Dead to Rights: Reckoning

"Technically Flawed? Yes. Short? Yes. Fun......YES!!"

Technically Flawed? Yes. Short? Yes. Fun......YES!!

Background: I have played Dead to Rights on xbox. Never played the sequel. I didn't like the first one enough to even bother with the second. The only reason I bothered with this one is because its an action game on the PSP, a system with barely any action games (at the time it was released, not now of course). I have to say, I am definitely glad I took the time to play this game, as it has surprised me by being quite fun. It's got a dated design, which isn't enough to keep all types pf gamers satisfied, and there are some technical issues present (camera and some targeting issues, along with a few graphical quibbles) but in the end, it's a fun little portable third person action experience, and a good PSP title, especially given its release date.

Graphics: 8/10
The environments have lots of detail with lots of special effects. Fair variety in the locations and the character models are decent. Animation is kind of stiff, but it's a non issue with me. It might not be for others. There are some clipping issues, but the framerate is pretty smooth and stable.

Sound: 8/10
Lots of ambient sound here, gunshots, explosions, machinery and some upbeat music that's not my style but fits wll enough I guess. Not much too report, but nothing grating or annoying.

Gameplay: 8/10
The game design is incredibly simplistic and harkens back to the old days. It has you running around shooting people. That's about it. Kill everyone, go through door, rinse and repeat, save for the occasional boss. There are health packs to be found, and different weapons to pick up but that's it.

To give it some variety, there are disarms which are basically different animations that have you steal a baddies weapon and kill him with it. This usually involves the breaking of a limb with a nice gruesome sound effect to go along with it. Also like the other DTR games is your trusty sidekick Shadow who again you can utilize to maul people.

The shooting mechanics works like this: There is a targeting system, you target a guy, kill him, and target the next. You can toogle between targets with the D pad UP button.

There are also the slow motion dive, regular dive, and roll/duck/evade manouvers. The slow motion dive a la Max Payne allows you in "bullet time" to target and shoot various enemies, and you can land this on your feet or on your back, from where you can lie there and shoot in any direction you want. Cool stuff.

As far as controls are concerned its pretty standard fare and there are no problems, except for the fact that Jack controls a bit awkwardly (he turns like a tank). I did not find myself fighting the controls at all.

Challenge: 6/10
The game is not very challenging, but granted, I played on Rookie., as the DTR game on the xbox was notoriously difficult, and I didn't know what to expect here. There are 3 difficulties, rookie, normal, and super cop. I imagine the targeting system and lying prone manouver render any difficulty pretty manageable.

Camera: 4/10
The way I see it, every 3rd person action game's biggest challenge is its camera system and as such, each review of these games should have a camera section. The camera in this game sucks basically, although for some reason, it didn't irritate me as much as bad cameras usually do. Part of the problem is the lack of a second analogue nub on the PSP. You can't manually control the camera, although the targeting system tries to take care of this by letting you target and turn towards people using the R trigger. Problem is, it doesn't always select what it should, and you end up being shot at by people you cannot see.

Getting in corners can make the camera a real pain, but again, for some reason it didn't kill the game for me. I was having too much fun with it.

Replayability: 5/10
When you beat the game you unlock a new mode (I won't spoil it here) that is a bit different. Same but new challenge. Also 3 difficulties and multiplayer (Ad hoc only not infrastructure). I beat it once, got halfway through the unlockable mode, and might beat it once more on normal but that will be it.

I wish the main campaign were longer. Thats my main gripe, that and the sometimes wonky camera and targeting system. It truly is an enjoyable game, despite the technical flaws, and if you like mindlesssly killing people, then check this game out. Just remember: its short so unless you will play multiplayer or really really love the campaign, you may want to rent it first like I did.

7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/05, Updated 11/09/09

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