Over-the-top and rough around the edges, playing as Jack Slate or his loyal sidekick Shadow is very brutal but not great
Contains: Frequent Strong Bloody Violence and Strong Language
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In Dead to Rights: Retribution you'll play as hard-edged cop Jack Slate and his canine companion shadow in this gritty and brutal third person action game.
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STORY/CHARACTERS - 3/5
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A prologue starts proceedings, with Grant City police officer Jack Slate collapsing on a dock after disembarking from a tugboat and confronted by members of a triad who want revenge for earlier events. Protecting his master, Shadow, Jack's dog, brutally kills all of the triads as Jack slowly makes his way to a bar where he meets his friend and goes into the story of what happened beforehand. It turns out Jack Slate is on a killing streak after his father died, and will do anything to reach the heart of the story and find the people responsible as he exacts his retribution… You would have seen the ideas executed multiple times before and exceeding the results here, but the plot is surprisingly engaging and the dialogue even more impressive, making for an entertaining tale of corruption and vengeance within a fictional city setting that lacks its immersive qualities later in the campaign, but hooks you early on which dutifully makes it across the finish line.
The protagonist is someone you'll feel for because of the loss of his idyllic policeman father, and as you carve a violent path towards the villains, you'll notice the passion in the main character to avenge such a death/crime but also show compassion for the ones close to him that he cares about, including his trusty sidekick Shadow. As he nears the inevitable showdown before the credits, you'll relish in Jack Slate's personal vendetta against the enemies responsible as he devises his own methods of retribution to settle the score once and for all. Shadow is loyal to his owner, gladly acknowledging any requests asked of him, especially when it means tearing apart bad guys for justice, subsequently urinating on the ferocious dog's late victims as if they were lampposts. A good cast support the script, so that when you hit some dry spots the plot pushes you forwards as it thickens around you.
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GAMEPLAY - 2/5
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A flurry of punches, a barrage of bullets, and abundant lethal pounces later, and you'll either show admiration for the developer's embracing the challenge, or notice that they bit off more than they could chew for failing to produce excellent results for such a risky feat. It gels together a few elements of gameplay that would otherwise be separated in the majority of games, and in this case, Dead to Rights: Retribution confidently attempts at being a melee/stealth/shooter hybrid, but doesn't succeed overwhelmingly in either subgenres. Hand-to-hand brawls quickly turn into button mashing fist fights that don't flow well, stealth is hampered by very bad enemy intelligence, and gunplay isn't solid, with a weak cover system not helping it cross the line of adequateness. This game also happens to be over-the-top which is very obvious when committing violent acts of punishment in the form of takedowns, which are certainly brutally satisfying, have a classy style of presentation about them, but wholly unrealistic to behold. However, in the middle of the mild mess you can find something to like in each aspect, even though it'll have noticeable flaws that detract from the overall experience.
You can fend off foes with lots of combo moves when you prefer to fight with your fists, though most are difficult to perform because of trying to avoid being interrupted during the sequence, and so it ultimately leads to mashing on the buttons until they go down, or can be finished off with a gratifying takedown. Health is not really an issue throughout most of the game, and so should you find yourself running out of bullets, you'll gratefully accept running up to armed foes and disarming them before you blow them away, splattering the walls and covering the ground with blood - a frequent spectacle as you push through waves of aggressors. You can command Shadow about when playing as Jack, something you'll be doing for the majority of the game unless an obstruction appears and he has to let his trusty sidekick complete the objective, and when aimed appropriately, you can tell him to fetch ammo while you remain in cover, urge him to rip a foe to shreds, select a place for him to stay and guard or keep him by your side. But beware, he maybe mans best friend, but he isn't invincible, and should he die you'll need to revive him when close which means you should throw caution to the wind when risking your companion as he dives out of cover and obeys your commands every time you order them.
