Consequently, much heart has been poured into this bid to fashion the definitive Dredd experience. Rebellion’s Asura engine, for example – a proprietary combination of extreme lighting and shader effects – lends Dredd vs Death a comic book finish refreshingly detached from the alternative offered by cel-shading. Entirely appropriate, both environments and inhabitants are a crude yet fruitful approximation of Simon Bisley’s distinct vision of the Megacity, blessed with all the dry-humoured minutiae you’d expect. Mixed success, however, greets the low-res backdrops used to suggest the monumental urban periphery to the game area; while the overall effect just about clicks, the limitations of current hardware are painfully clear.

From an aural standpoint, it’s difficult to heap enough praise on Rebellion’s efforts. Considering the comic strip’s frequently oddball atmosphere is usually seen and never heard, Dredd vs Death more or less achieves the impossible – it provides an entirely worthy soundscape in almost every respect. Dredd’s voice is a dead-bang impersonation of how most would imagine him sounding, as are the range of effects from the Lawgiver, to the voices of the Dark Judges themselves. Similarly attuned is the music – a racy fusion of industrial beats and chords which never fails to impress, and in fact ranks as one of the better in-house scores you’ll hear in a western video game.

Significantly, this is not the game many may have expected. It’s not the free-roaming FPS equivalent of GTA3 where you can encounter a thousand different characters and scenarios while experimenting with Dredd’s day-to-day routine. Rebellion have sectioned Dredd into very linear snippets of the Megacity which will disappoint a great many people, but only because, considering the scale in question, no realistic alternative exists. The result exhibits a complex formula wherein the potency of the ingredients entirely depends on the player’s fondness for the subject. A gamer who enters this game cold will most likely be doubly so when they leave, whereas a Dredd fan will no doubt have their expectations exceeded.

As its name implies, Dredd vs Death centres on the eternal battle between the Justice Department and the Dark Judges – essentially the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Occurring after the series’ Necropolis story, in which the Dark Judges took the lives of over 60 million people, the game follows their escape from confinement and subsequent recapture. Appropriately, therefore, half the enemies encountered are of the undead variety – somewhat typical and hackneyed even by FPS standards. That said the lurching, speedy movement of these opponents in tandem with their devastating melee attacks does offer more challenge and entertainment than one might think, even if their presence is somewhat formulaic.

This also isn’t to say that everything is run, dodge and shoot. Much of the game is spent arresting perps for a wide-ranging selection of frequently hilarious misdemeanours. Order their hands behind their heads with one button and the game’s much-hyped fuzzy-logic AI kicks in – the perps will attack, surrender or run away. From here it’s a combination of elements which determine the outcome; shoot the weapon from their hands, for example, and they’ll most likely drop to their knees; the presence of multiple Judges in the vicinity, similarly, will affect their morale. Arrests bring score and reward, but too many dead perps and it’ll be you who are fighting the law (and the law will win). Sadly, interesting as it all is, the arrest system’s finer points usually become irrelevant once the shooting starts, and especially when the zombies and vampires steal the closing act of the show.

Though the Lawmaster motorbike appears only in cut-scenes, the Lawgiver – the signature weapon of the Judges – is solidly represented. All the recognisable ammunition is available including Ricochet, Hi-Ex and Flame rounds while the weapon itself features a minor zoom function akin to that of Halo’s own pistol. With the exception of some truly irksome reload times, the Lawgiver is such an enjoyable piece of kit to play with that the other weapons (Sniper Rifle, Minigun, Laser etc) become quite unwelcome in comparison. With a rechargeable shield and efficient grenade button, Dredd’s other ‘borrowings’ from Halo are a sensible design choice, but here they lack the same intuitive polish when the proverbial hits the fan.

Punctuated with sublime set-pieces involving the recapture of the Dark Judges (who are, themselves, perfectly portrayed), the single player experience offered by Dredd vs Death is of mixed quality, but consistently enjoyable and enough to get devotees of the series very excited indeed. It’s ironic, therefore, that the areas widely expected to be the strongest – the arcade and multiplayer modes – are ultimately the ones which kick the game in the teeth. Wonderfully themed, these modes are nonetheless lazy, unstructured and unrewarding departures. Admittedly, the ability to look up during a block war and see two skyscrapers blowing the crap out of each other is pure Dredd, but it’s also modest compensation for a mishmash of random AI and sloppy design. System Link and Live support are both absent, but considering the overall mess, it’s a purely academic omission. There simply isn’t any inspiration or incentive present in this part of the game to warrant more than fleeting attention.

Ultimately, Dredd vs Death fulfils both hopes and fears in equal measure. It oozes character from every pore, yet bends rather than breaks the steadfast conventions of the FPS. For this reason, a partiality towards the Dredd franchise is not just a recommendation, but a practical requirement when playing the game. If the primary concern was whether Rebellion would stay faithful to the series, it must be karmic retribution that they’ve done it with such enthusiasm that the game itself has been compromised. Like the comic, Dredd vs Death was always set to be a game by the fans, for the fans; accordingly, only they can truly be the judge of its success.