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Maybe not what you think it is

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 30 / 36
Date: August 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

A lot of people are talking about DTR as though it was a Max Payne clone. Aside from the issue of "bullet-time", or the slow-motion diving-while-shooting, DTR and Max share virtually nothing in common. Ok, so both are stories about ex-cops out for revenge, but that's where the similarities end.

Dead to Rights has a lot more built-in diversity in gameplay than Max Payne does. The character can fight unarmed, have his sidekick dog attack enemies, disarm enemies and steal their guns, and hide against walls and kill people stealthily. That's not to mention the plethora of minigames, which take most of their gameplay from the venerable Track and Field series of button-mashing to some specified parameters.

DTR doesn't have half the atmosphere that Max Payne does, and that's largely due to the art direction and cinematography, rather than anything else. A lot of the cutscenes are done in-engine, and while DTR's not ugly, it's not pretty, either. Visually, it's about half-way between Halo and a Dreamcast game.

The most important thing to consider, however, when trying to decide whether to purchase DTR, is that it's staggeringly difficult. The biggest problem with DTR is that the difficulty comes not from a legitimate, skill-based challenge, but from a lousy camera, and poor auto-targetting.

At times, you will dive at a person with a shotgun, who is standing not far in front of you. You might be armed with a shotgun as well, so range would be an important consideration, since you'll do more damage to something closer to you. But rather than targetting the guy in front of you, where one hit would kill him, you end up targetting someone off-camera, to your left, who's behind a truck. Of course, after flying through the air like an idiot, you land at this guy's feet, where he kills you with one close-range shotgun blast.

The problem with DTR is that it's so full of potential, and so full of neat ideas, and they're mired in this half-baked mess, where you can't DO any of the things that you *want* to do.

It's a neat game, on paper - full of potential, full of excellent ideas. But as it stands, it's frustrating not because of a legitimate challenge, but because every couple of minutes, you'll be killed by something you couldn't possibly avoid.

Scarface:DVD::Dead to Rights:XBOX

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 33 / 43
Date: April 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you liked any of the Rockstar games (GTA 3, Max Payne, State of Emergency), then preorder this...now!!! In terms of gameplay, from what I have seen, this looks very similar to Max Payne, but about 100 times better. Dead to Rights is absolutely one of the most ruthless games I have seen and can easily compare to GTA 3 on the violence scale....It only gets better... Sneak up..grab their gun, beat them down to the ground with it, and then shoot them with their own friggin' gun until you feel they are dead enough. Looks to be a classic game for any fan of mob/gangster related titled. A side note- Dead to Rights was changed from an all-system title to an XBOX exclusive. Eat that PS2... All in all, if you felt a little disappointed with the gamelength and the predictable plot of Max Payne, but still enjoyed running around blowing people away in slow motion, then Dead to Rights is for you...

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2 Rating: 2, Useful: 23 / 28
Date: September 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game has many things going for it, but I am not going to itemize those things. The reason I rated this game 2 stars (and subsequently cancelled my pre-order) - was solely because of the RIGHT THUMBSTICK. It infuriates me to no end that I must press (the RIGHT THUMBSTICK) RIGHT to look LEFT and vice versa. It boggles my mind that there is no menu option to reverse the polarity. Prisoner of War - has the same exact flaw. Let me be as clear as I can (in the hopes that video game programmers are reading). All players want the most "intuitive and flexible" controls possible - so that they can become effecient at killing bad guys. Pressing RIGHT to look LEFT will NEVER EVER EVER be intuitive for me. Please AGREE with this comment so that we send a BIG message to the video game makers. HALO's controls are perfect - don't reinvent the wheel!

NOT for the casual, easily frustrated gamer...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: August 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First off let me say straight out - this game starts rather difficult and becomes maddeningly hard by the middle, and downright ridiculous at the end in terms of difficulty. The biggest problem is, the difficulty isn't the "good" kind...it is the kind that arises from poor controls, bad camera angles, and a weak targeting system that makes getting critical shots (i.e. headshots for 1-shot kills) when you need them almost impossible. What you will do is play each section of each chapter over and over again until you figure out the best order to kill the countless (and I mean COUNTLESS) enemies that will bombard you from all sides. You will be overwhelmed at first, but with a little luck and perseverence you will eventually overcome the frustrating challenges.

In many ways this is a Max Payne clone, but in many ways it is not. The game's biggeset flaw may have been that it tried to do too much, and really didn't do any of what it tried that great. The graphics are lackluster at best, when viewed up-close the textures are reminiscent of Playstation 1 games (not even CLOSE to MGS2 on the PS2, which is inexcusable considering the hardware in the XBOX).

There is some fun to be had, but it there are dividends you must pay first in terms of time and frustration.

If you are a casual gamer, or someone looking to buy for a casual gamer, stay away from this one. If you are someone looking for a game that will challenge your will and persistence moreso than your reflexes and gaming skills, go for it.

Otherwise, give it a try at the rental store.

An Action Game Worthy of that Name

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: August 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Dead to Rights is staggeringly difficult. I've been playing it for about four days now, and I have some good points and bad.

First off, disarms are way too cool. There are nearly twenty to unlock. I figure I'll have to play all the way through the game at least three times to get them all. Right up there with disarms is taking hostages to use as human shields. This is very nearly a necessity in every gunfight-the AI has pretty good aim. You can use all the weapons your enemies can-many different pistols, shotguns, and rifles. In addition, you have an attack dog. He's an instant kill, plus he'll retrieve the weapon from the enemy he just tore up. The storyline is well-crafted for this genre. Certainly no surprises, but it is engaging.