Shooting is not bad, and the amount of blood flying off when hitting a target makes the fleshy targets worthwhile practice as you spray your clip everywhere. Plus, the subtle slow motion effect that occurs very briefly upon getting a headshot looks very cool, but it's a shame it's short-lived. Although it does inject encouragement into your attitude to instigate the bloody effect again, because it boosts your focus metre which allows you to extend the slow mo effect and get even more headshots in the window of opportunity. Takedowns, headshots, stealth kills with Shadow and melee counterattacks all add to the metre, and you don't have to wait until it's full to unleash the deadly ability of slow motion. A cover system is available, and you'll no doubt be frequently taking up defensive actions when waves of enemies enter the area with infinite ammo supply. Unfortunately, it isn't a cover mechanic that works very well, and you'll often take damage from behind an object or structure of some kind anyway, forcing you to repel the attackers before they gain a foothold on the situation.
Some situations cannot aren't negotiable with bullets though, and an obstruction may cause Jack to utilise his canine sidekick to get the job done, such as acquiring keys to a locked gate or shutting gown generators. Using sharp claws, serrated teeth and powerful jaws, your loyal sidekick Shadow will cause many eye wateringly painful takedowns on thuggish enemies during the stealth sequences that instigate when stepping out from Jack's shoes. You'll cringe and devilishly grin at the same instance when your four-legged companion lunges at foes groins for the first time, while you feel satisfied when stealthily taking down enemies and then (using his strong mouth) drag the corpses out of sight to avoid detection. But even when you get Shadow into a pile of trouble, he's a speedy dog that can leap cover without breaking stride, and seemingly dodge bullets as he gallops towards his stupid assailants that get what's coming for them. Unfortunately, playing as Shadow isn't as problem free as it should be, since if you are detected there are no places to hide from the annoying AI, and occasionally they'll even know of your presence when a brick wall is placed between the 2 of you, thus leading to some aggravating, and unnecessary, restarts as you likely will suffer death.
Amongst the problems that appear early on, the game soon goes from good to average, with the campaign getting into a very mediocre rhythm halfway through, leading to boredom and frustration. It picks up again near the end, but a couple of levels in the middle of the story are just lame. One thing that never changes though is the presentation, which almost has an arcade shooter feel to its design and placement. Objectives pause the game and print the classy style right in the foreground of the picture, and whenever you pick up a new weapon, it'll present the weapon parameters in identical fashion. The gameplay has its questionable moments, but manages to overcome the blemishes in its designs, with stealth, hand-to-hand combat, and gunplay all proving fun at some point.
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GRAPHICS - 3/5
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Shadow doesn't just ravage enemies, he completely rips them to pieces, and having the gore setting set to high really shows off the gratuitous amounts of blood and gore as he rips throats out and claws chests open. This visual will be as good as it gets though, since the gritty concept never produces quality environments that shine with grimy detail as often as you'd hope. Occasional framerate slowdown and bland environmental detail remain the letdown of the graphics department, but not all is lost as pinpoint accuracy rewards you by delivering a neat visual spectacle. But don't come into Dead to Rights with high hopes since it isn't a visual stunner, but you can get by if who don't mind a bit of tarnish on your guilty pleasures.
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SOUND - 4/5
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Grisly sound effects compliment the strength of your canine companion's jaws as they bite into flesh and savage foes to death while a soundtrack conveys various emotions that range from attempting to capture the drama at an important story event to the intensity of outnumbered odds when in direct combat, and for the most part the sound design is good. The voice acting is what is most impressive however, with each line of dialogue spoken convincingly, and the script is thankfully commendable enough to give the actors sentences to speak with authority in the scenes they're in. A few weak sound effects demerit this otherwise solid area of the game.
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CONTROLS - 3/5
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The controls work, but some instances establish that this crucial part of the game could have used some polish and refining. To do an action you have to wait for the onscreen prompt to show, and it isn't always on time with when you want it. You can't just run up to an enemy pressing the disarm button because you have to wait for the prompt to give clearance to this manoeuvre, which is kind of annoying when things are desperate and chaotic amidst a shootout. Other actions can also be a bit unresponsive when trying to climb a ladder.
