so little skill is required beyond grabbing the biggest, fastest firing weapon you can find and hoping you target lock onto your enemy before he or she locks onto you.
Score: 6/10

Rent it if you liked the other games, and if you need something that will last you a quick bus ride or break during work. Playing in short bursts will help you ignore its faults.

Summary:
Pros:
+ Creative combat
+ Mauling enemies with your dog never gets old
+ Decent graphics
Cons:
- Terrible sound
- Target lock is broken
- Camera is too slow to track the action
- Paltry, barebones multiplayer
- Nothing else to offer

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/05/07

Game Release: Dead to Rights: Reckoning (US, 06/28/05)