Brain Meat.
That’s the thing that sticks out the most to me after playing this game.
They used the term “brain meat.”
The writers of this game actually sat down and decided that an appropriate line for a
bad guy to utter after wounding the main character would involve the phrase “brain meat”.
That’s awesome, and while this game may not have aged as well as other games released
in the early 2000’s, it’s still an interesting beast.
It mixes attack dogs, gunplay, an interesting story and a dark tone together, adds some
brain meat and throws it in a blender.
This is Dead to Rights for the GameCube.
Dead to Rights follows a cop named Slate who shows up at the scene of a crime, only to
be attacked by waves of workers.
However, after finishing the last of them off, he finds his dead father in a pool of
his own blood.
After being told to move on and stay calm, Slate ignores the advice and tries to hunt
down the people responsible.
By the way this involves a chase with a man who sounds like he’s doing a horrific Christopher
Walken impression.
A series of events then leads to Slate getting put on death row for murder.
The story is actually quite interesting, but the one issue I have with it is how it starts
with very little exposition.
The events after the first 20 minutes or so are very well thought out, but you’ll have
to make it through some “meh” moments at the beginning.
Gameplay in Dead to Rights is all about third-person shooting.
Pulling the R button automatically locks onto enemies, and the A button fires shots.
This lets you move between several targets quickly, even if the game locks onto a target
that you actually can’t see.
There’s a variety of weapons to choose from, and the pace of the game fits perfectly with
the shooting.
You’ll always be moving, so this system actually works better in this game than one
based around manual aiming.
You’ll also be able to use your dog, Shadow, as a weapon against enemies.
He does more damage in 3 seconds than your gun does.
The only issue I really had with Dead to Rights’ gameplay was the camera.
While it usually does a pretty good job of giving you a good view, it’s a pain to adjust
and some spots fix it in place for no reason.
It’s not as bad as some other games on the GameCube, but it’s worth noting.
One thing I do really want to spend some time on though, is the game’s mature rating.
This game earns it completely.
Before the story even really gets going, you’ll execute human shields and play a mini-game
that makes you time button presses to make a stripper dance so Slate can sneak by some
bouncers.
I know some M rated games may be okay for some younger gamers, but this is definitely
not one of them.
Dead to Rights is almost 10 years old, and the graphics are a little bit rough, especially
with character models and faces.
Voice acting is also a mixed bag; Slate sounds pretty believable, a bit like Nolan North,
but some other characters sound so terrible, I can’t believe they let them record dialogue.
Dead to Rights has some issues that are common from games released a decade ago, but it’s
actually still a lot of fun.
That being said, definitely keep this away from the impressionable minds of younger kids.
This will screw them up.