There's also the comical movement mechanics and unnecessarily zoomed in camera that makes the protagonist cover much of the screen and run jerkily (even more so when sprinting). And since the story implies a serious tone to a revenge-fuelled mission, the over-the-top vibe created in takedowns aswell as the sketchy movement when traversing and clipping issues during melee makes for an unorthodox action game with inconsistencies infected into most departments that leave the experience a little rough around the edges.
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ATMOSPHERE - 2/5
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When in the heart of Grant City, the pouring rain and dangerous back alleys give the atmospheric elements signs of promise for what's to unveil later, but some incongruous levels that are dry of ideas and only manage to amp up the boredom factor make for incoherency among good plot direction, incontrovertibly draining the atmosphere away from the experience which it so desperately wanted to be more than just collateral.
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ENEMY AI - 1/5
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They influx in waves, but each hostile is absentminded of common sense and littered with issues. Enemy intelligence aswell as ally intelligence is plagued with obnoxious issues that hamper your involvement and just about all aspects within gameplay. When you have someone by your side, their reactions to enemies arrival are laughably late, and it tends to lead to really disjointed fist fights and shootouts that just go backwards and forwards between comically bad and blatantly contrived. Enemies briefly show signs of improvement when you inflict damage to their arms or legs and witness them appropriately react in pain and drop their gun, but the fact you can sometimes see them spawn when replacing downed allies is just completely atrocious and unacceptable.
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LENGTH - 3/5
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In-between the prologue and the epilogue are 10 levels that take you all across Grant City, which should take you roughly 9 hours to complete. Some levels are more cutscene-heavy than others, but it starts to feel overlong as it's welcoming variety wares off at the midway point, leaving the second half of the game tentatively dissatisfying with the exception of the last couple of levels which are full of non-stop bloody carnage and a suitably enjoyable ending to bring the game to a halt.
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REPLAY VALUE - 2/5
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Collectable police badges can be found throughout the chapters, and while they don't offer anything other than going towards 100% completion, they do give you an incentive to scout around the otherwise bland environments that, quite honestly, don't invite exploration. By killing in style and varying your attacks, completing levels quickly and using Shadow where possible, you will earn bronze, silver or gold medals (in the form of cop badges) at the end of each level depending on your score that evaluates everything you did. A point multiplier takes effect when on higher difficulties aswell, trying to get you to replay the story mode, but after you've finished with it, it's best to leave it a while before attempting a second playthrough which the game generally doesn't warrant.
Savaging enemies with Shadow's bare teeth never gets old even though the kill animations are similar and with few variations, while pummelling adversaries with fists can enlighten the mood when the gunplay feels run-of-the-mill, primarily when executing finishers on the weakened foe and killing him in over-the-top style. When the momentum is going the right way, headshots look and feel great to achieve aswell, as the entire game drifts ever so slightly into slow mo while you witness your precision from cover with bullets. Dead to Rights: Retribution tackles numerous gameplay elements with uncompromising flair, but sometimes overconfidence can be the untimely setback to the final result, as is the case in many stages in this third-person action shooter where the brawling gets button mashy, the stealth gets annoying, and the gunplay gets tiresomely repetitive as it limps it's decent plot to the final fight at the finish line. Though an unvarnished experience, the elements sewn into the plot make for a brutal action affair, and having a four legged companion has never felt so rewarding and visceral in a tale of retribution.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 7/10
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Good Points: Shadow performs vicious and bloodthirsty takedowns, Classy presentation, Over-the-top brutal finishers, Solid voice acting and dialogue within a good tale of corruption and vengeance, Slow-motion headshots look cool.
Bad Points: Melee combat is mostly button mashing, Horrendous artificial intelligence, Most environments are bland, Gameplay soon gets into a run-of-the-mill rhythm.