The in-game graphics are nowhere near what the XBox is capable of. It looks like a PS2 game. Don't get me wrong-it's playable, but not top-caliber. In many cases, speaking characters' mouths don't move during cutscenes. The camera controls are only occasionally frustrating. The controls for gunfights are good. You're forced to auto-aim a great deal, but the auto-aim controls are responsive. The hand-to-hand combat controls are, frankly, awful. There is virtually no finesse involved, and long sections of hand-to-hand become button-mashfests only slightly below the mini-game sequences. By the way, the first minigame is awful beyond the telling of it.

If you are easily frustrated, this is not the game for you, though I'd still suggest renting it. All in all, I enjoy this game. It's worth the money if you enjoy a big challenge, and if you can overlook the game's annoyances.

Really [poor] Controls...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: September 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

...ruin a game I was really looking forward to. An earlier review had it right - pushing LEFT on the right joystick to look RIGHT? And you can't completely customize the controls? Also, the fighting (without a gun) is really clunky. When a large number of Xbox owners have DoA, and many of us grew up on Tekken and Virtua Fighter and Street Fighter, etc, any fistfighting game has a lot to live up to. And it doesn't. The gunplay is pretty cool, though; but it would be much better with controls that are intuitive or 100% customizable.

Not bad, but not that great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: August 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a not as good version of Max Payne with some ninja twists thrown in. It's story line is ok, based on a good cop who gets a "raw deal", kind of like in Max Payne, but the game play is inferior to Max Payne.

1. The shooting action is not too bad, though could be a little more interactive and realistic, and some of the music did not fit the scenes. (A hip hop song during an intense shoot out, for example)

2. A personal bias, but I hate the ninja, kung fu sequences. Like in much of the game, you play from a third person's perspective, where you really don't feal like the guy you are playing. Some of the sequences are hard to do because of awkward angles. And though I thought it was kind of funny, one goofy scene was after an intense ninja fight where you have to take out 18 bad guys at once in a prison block, you end the difficult sequence by fighting it out with a last prisoner in an arm wrestling match.

3. Some very difficult sequences where you are tested on how fast and accurately you can push your x-box control buttons, doing things such as lifting weights. It was not only very challenging, but possibly impossible for some people to enjoy this game or continue it unless they are very good with their hand-eye coordination and have no hand or wrist ailments.

4. I thought the attack dog idea was a good one. Very inventive.

Over all a good game, though I am glad I rented it first. I would not pay 50 dollars for it. Save your money for Max Payne or Halo.

Have Not Played But Seen

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 17
Date: June 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have downloaded movies for this game and all I have to say is OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!! If you liked Max Payne you will love this game. It has freeze time where it is just like "The Matrix", and the way you can disarm a bad guy is unheard of. I can't wait to actually play this game, and hope that many people also play and own this game, this will be the Grand Theft Auto for the XBOX.

Great Shooting Game: Not Max Payne Bop Off

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Dead to Rights is about a cop named Jack Slate that is in somewhat similiar situation as Max Payne (except he has a dog).
The gameplay is different from Max Payne and the game overall has alot of pluses and minuses.

PLUS: The disarms are great, it can always get you out of a tough situation, also the dog attack is an automatic killer you also get their weapon. The bullet time is done nicely (nothing to add more than its bullet time). The different choice of arsenals are great. The AI are also very intelligent and has great AIM which makes this game a bit challenging at times.

MINUS: Some graphics and cutscenes are just flat out horrible. Like the cars, and the cutscenes when they talk and their mouth doesnt move(Mind speaking?). Camera: you constantly have to find yourself switching to the default cameral because you are getting killed because you went around the corner... Stupid Submissions: some of the submissions are okay, like picking a lock and disarming the bomb, but the weight lifting and the punching bags and those type just test how long can your thumb last without getting tired or hurt.

Storyline: very similiar to Max Payne. A framed cop going after corrupted people with alot of power in their hand who hires people to kill you, and you find a mysterious girl who helps you named Eve but never gets to completely to know her (reminds you of Mona Sax???) and how you look for revenge.

Overall: Overall, i thought this game was great with some errors that could be ignored and overcame. It just takes alot of patience because some missions in this game just seem impossible until you find out your suppose to leave instead of keep fighting (OOOOOO!!!!) but the difficulty of the game is very high with very intelligent AI.

Gameplay: 8.5
Graphics: 7.5
Storyline: 8.5
Sound: 8.0
Replay Value: 8.5 *if you want to see the amazing disarming moves.
OveralL: 8.2

Typical New-Jack Bullcrap

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: September 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is the reason why most people with half a brain will not buy new games. This game sticks to the post-Final Fight garbage that has flooded the market (i.e. Max Payne) which usually results in a trip back to the local store for a refund or an exchange. This game is a mindless shooter in which the object is to kill, blow up, and disarm everything in sight that resembles a hostile human being. There is no GTA innovation here, folks - simply shoot, reload, and shoot some more. There's some lousy slow motion effects that is used to make the gamer forget how uninnovative the gunplay is at normal speed. The mini-games are straight from the days of NES, and are serious game killers. Oh, did I forget to mention my fighting strategy for this game? It's a code known only to the most brilliant of gamers - when in hand-to-hand combat, simply punch-punch-punch-repeat! This game isn't worth giving to a dog for a chew toy (I tried, but the dog reacted violently at my gesture.) Listen to me: there is something seriously wrong with anybody who thinks this game is spectacular. If in fact you DO like this game, it is attributed to one of three factors:

1. Your I.Q. is < 100
2. Your birthyear is < 1978
3. You live in a far off country where computers still use tape drives, the government changes daily, and the top three video games are Centipede, Pengo, and Mr. Do's Wild Ride.

Stay away from this game like the plague - unless you have money to burn. Buying this game and burning money is synonomous- it's a crime and a shame.

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