Guns, Guns and More Guns

By Ben Barker

Namco's Dead to Rights® is a cinematic potboiler packed with action, guns, intrigue, guns, prison beatings, guns, attack dogs, duplicitous teamsters, the occasional stripper with a heart of gold, and guns. There are also a few guns. And no video game system does cinematic pistol-totin' action like your friend and mine, the Xbox.

Watch your back, Jack.

Bang!

As is often the case, one of the most notable features ofDead to Rights comes out of your speakers. While gunshots, punches, and bad guys don't sound exactly like this in real life, they sure do sound like this in a good action movie. The voice acting is top-notch, but it'll be the snap of evil bones during a brutal disarm move or the whud-whud-whud of a semi-automatic rounds smacking into your hapless human shield that will riddle your dreams for weeks afterward.

Hold still, there's something in your eye.

Freeze!

Only Jack Slate can bring two fists full of justice to the lowlifes and scumbags that beset Grant City, and only the Xbox does justice to one of Jack's most effective tools—slow-motion bullet time. The in-game environments have textures that look real enough to touch, thanks to effective use of bump-mapping. Gunmetal gleams in the moonlight, explosions flare up in a dazzling display of incendiary graphics, and the smooth camera movements swing you through the action with nary a stutter or "jaggy."

Pow!

Even when he isn't packing heat, Jack Slate is a force to be reckoned with. Slate is as much a two-fisted fighting machine as he is a gun-toting kill dispenser. On particularly notable sequence takes place in the penitentiary. The corrupt system has sent Slate here to await execution. Slate needs to escape and track down the ones who committed the crime for which he's going to the chair. What follows is an insane slugfest pitting one lone ex-cop against dozens of hard-boiled convicts. Every smack-down, dust-off, and knuckle sandwich resonates with painful clarity, and the prison itself looks like you just walked into Oz.

Click!

One other thing: if you want to play Dead to Rightsright now, warm up your Xbox because you won't find it on any other console. Sure, those Luigi-come-latelies will get a lesser version of the game eventually, but at the time I write this, the Xbox is the only system powerful enough—and slick enough—to bring you the adventures of Jack Slate. Lock, load, and leave the others behind … the Xbox is the only system you need.