
	Platform Xbox 360 Genre Action Publisher Namco Bandai Developer Violate Games ESRB M (Mature) Released April 27, 2010

- Completely ridiculous - I want an entire game playing as a dog

- Almost every part of the game feels just a little bit underdone

Review: Dead to Rights II: Hell to Pay (XB) Review: Alan Wake (360) Review: Just Cause 2 (360)
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Dead to Rights: Retribution

Score: 6.5 / 10

Some of what makes Dead to Rights: Retribution so endearing is its many, many flaws. It's like a crumbly cookie. It doesn't always stick together like it should even if it tastes good enough to brush cookie crumbs into your palm and cup it to your mouth to finish it.

There's story of corruption and conspiracy (or something) that throws killer cop Jack Slate and his canine pal Shadow into the middle of Action, with a capital "A"

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- Xbox 360 Game Reviews
- Action Game Reviews
- Games Published by Namco Bandai

for emphasis. Besides the usual action game roster of guns, Jack has a full complement of hand-to-hand options that typically result broken bones and/or a bullet to the back of the bad guy's head. (You know it's a really, really bad guy, otherwise why would cop do that, right?) Jack can also dodge, etc. and enter a bullet time where each headshot buffs the amount of bullet time

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remaining. Chaining shots like this can make quick work of a large swathe of bad guys.

It's definitely in contrast to the portions of game where you assume control of Shadow. He lurks in the dark corners, assessing targets then tearing out the throat of some bad guy bystander. Or possible going for the testicles. It's all very brutal, but Shadow's a dog so it makes some sense. It also makes me think gaming is ready for a 3D action game with a killer dog as the main protagonist.

Is the cookie stuck together a little better, all of this extreme violence might have been more enjoyable, at least outside of the straight camp value. (If you've played Earth Defense Force 2012, you know immediately what I mean.) The enemy AI is predictable, typically running straight at Jack; ordering Shadow around is hit and miss; there's zero help when it comes to targeting enemies (i.e. no lock-on function); and the animation can be disjointed and completely bizarre. All these things come together to create something that's greater than the whole, which doesn't mean it's an awesome game but it's a guilty pleasure.

- D.D. Nunavut

(June 30, 2010)