Dead to Rights: Reckoning

"A game of yore."

Dead to Rights is exactly what the PSP needs at a time like this. The summer came at a bad time this year, shortly after the PSP launch, and as such there has been a serious drought of games. We've all played Lumines and Wipeout Pure by now, and no matter how much you love them (myself included) they are getting towards the end. Wipeout's Gamma Packs have helped, but not enough. The PSP needed something to distract it's owners from the racing and puzzle-solving...

And Dead To Rights: Reckoning has risen to the occasion.

The game is a relic of a lost time of action games. In fact, if you had lives and no continues, it would be a new-age action game. The story is miniscule, and not worth the time it takes to read. The music is terrible, and suffers greatly from the want to import your own music. The camera is horrid, and begs to be criticized. The game is so short, you can beat it in one sitting. But, most importantly, the game is fun.

Let me get the "professional" reviewers opinions out of the way before addressing my own.

First of all, the music and story are trivial for an action game. I highly suspect that no one is really in the action game for the story. If a gamer was so desperate for story, they would get an RPG (and I love RPGs, I play them for the story) or, if they wanted more action, an Action RPG. The music isn't really a concern either. Chances are that if you're playing on the bus or whatever, you're not gonna really care about the music anyway. What this game could use is the import-your-own-music function that everyone craves, but I suspect that there must be some complications in doing that.. otherwise there'd be no reason for every game not to have it.

Secondly, the camera. Now, it took me a few levels to see what the big deal with the camera was, but eventually it did shine through: there's no traidtional re-center button, and no manual camera turning. Now, I don't know if the reviewers have forgotten the days of 6 years ago, but back in the day, all you had was an auto-center key. And, what do you know, the lock on button works JUST fine for auto-centering. Whenever I need to aim the camera in a direction, I just tap R. Simple as that. I admit the camera could use some work, but it really isn't something that harms the gameplay, in my opinion, it just has a bit of a learning curve.

That's another thing that bothers me about the reviews. Lately, it seems like all the reviewers have forgotten about the concept of a learning curve. NOBODY should be able to just pick up a game and just play right away (unless it's a kart racer or a party game) - EVERYTHING must have some sort of learning curve, whether it be gameply induced or control induced.

But I digress.

The gameplay itslef is very satisfying. The introduction of the combo systm is, in and of itself, the best mechanism for excitment in an action game. There's nothing better then jumping off a balcony in slow-mo, killing 5 guys on the way down, and being rewarded with a 5x PERFECT written big on the screen. It's just satisfying.

The game itself is very VERY short, clocking in around a little over an hour if you're good, less if you're better. But that doesn't bother me. Why? The game is designed to be replayed. It's designed so that you sit down on the bus, or what have you, beat it, put it away, and then come back to beat it again. It's a testament to the way games used to be before the generation I call "New Game+". It's a simple game that's fun to play, and the replayability comes from you just wanting to shoot-up the town again and again.

Dead To Rights: Reckoning serves as a throw-back to games of yore: it's short, it's crude, but it's fun, and something will make you come back over and over again. Do yourself a favour, go to the local Blockbuster and rent it at least. AT LEAST. It's worth the rental if you don't feel like paying full price, but for me, this is exactly what the PSP ordered.

Graphics: 8/10
Everything is smooth and nice looking, the animations are decent, the models are decent, the enviornments, while drab, are varying in their short-lived adventure.

Sound: 5/10
The music will bother you, even if you enjoy whatever type of "rock synth" this is, but the sound effects are decent; notably, the combo addition sound effect is quite satisifying.

Control: 7/10
The control will take a few levels to get used to, and the fact that there is no jump will bother you for a bit, but when you stop being a [x] and get over it, you'll find that the reviewers were way to harsh and that the game, while not perfect, is more then playable.

Gameplay: 9/10
Fast, short and fun, DTR:R will have you coming back for more. It's the perfect game to pick up and play for 5 minutes, because if you need to quickly shut it off, you won't lose that coveted first place when you forget where you were in the race as you turn it back on.

Replayability: ?/10
I refuse to give this a grade because it's totally subject to your own enjoyment of the game. If you don't like it, the answer is obvious. If you do like it, it's a perfect pick-up-and-play game that you'll love to do just that with. Furthermore, if you actually have some friends with it, the mutliplayer is a riot - especially if you're friends can enjoy a simple game of gun-tag.

The verdict:
..............................................................8/10

This game is something that my PSP was craving, and has put Lumines and Wipeout on the shelf.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/05