Developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Namco, Dead to Rights: Reckoning is a third-person shooter game. It was released in 2005 for PlayStation Portable. The games main protagonist Jack Slate, a police officer of Grant City is on a mission to save a Senator’s daughter. With that said, is this game worth the price? Read on to find out.
Dead to Rights: Reckoning Story
Dead to Rights: Reckoning returns to crime-infested Grant City. An important informant is kidnapped on the eve of the investigation of a major crime lord. Anticipating the worst if the crime boss is not brought to justice, Jack Slate and his K-9 companion Shadow thrust themselves into hostile gang territory to save the informant and bring peace to the city.
Slate is your typical hard-boiled cop. In this game he’s out to locate a kidnapped informant that is scheduled to put away one of the city’s most notorious crime bosses, Whisper. Armed with guns, a host of martial arts moves and his trusty sidekick killer dog, Shadow, Slate will be confronted by scores of enemies to which he will show no mercy.
Dead to Rights: Reckoning expands upon the blistering action of the series with a robust ranged and melee fighting system that allows Jack to spit lead and bust heads with ease, and an all-new selection of weapons and lethal disarms. Players will also have unprecedented control of Shadow, utilizing him to watch Jack’s back and unleash savage canine fury on enemies.
Onscreen Systems
Lots of enemies will be thrown at players. When using the lock-on targeting system it just picks the enemies at random. It doesn’t target the closest threat; the player will have to do that manually. One of the worst things that the game does is change from third to first-person perspective when taking a dive. These dives are Max Payne-like in that players can continue shooting while trying to get out of the line of fire. When the character gets too close to a wall or any kind of object the perspective shifts. Sometimes the lock-on will target explosive items that are too close. At times it even detonated things that were in the opposite direction. It’s like the bullets were misguided missiles.
Character Capabilities in Dead to Rights: Reckoning
Slate can sneak up on enemies and break their necks. He can also disarm them and take their weapons. This is something players don’t want to do in public – when under fire. Unfortunately, players will often find themselves without a gun when surrounded by enemies. If the character doesn’t have a gun during a boss battle they’re totally out of luck since the boss can’t be disarmed.
Shadow the dog makes a good sidekick but the only time he shows is when being summoned. Players don’t “call” him, that would mean that he’s hanging around. The dog appears out of nowhere, attacks the enemy and then disappears from where he came.
Final Thoughts
The multi-player wireless battle is basically a battle to keep your character under control. The same bad control system applies to this mode as well. The onscreen action is just too chaotic to be any fun. There’s lots of background detail to the environments. It has a rich, full, 3D looks. The story is decent, but it’s told in a film noir style that falls flat. In all, this game is worth a rental at most but there are other shooter games worth the time and money out there.