Dead to Rights wants you to feel that way, except it isn't exactly sure how to do it, and the end result feels akin to that old adage of 'throw enough mud at a wall and eventually some will stick'.


It has every action staple the developers could conceive of; unarmed combat, double-gun, bullet-time, MGS2 style fire-dodging from behind a wall, using enemies as human shields, and trying to pervade the entire affair with an air of 'Matrix' style cool.

The story begins in such a similar fashion to Max Payne, of which inevitable comparisons will be made, although perhaps not as many as you might think, that it's easy to believe the Devs did so out of sheer cheek. You play a good cop who inevitably ends up framed and on the run, with nothing left to lose he decides to go all out, and the consequence of this is, predictably, massive choreographed battles with numerous generic thug and hitmen characters. In all fairness, the plot does gain a little substance later on, but it's never really intriguing enough to propel the game forward, which means that this requirement falls squarely on the combat.

There are moments when DTR succeeds in what it has set out to do and actually forces you to analyse your tactics rather than just charging into the next set-piece. Equally, however, there are just as many moments when survival comes down to how quickly you can eliminate each enemy before they overwhelm you through sheer numbers. It's not easy to dismiss the feeling you get from sheltering behind a wall as gunfire rips the edge of it apart, skilfully dodging out and gunning down two of the enemy, grabbing another as he runs forward to investigate and using his body as a human shield while you rain down bullets on the remaining forces.

Herein lies the problem, however, you can't dismiss such a feeling but you're never exactly sure how you feel about DTR even after hours of concentrated play, the game stands as a giant, ugly ball of contradictions. Some of the mini-games supplied are fun and break up the pace, whereas others are inane and overused. The game's camera seems to have a mind of its own, which is pretty inexcusable for this genre, yet this is largely negated by the 'lock-on' feature.

Other elements feel still-born, as though the developers didn't have time to enlarge on their role, to make them as much as they intended, but decided to leave them in anyway. The role of your dog, Shadow, is sporadic and confused; there's a moment in the first level when you take control of him to open a path to enable your character to move forward, but for the next five or so levels all you'll be doing is using him to kill an enemy and bring their weapon to you (he is selected, locked-on, and activated like any other weapon in your inventory).
Likewise, the 'manual-aim' feature doesn't seem to serve any purpose except exist as a vehicle for the Sniper-Rifle, you'll never find yourself using it with any other weapon, and the game has an annoying habit of switching to manual-aim when you least suspect it and causing your untimely death.

Another fault, or, rather, a similarly undeveloped aspect of the game, is the unarmed combat. DTR contains a number of levels that do away with gunplay altogether and rely on fisticuffs throughout, the Prison level being a notable example of this. These sections can be immensely painful as, unlike the giant, gunfighting battles, they never have the potential to reach any level of true enjoyment due to a number of fundamental flaws.

Your fighting moves are limited to a number of punch or kick combinations, with throw and block moves also available, as such it ends up feeling like a poor imitation of the seminal classic Streets of Rage as you deal out two punches to an enemy, finish them off with a kick, then move onto the next opponent. The total lack of any manoeuvre which could do damage to a number of enemies means that you have to fight one at a time as the others wait their turn politely, and, in many cases, get in a cheap shot the instant that you've killed your current opponent.

Namco seem to think the solution to such stilted mechanics is to throw up to thirteen opponents at a time into the mix, hoping, evidently, that the fighting will build up to an exciting pitch through default. All this invokes is an unwelcome sense of weariness, knowing that after this room full of nine enemies the next one will be full of twelve. It leaves you feeling left with such a bitter taste in the mouth because of it that when you do reach the next gunfight section the effort you had to expend to get to it can tarnish almost any excitement it might provide.

Such elements although not ruining the game outright, drive the difficulty level up to heady extremes and mean that if you do die as a result of the erratic camera or the manual-aim; your anger might be such that you decide, as a point of principle, never to return to DTR again. It's like sitting down to a meal prepared for you by a slightly challenged loved one which contains both well and badly cooked food, you know that if you're to enjoy the satisfying portions you'll also need to chew your way through the gristle and raw pulp as they are both part of the same dish.

If you do thrive on challenge, even when it's created by design flaws, then chances are you will find a level of enjoyment in DTR. Time spent with the control method means that you will, after a period of adjustment, be using bullet-time and disarming moves to your lethal advantage, but the fact is that most people won't spend enough time with DTR to ever reach this stage.

Graphically, it doesn't push the XBox's capabilities. The main character and enemy sprites are solid but uninspiring, the terrain might show bullet-holes but most of the backgrounds are so dull you'll find that's the best thing you can say about them, furthermore the transaction between the quality of the rendered cinema sequences and the in-game graphics will bring you back to Earth with a jolting thud.

Sonically, it does the job. Gunfire and the shouts of the enemy are quite workable, but the voice-overs of the main character sound, all too often, stilted and wooden. Music is used with remarkable restraint, probably because the Devs knew it would all be drowned out by the constant gunfire, yet it seems to be the same tune simply played in a number of different ways.

Analysing the title as a whole, Namco come across like amateur novelists, insistent, and somewhat apologetic, that 'the good stuff comes later'. They sit on the sidelines, biting their nails and hoping that there's enough mileage in the set-pieces to keep the player wading through the clag wedged between them. They try one idea; pull it off in a stilted and mundane way, but return to it later with the attitude of 'you know, I'm sure I could have done that better'. As such the end result feels like a rehash of concepts and ideas.

They shamelessly copy other gaming titles to cannibalise parts for their own work, like the way a budding author might hijack his favourite writer's style and mistakenly think it his own. Project Eden can point the finger, as can Metal Gear Solid 2, no doubt there are others but the names and developers are besides the point; what matters here is that if you want to create something truly unique and refreshing you have to forge ahead with your own concepts, it is as though Namco ran out of their own concepts a little early on and decided to half-inch a few from the rest of the industry. It's not clever and, quite frankly, it's more than a little embarrassing.