An Arresting Release
Dead to Rights II has shipped, and we tried to be SO clever with the headline.
Published: April 12, 2005
Prequel sequels are in. Don't believe us? Take a look at Devil May Cry 3 or GTA: Vice City or… uh, Resident Evil O. Okay, so technically this intro was just an excuse to link to other games in our database so you'd check 'em out (and you should, too, they've got reviews and tons o' media!), but the point still stands.
In this grand tradition comes Dead to Rights II, a prequel to the less-than-stellar first tale of a man and his arm-chewing dog. Cool weapons-based takedowns and Max Payne-style so-mo notwithstanding, the game wasn't exactly a hit with the critics, but it apparently did well enough (especially considering it was one of the bigger early Xbox titles) to warrant a sequel. Make that a prequel sequel.
"The gritty cop storyline and nonstop action of Dead to Rights II is sure to give any adrenaline junkie their fix," opined Pierre Roux, Senior Producer at Namco Hometek. "We’ve expanded upon the foundations of the action genre by giving players even more control of Jack’s K-9 partner, Shadow, and unprecedented freedom in ranged and close-combat mayhem, and the results are nothing short of explosive."
BASE jumpers or no-cable rock climbers might have something to say about a video game sating their need for an elevated heart rate, but we're fairly sure a couple of gamers will feel a couple extra thumps in their chest while playing the game (even if it is just from getting up to put the game in, har har har).
The prequel centers around Jack Slade and his canine compatriot Shadow searching for clues about the abduction of a Grant City bigwig, but the threads of information eventually unravel into an all-out man-and-pooch-against-the-mob tale of corrupt two-timing people the pair thought were good guys. We smell plot twists aplenty.
The game expands on Jack's ability to dive into slo-mo with what Namco called "spherical slow motion", and the range of abilities Shadow offers. The same violent means of disarming bad guys returns, with 25 takedowns in total, and we hear there's probably a little bit of shooting here and there. We'll have a review here in a few days, but enjoy the screens we've posted in the mean time, and we'll letcha know how things turn out.
In this grand tradition comes Dead to Rights II, a prequel to the less-than-stellar first tale of a man and his arm-chewing dog. Cool weapons-based takedowns and Max Payne-style so-mo notwithstanding, the game wasn't exactly a hit with the critics, but it apparently did well enough (especially considering it was one of the bigger early Xbox titles) to warrant a sequel. Make that a prequel sequel.
"The gritty cop storyline and nonstop action of Dead to Rights II is sure to give any adrenaline junkie their fix," opined Pierre Roux, Senior Producer at Namco Hometek. "We’ve expanded upon the foundations of the action genre by giving players even more control of Jack’s K-9 partner, Shadow, and unprecedented freedom in ranged and close-combat mayhem, and the results are nothing short of explosive."
BASE jumpers or no-cable rock climbers might have something to say about a video game sating their need for an elevated heart rate, but we're fairly sure a couple of gamers will feel a couple extra thumps in their chest while playing the game (even if it is just from getting up to put the game in, har har har).
The prequel centers around Jack Slade and his canine compatriot Shadow searching for clues about the abduction of a Grant City bigwig, but the threads of information eventually unravel into an all-out man-and-pooch-against-the-mob tale of corrupt two-timing people the pair thought were good guys. We smell plot twists aplenty.
The game expands on Jack's ability to dive into slo-mo with what Namco called "spherical slow motion", and the range of abilities Shadow offers. The same violent means of disarming bad guys returns, with 25 takedowns in total, and we hear there's probably a little bit of shooting here and there. We'll have a review here in a few days, but enjoy the screens we've posted in the mean time, and we'll letcha know how things turn out.
