You dont need to play the original game to understand the plot to this one. . This is a generic 3rd person action game..

User Rating: 6.7 | Dead to Rights II XBOX
Gameplay: The action is great. There are dozens of enemies on the screen at once, and you can do awesome slow motion dives, and take out all your enemies before they even take their weapons out. Sound familiar? You can also sick your dog, Shadow on your enemies. You can also send him to find you weapons, while you crouch behind some boxes or something. The game is very short, but the action is ok. The main character is a Sylvester Stallone style dude, and he says a bunch of really corny lines during gunfights, shootouts, etc. Its not that cool. :|

Graphics: This is definetly not a spectacular looking game, and the levels are "action movie" generic. The graphics are really not that good, but at least you can tell whats going on. The opening cutscene was really nice though.

Sound: There is an assortment of really short little action movie techno tunes, and they keep repeating over and over. The action is so tense, you barely notice it. All the explosion sounds, gun clicks, gunshots, and yells are really nicely done.

Value: You'll play this game for 2 hours straight when you get it, and you'll say "man, this is awesome!" But it will get boring in 3 days, guaranteed. This is a great rental at best,

This is a good action game, but there are plenty more out there that do the whole "slow motion" thing better. I would recommend Max Payne, or Enter the Matrix. You'll have fun with this game, just not for very long.