Dead to Rights: Retribution

 Xbox 360
Dead to Rights: Retribution Image
Metascore
61

Mixed or average reviews - based on 64 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 43 Ratings

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  • Summary: Thrusting players into a mature neo-noir crime drama as a vice cop Jack Slate and his canine companion Shadow, the game introduces new gameplay elements that unify the third person shooting and brawling genres for a brutal and relentless new action-driven experience. Returning to Grant City,Thrusting players into a mature neo-noir crime drama as a vice cop Jack Slate and his canine companion Shadow, the game introduces new gameplay elements that unify the third person shooting and brawling genres for a brutal and relentless new action-driven experience. Returning to Grant City, a boom town gone bust that is falling to the worst excesses of crime, greed and corruption; Dead to Rights: Retribution follows vice cop Jack Slate as he fights to expose shadowy figures that stops at nothing to exert their deadly influence over the crumbling metropolis. Dead to Rights: Retribution forms an original story portraying key events that shape and define Jack Slate's character including how he and Shadow first come together as partners against those who would bring the once great city to its knees. Introducing an innovative new hybrid combat system, Dead to Rights: Retribution puts the full combat potential of a highly trained, highly agitated law-enforcement officer into players’ hands. Use your sidearm to pick off enemies from a distance, take cover and blind-fire with the game’s new ranged combat mechanics, or push the issue by taking human shields, stealing weapons with special disarm moves or dishing out Jack’s own brutal brand of justice with deadly takedown moves. Jack is equally lethal in close-quarters combat, offering players branching melee combos, counterattacks and disarms as they take the fight to the criminal element of Grant City. Jack encounters a variety of ruthless gangs in the filthy slums and menacing alleys of Grant City, each with their own unique abilities and fighting style that test his resolve to crush their murderous stranglehold. Deadly on their own, Jack and Shadow are even more formidable as they team up to defeat the threats they uncover. Players take full control of not only Jack, but also Shadow at various points in the game to stalk enemies or reach areas of the environment that are not accessible by one or the other. Shadow’s heightened senses make him skilled in detecting new threats or flushing out enemies from cover so that Jack can easily dispense with them. [Namco Bandai Games]… Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 45 out of 64
  3. Negative: 8 out of 64
  1. AceGamez
    84
    All in all, Dead to Rights: Retribution is a solid action title, elevated above many others by dint of a canine companion who finally manages to make having a dog in a videogame completely worth it.
    All this publication's reviews
  2. Worth Playing
    77
    Overall, this is a good return to form for the series, and fans will love this game. Action game fans who are a bit more cautious with their purchases should certainly rent this, as the lack of multiplayer may not immediately peg it as a purchase, but don't be surprised if the Shadow levels and the sheer brutality make you want to purchase the game.
  3. XGN
    70
    Dead to Rights: Retribution is a mediocre game. It has good points, it has bad points, but it never comes up with something special. It's a fun game to play, but just for once and never again.
  4. Extreme Gamer
    62
    Dead to Rights: Retribution showed a lot of promise with some innovative side-steps, but fails when it comes down to line.
  5. Cheat Code Central
    60
    A reasonably solid action game with a few good ideas, but definitely a step below the top-tier franchises.
  6. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    50
    The few saving graces offered by the inclusion of a scrotum-seeking pooch do little to alleviate the more fundamental problems the game faces as a third person shooter. Dead to Rights: Retribution is a load of balls in exactly the way Volatile Games didn't intend.
  7. Gaming Age
    33
    A pretty big disappointment, especially when compared to other action games including the two that I mentioned. I have no issues with someone making the equivalent of a B style game, and let's face it, that's exactly what Dead to Rights is going for here. However, it misses the mark completely when it comes to gunplay and combat, and the sterile, boring environments that you get to endlessly shoot dudes in don't help it at all.

See all 64 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 2 out of 6
  1. TarasH
    May 2, 2023
    10
    A very good action game) the closest analogue of Max Payne, but with more dynamics and hand-to-hand combat) and the plot is good, and theA very good action game) the closest analogue of Max Payne, but with more dynamics and hand-to-hand combat) and the plot is good, and the graphics are good for me, the mechanics are interesting, especially if you use them correctly (weapons here have few cartridges, which is why you have to use your fists, and spend wisely bullets) there are no more such games and there won't be any more.. it's a pity that people didn't like it...… Expand
  2. saka7
    Nov 29, 2020
    9
    Game has outdated graphic for its time, but it's hell lot of fun to play - 9/10.
  4. gamingisgreat
    Jun 28, 2017
    8
    Dead To Rights Retribution is a great 3rd person action game

    Gameplay is broken into 3 types of sections:shooting,brawling,and    Dead To Rights Retribution is a great 3rd person action game

    Gameplay is broken into 3 types of sections:shooting,brawling,and stealth.Shooting sections are your fairly simple cover-shooting mechanics but the gunplay is somewhat satisfying,even if there are only about 6 weapons in the game.My favourite part of the game is the brawling.The combat system is surprisingly deep.You have low and high punches,guard breaks,clinching,disarms and a bunch of brutal takedowns.The sheer brutality of the combat system suits the atmosphere perfectly.The stealth sections let you play as a dog named Shadow.These will nearly always consist of getting a keycard for Jack to go through a door.The AI in these sections is quite poor,making them quite easy.

