Dead to Rights : Web Wombat: Games

Isn't it always the way? You're sitting quietly, minding your own business, reading a good book in the city Library, when terrorists kick in the door and start stuffing C4 into every available orifice.

Ugh, did I just write that? I must be slipping...

Anyway, what's a badass cop to do? Blow away everything in a 100-yard radius, yeah?

Cause horrific injuries and practice your Woo-style slow motion dives, .45s akimbo?

Correct-a-mundo!

I'm almost certain that, somewhere, Hollywood has tucked away a template for bad boy cops everywhere, known in movie parlance as the John McClane Template™. First of all, his name: John Slate.

John Slate? Did I miss something and walk into a Justice League seminar? Maybe corporations generate these guys and then give 'em B-movie names, like Max Payne. Who, honestly, would name their kid Max Payne? You, at the back, put your hand down, right this minute!

Our boy, Johnny, he's got a 'bad attitude' problem. Well, either that, or the person who wrote his script was removed from psychiatric counseling. Personally, I'd go for the latter, but that's just me.

Like all the great on-the-edge cops before him, he is extremely capable, crude, and also, strangely enough, homicidal in his dealings with the criminal element.

John dives as gangsta-pimp destroys decor...

This guy takes human shields and then, when they have served their purpose, blows their brains out. He's also a dab hand with a can full of propane and a shotgun … and that's just him, his dog is even worse! Shadow, a sad faced Alaskan Husky, makes Cujo look like Lassie on prozac.

Dead to Rights borrows heavily from almost every action or cop film ever made, at some points going so far as to be almost plagiaristic.

Indeed, some of those sweeping camera angles and dramatic 2-handed firefights probably had Woo reaching for his copyright lawyer's phone number.

In fact, the only thing that tells this apart from Hardboiled is the distinct lack of doves. Oh, and Chow-Yun-Fat isn't tearing apart the scenery.

But Slate makes up for that lack in grand style, managing to destroy 90% of a construction yard in under 5 minutes, thanks to an ill-placed LP gas tank, one crane, a thrown gas cylinder and some flying lead. Don't ask. Just…don't…ask.

At the interlude between this chaotic set-piece and the next, Slate finds that his father has caught a lead cold and, as always, goes solo to find the perps, with his equally homicidal dog in tow.

And Woo isn't the only one who's had his cinema trademarks ripped off. In a chase scene that starts in a nightclub and strip joint know as the Den of Iniquity, heads downtown and then ends up in a high-class hotel that resembles the Hilton, those who have played Max Payne will feel a sickening sense of déjà vu as they recall the rooftop chase with Gognitti, right down to the battered leather jacket.

"Oh, I'm sorry... Did I break your concentration!?"

The fact that Slate keeps chanting "You can run, but you can't hide" makes me wonder if Namco put the poor, psychotic scripty out of his misery after the principal production was finished?

Despite all this rampant thievery, Dead to Rights is an enjoyable experience.

The action is always constant, so relatively small matters such as the plot or the voice acting are never given enough time to be considered, which is a good thing, because they're both basically as thin and durable as a one-ply paper napkin.

Indeed, the "plot" is only in existence as an excuse for another running firefight, not that that's a bad thing.

The slow-motion feature works very well, although, again, any Max Payne player will notice that DtR uses exactly the same usage scheme as Max does, where the "Adrenaline" gauge depletes when in slow-mo, and recharges when you kill enemies.

Refilling the gauge is never a problem, what with all the willing cannon fodder just standing around, so it's a bit useless in the end.

The controls used to move the enigmatic Mr Slate are simplistic at worst and easy-to-use at best. The triangle button (Y on Xbox) is used to execute dives, which you can slow down by depressing the button for a few seconds.

The whole family will have a blast playing this one...

The X and circle buttons (and their Xbox equivalents) are all-purpose and are context-sensitive, meaning that if you have a gun, then it will be used as an action button.

Meanwhile, when you are without the benefits of firearms, the circle will execute a disarm move that, again, can be slowed down with another press of the circle. Is anyone sensing a pattern here, or is it just me?

While Dead to Rights was never going to win any awards for visuals, it is pretty to look at. The explosions are over-the-top, but that was to be expected.

There's no lip-synching or facial movement, but the rest of the animation is excellent. They would have to be, though, since almost 70% of the entire game is spent in slow-mo, where the crime of missing key-frames cannot be hidden.

Add to that the fact that you can rotate the camera at will, and smooth movement becomes compulsory.

The usual particle-fx and water ripples are in evidence, along with some rather cool physics that would usually only be seen in The Matrix.

What I mean by this is that our hero seems to be capable of astounding physical strength that allows him to not only survive drops that would cripple normal men, but to knock brick-wall-sized bouncers over with a single punch.

Truly, he is a man not to be messed with. Then again, all you have to do is watch the intro sequence to know that...

Johnny-boy has just a teensy bit of pent up anger

As an action game, weapons would be helpful in your quest for justice. And believe me when I say that the weapons department of DtR is not lacking.

From the M92 9mm silenced pistol to the M629 .44 revolver (with optional laser sight), the SPAS-12 shotgun to the AKM carbine, there are at least 15 types of firearm on offer.

However, you can only carry 30 rounds for each gun at any one time, and when the clip is depleted, John will toss the gun/s away and pull out the next weapon in his arsenal, Matrix style.

In its own way, Dead to Rights is the console equivalent of an early Van Damme or Stallone flick. It's fun, non-stop, shallow and a complete no-brainer.

When Metal Gear Solid 2 doesn't appeal to you (God forbid that day should ever come) or Silent Hill has lost its edge, then you can pull out Dead to Rights, put the gray matter away in a box and strap yourself in for an evening of explosions, carnage, slow motion and templated cops.

Game: Dead to Rights
System: PS2
Players: 1
Memory Card: Yes
Developer: Namco

Rating: 70%

(Ratings Key/Explantion)

Dead to Rights is on the shelves now.

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