Review: Dead to Rights: Retribution

The original Dead to Rights released on the original Xbox in 2002 to a pretty wide following from gamers. It turned out to be a sleeper hit, with comparisons being made to the other big game at the time, Max Payne. I was one of the few gamers who got both, and appreciated them each for what they were: simple, good, shoot-em-up fun. Dead to Rights: Retribution is the new reboot featuring our trusty friends Jack Slate and wolf/dog companion Shadow. Is the new Dead to Rights another sleeper hit like it’s predecessor? Or is it just another stray wolf-dog on the side of the road you leave behind? Read on for the full review.

The story of Dead To Rights: Retribution follows police officer Jack Slate and his dog Shadow. The two characters are thrust out into the rain and set off on their adventure into the depressed and constantly rained on metropolis of Grant City. Seriously I have to point out, Grant City has got to be up there with the fictional Gotham City as the most depressing looking and worst places to live. The suicide rate in Grant City has got to be through the roof with it raining all the damn time.

Jack Slate quickly realizes in the beginning that things aren’t really what they seem on the streets and Dead to Rights: Retribution turns into your typical cookie-cutter revenge tale. I’ll make the comparison to your summer blockbuster movie plot turned into a game, and then you pretty much have Dead to Rights: Retribution.

Like the mindless summer blockbuster movies we see each summer, Dead to Rights: Retribution is also fun. Really fun. So much so that after each wave of bad guys that Shadow and I beat the living shit out of, I found myself saying, “Is that all you got bitches?” or “Come on motherfuckers! I want more!”

There are a few glaring button mapping issues I’ll mention that hindered fights in close quarters, but the combat in the game (both brawling and shooting) ended up being nice and fluid. The main downfall to punching and fighting was having too many button commands assigned to the A button. This single button was tasked with holding it to run, tapping it to attach to cover, pressing to perform a disarm, and doing a brutal finishing move. Occasionally I got into a pretty intense fight when I tapped A and found myself crouching next to cover, ultimately getting laid into and shot all of a sudden when I really just wanted to punch the bad guy more and finish him off.

The other side of the game is the shooting side, which is downright addicting. Getting headshots in the game is what it’s all about, and you will get addicted to hearing the splash sound, watching time slow down, and seeing that tuft of blood come squirting out the back of their body. Too bad you won’t ever find or have enough ammo to fulfill your insatiable appetite for head shots. Still, the shooting feels tight and not too weighted or floaty. Towards the end of my playthrough I ended up getting to the point were I didn’t want to fight anymore and was running around looking for guns on the ground instead of taking cover. When you finally get a good stash of ammo saved up, it turns out those bullets don’t necessarily do more damage. The enemies in Dead to Rights: Retribution soak up ammo like their at a cheap gun show. Putting two shotgun blasts to the chest is still not enough to take these gangbangers down. A few shots to the torso and they bend over like they had Taco Bell for dinner, only to pop up and come back for more.

Dead to Rights: Retribution ultimately ends up wanting you to switch back and forth between fighting and shooting (and it’s possible), but you will run into some sticky situations where the enemy AI wants to keep shooting instead of engaging you in hand to hand combat. This is where your four legged companion Shadow comes in.

While crouched behind cover, you can send Shadow out (when he’s with you) to impale and rip out any nutsack or throat within 100 yards. The commands for Shadow are pretty self-explanatory, with “attack and retrieve” being one and “follow” being the other. This does help when you are low on ammo, but watch out, he does get incapacitated from time to time and you’ll need to go revive him. Shadow also gets to star in his own set of stealth missions throughout Dead to Rights: Retribution. These are the shining points of which I think the new Dead to Rights will be remembered for. These levels feel very much like stealth missions picked out of other titles like Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, or Batman: Arkham Asylum. The Shadow levels are few and far between, ultimately leaving you wanting more canine nut shots, but sadly you only get so many in the game.

Dead to Rights: Retribution turned out to be an incredibly fun romp through the depressing and rainy Grant City. I enjoyed my time through the single player campaign, but I definitely see Dead to Rights: Retribution as a very solid rental. It’s definitely fun to get back into the shoes (or paws) of our old friends Jack and Shadow, but the game is not without it’s flaws. There are definitely enough positives in the game to definitely warrant picking it up for really cheap, but it’s more suited as a rental over a sunny weekend.

Dead to Rights: Retribution is out now for both the Xbox360 and Playstation 3 console.

[A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.]