    The graphics are ugly,but the framerate remains solid throughout.

    The story here is very much filled with b-movie cheese,not the worst I've ever seen though.

    The sound design is solid,but the soundtrack is mediocre.

    Overall,Dead To Rights Retribution shows that graphics don't mean everything.Great game,highly recommended.    … Expand
  5. MNNice
    Oct 10, 2015
    7
    When I first decided to put this on my list for GameFly I wasn't expecting too much as the ratings hovered around a 6.2-6.9. I was thinking IWhen I first decided to put this on my list for GameFly I wasn't expecting too much as the ratings hovered around a 6.2-6.9. I was thinking I would just getting a cop story, which was quite different for me and everything I have seen, but for me I got much more then that. I got a dog AI that I fell in love with. The dogs AI was so crisp and perfect I couldnt believe that this game had came out in 2010 (I played this game in 2014). The story was about revenging your dads something or other I dont remember details and I dont want to spoil anything for anyone but I remember getting relatively involved emotionally. I felt when the dog would get hurt, I felt when certain things would be said about the dad, and for once I actually striven for Gold shields, Which was how you ranked on missions and mini games. This game for a good certain amount of time was my favorite story. Then Mafia II came along but anyway this game was good for about 15-20 depending on if you replayed levels so you could get a higher shield. There is very low replayability unless you go back for achievements. Overall im giving this a 7/10 and specifically a 7.6/10. Although it is still one of my favorite games of all time there are minor problems with bugs nothing major and the graphics even for 2010 were probably just average. Along with the lack of replayability that is why its getting a relatively low score for one of my Top 10. I would definitely recommend renting this game and only buy it if its sub 10$… Expand
  6. billy755
    Aug 23, 2012
    4
    In the words of Jack Slate, action cop extroardinaire **** YOU!" That's the plot of dead to rights in a nutshell. A remakeof a game for theIn the words of Jack Slate, action cop extroardinaire **** YOU!" That's the plot of dead to rights in a nutshell. A remakeof a game for the playstation dtr:r is pretty insane. You play as the aforementioned hulking parody of a police officer and his pet savage wolf Shadow as you unravel a "dark conspiracy". It's pretty ridiculous. Rest assured you will be butchering hundreds if not thousand of people. Gameplay consists of a third person shooter with an incredible amount of 6 different guns! However you'll be spending a fair amuont of the game using the deadliest weapon imaginable, Jack Slate's fists, Over-The-****ing-Top and This-Is-Ludicrous. Generally the combat is really tedious and really repetitive. The most amusing parts of the game are the special moves, the names of which i've forgotten and refuse to look up which are essentially fatalities a la mortal kombat except somewhat impossibly more brutal and unnecessary. You can also play as Shadow in "stealth sections" which besides being very easy and very short completely break up the flow of the game. This puppy's attack strategy mainly consists of tearing out throats and ripping off testicles. It's uncomfortable. Throughout this adventure you'll get wonderful quips from Officer Slate like **** You!" **** "Shadow, Kill!" and of course" You have the right to remain silent!" I highly reccomend this game because it's that special kind of terrible that leaps around into hillarious. Just get someone else to play it.… Expand
  7. Broyax
    Apr 15, 2017
    4
    Voilà l'exemple d'un développeur qui a les yeux plus gros que le ventre : à vouloir tout faire en même temps pour en mettre plein la vue, laVoilà l'exemple d'un développeur qui a les yeux plus gros que le ventre : à vouloir tout faire en même temps pour en mettre plein la vue, la baudruche finit par éclater. L'ambiance policière très sombre rappelle fortement les Max Payne (bullet time compris) sauf qu'heureusement le "héros" est beaucoup moins pleurnichard et pour cause, puisqu'il est aussi un distributeur à gnons baraqué comme une armoire normande. Hélas, le temps est insuffisamment ralenti et le blaireau ne peut pas plonger.

    Puisqu'il distribue des pains à l'envi, ça vire au jeu de baston à la con sauf qu'il faut cogner sur les débiles pendant une semaine pour leur péter la gueule. Idem pour les fusillades à moins de tirer dans la tête à chaque fois. Quant aux munitions elles se font décidément trop rares, tout ça pour obliger le joueur à bastonner.

    Pour le reste la maniabilité est des plus correctes pour un TPS à la Gears et le jeu n'est pas vilain. A signaler que le cabot est fort distrayant : le voir boulotter les méchants très méchants et entendre leurs cris constitue sans nul doute le plus gros atout du jeu. Mais la longueur des niveaux remplis de crevards à dézinguer et fracasser entraîne une trop grande lassitude eu égard aux défauts énoncés plus avant.    … Expand