Dead to Rights: Retribution
This Franchise is Dead in the Water
Posted May 3, 2010
Dead to Rights: Retribution reboots the Dead to Rights franchise with its action star Jack Slate and loveably vicious canine sidekick, Shadow the dog. The story is loosely based on the first game with Jack getting involved in his father’s messes and ultimately getting wrapped up in a crime spree that’s destroying Grant City. The presentation is pretty slick for the Dead to Rights title, but the character development is poor. Jack Slate feels like a parody of himself from the first game, but as a more outlandish, violent jerk. Oddly enough, I felt like rooting against Slate during the game at times.
This is also the first Dead to Rights title that I’ve played where gun combat officially seems like a lost cause. Sure it’s had problems in the past, but Jack might as well be throwing gravel at the enemy. Shooting enemies anywhere below the neck is a pitifully weak attack. Headshots, while quite powerful, are far too difficult to line up as the enemy hones in on Jack with great ease. If the bullet time meter was more similar to Max Payne, perhaps Jack would have time for headshots. But alas, bullet time builds up very slowly.
I’m quite amazed that hand to hand combat is still terrible in this series of games after all these years. The camera messes with gameplay nonstop when trying to fight a handful of thugs. Locking onto a specific enemy is problematic as well as the rapidly spawning enemies out of nowhere (a problem found in all Dead to Rights games). Takedowns, while tremendously visceral, don’t require any quick thinking like Bourne Conspiracy or Wet. I’m not sure why the developer wanted the player to sit around and wait for these sequences to play out rather than allowing in the player to get involved. One bright point is enemy A.I. They know how to work together, stay in cover and utilize weapons laying around.
The stealth sequences, where the player controls Jack’s trusty sidekick Shadow, are very similar to the most recent Batman title. Shadow enters into a night-vision, super sense mode that allows him to navigate around enemies. The developer did a good job of tossing in these stealth sequences at mostly the correct breaks in the action, but a dog that can see through walls is ridiculous; unless his name is Krypto. Sadly, Shadow is a moronic dog; at least he was programmed that way. Shadow requires a great deal of attention when paired with Jack, otherwise he takes their fire constantly. Shadow also has a nasty habit of leaving enemies alive after attacking them. I suppose enemies that withstand barrages of bullets can also shake off a vicious dog bite. Sigh…
The biggest flaw with Dead to Rights: Retribution is that it feels ancient in design and doesn’t compare to current 360 / PS3 titles. It’s a combination of tired gameplay, overused story-telling techniques and overall monotony. While not surprising considering the other entries in these series of games, it’s still disappointing that the developer can’t improve on what was originally a solid premise for an action game. The entire campaign takes about 7 hours to complete on normal difficulty, but it’s hardly worth your time with great third person shooters like Splinter Cell: Conviction and, to some extent, Just Cause 2 that have both been released recently.
This is also the first Dead to Rights title that I’ve played where gun combat officially seems like a lost cause. Sure it’s had problems in the past, but Jack might as well be throwing gravel at the enemy. Shooting enemies anywhere below the neck is a pitifully weak attack. Headshots, while quite powerful, are far too difficult to line up as the enemy hones in on Jack with great ease. If the bullet time meter was more similar to Max Payne, perhaps Jack would have time for headshots. But alas, bullet time builds up very slowly.
I’m quite amazed that hand to hand combat is still terrible in this series of games after all these years. The camera messes with gameplay nonstop when trying to fight a handful of thugs. Locking onto a specific enemy is problematic as well as the rapidly spawning enemies out of nowhere (a problem found in all Dead to Rights games). Takedowns, while tremendously visceral, don’t require any quick thinking like Bourne Conspiracy or Wet. I’m not sure why the developer wanted the player to sit around and wait for these sequences to play out rather than allowing in the player to get involved. One bright point is enemy A.I. They know how to work together, stay in cover and utilize weapons laying around.
The stealth sequences, where the player controls Jack’s trusty sidekick Shadow, are very similar to the most recent Batman title. Shadow enters into a night-vision, super sense mode that allows him to navigate around enemies. The developer did a good job of tossing in these stealth sequences at mostly the correct breaks in the action, but a dog that can see through walls is ridiculous; unless his name is Krypto. Sadly, Shadow is a moronic dog; at least he was programmed that way. Shadow requires a great deal of attention when paired with Jack, otherwise he takes their fire constantly. Shadow also has a nasty habit of leaving enemies alive after attacking them. I suppose enemies that withstand barrages of bullets can also shake off a vicious dog bite. Sigh…
Graphics
- Grant City is ugly and it’s not because that’s the “feel” that the developers were attempting to capture. It’s boring and looks more at home on the Playstation 2.
- Character design of humans is decent, but Shadow looks incredibly out of place. Shadow has a variety of animation issues as well that exist through the entire game.
- Cutscenes are the most polished sections of the title, but they are plagued with occasional lighting effects problems.
Audio
- The dialogue is laughable, partly from the script and partly from the actors reading the silly lines. At least Chris Bruno (of TV’s The Dead Zone) brought the original Jack Slate to life many, many years ago.
- The score is decent and plays into the Noir feeling that the game is desperately trying to portray. It reminded me of the 1990 Batman score a couple times.
- The sound effects and ambient noises were forgettable. I suppose gunshots inevitably start to sound recycled after so many third person shooters.
Conclusion
The biggest flaw with Dead to Rights: Retribution is that it feels ancient in design and doesn’t compare to current 360 / PS3 titles. It’s a combination of tired gameplay, overused story-telling techniques and overall monotony. While not surprising considering the other entries in these series of games, it’s still disappointing that the developer can’t improve on what was originally a solid premise for an action game. The entire campaign takes about 7 hours to complete on normal difficulty, but it’s hardly worth your time with great third person shooters like Splinter Cell: Conviction and, to some extent, Just Cause 2 that have both been released recently.