You Have the Right to Remain Dead – Dead to Rights: Reckoning Explodes onto PSP

by Louis Bedigian

 

“Dead to Rights: Reckoning is a third-person action/shooter characterized by a lot of action and a lot of gunplay.”

 

 

The call came at five in the morning.  I was up playing Soul Calibur 2, dreaming of the day when SC3 would be released.  I even dreamt of Soul Calibur 4 (in this business you’ve got to think ahead). 

 

Ring!

 

Automatically ignored.

 

Ring!!

 

It was barely noticeable.

 

Ring!!! Ring!!!

 

Did you hear something?

 

RING!!!!

 

Oh, it’s the phone.  Must be the pizza delivery guy calling to confirm that I wanted pepperoni and extra cheese.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Seven days.”

 

The connection was weak, but I knew what they said.  I froze.  My whole life – Super Mario Bros. (age 5), Mortal Kombat (age 10), Resident Evil (14), Grand Theft Auto (21) – flashed before my eyes.

 

“[Muffled, static] to…[muffled] rights [static] to [static] dead.”

 

Oh my gosh!  I have the right to be dead!  I gotta call my family, my friends.  I must say goodbye, let them know how much I care about them.

 

“Hello, is this Electronics Boutique Lakeside?  Ray, I’m so glad it’s you!  I’ve got some bad news.  I won’t be coming by on weekends anymore.  Or Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays…  Or any day at all.”

 

One week later.

 

I stare at the TV, shaking vigorously.  “If you’re going to kill me just do it already!”

 

The infamous little girl appears on screen.  “I can’t believe it…this is it!  She’s really there!”

 

My friend walks in and plops on the couch.  “Cool man, The Ring is on!”

 

“That’s no movie!” I tell him.  “I got the call!  My seven days are up!”

 

“What are you talking about?” he asks, looking at me like I’m crazy.

 

“That creepy voice from the movie, it called me!  It said I had the right to be dead in seven days!”

 

“The right to be…wait a minute, you didn’t get my message did you?”

 

“………..”

 

“My cell was dying.  I called you back but you didn’t answer so I left a message on your voice mail.”

 

Confused but still frightened, I grabbed my phone and started dialing.

 

“You have one new message.  First message sent exactly seven days ago from today.  ‘Yo man it’s Larry, you forgot your cell.  Namco just called it and said somethin’ bout a Dead to Rights: Reckoning conference call.  They say it’s going to take place in about seven days.’”

 

Relieved, I sat back and relaxed for a minute.  Then I got up, grabbed the biggest sledgehammer I could find and smashed the television to pieces.

 

“Hey man what’d you do that for?”

 

“You can never be too careful.  Besides, that little girl gives me the creeps.”

 

 

 

 

Dead To The Point

 

"Dead to Rights: Reckoning is a third-person action/shooter characterized by a lot of action and a lot of gunplay,” said Bryan Chu, Product Manager for Dead to Rights: Reckoning.  “It's an intense action game.  That's the style that the game excels at and that's what we play to."

 

At the start of the conference call Bryan made it clear that this is not another PS2 compilation or – gasp – a straight PS2 port.  "Reckoning is a brand-new chapter in the Dead to Rights storyline,” he says.  “This is not a port of the previous game.  It's sort of a prequel to the original Dead to Rights.  It starts one night when Jack Slate is working late as he normally does.  He receives an anonymous message saying that a girl has been kidnapped and if you want to save her you need to go to a place called the Pink Starfish alone.  Jack being Jack realizes it's probably a setup, but what else is he going to do?  So he goes there, bringing his trusty dog Shadow and chaos ensues.

 

"We have brand-new mechanics in the game that are exclusively for PSP to take advantage of its unique wide screen and also to give the player greater control over Jack and just raise the fun factor in general.

 

"We have new things in there.  We have the dive tackle disarm that people have been [wanting] for a while.  You can now dual-wield sawed-off shotguns.  Jack can do a basic dive roll and also, most importantly, he can dive into the prone position which comes in very hand in our brand-new wireless multiplayer mode."

 

Hiding In The Shadows

 

"[With] Shadow you select your target and hit the square button,” said Bryan, explaining how Jack Slate’s canine partner is used.  “That'll send Shadow at 'em (the enemies).  New to this game is that Shadow can help you in boss fights.  In previous Dead to Rights Shadow couldn't be used in boss fights, but in this, he won't kill a boss but he'll knock one down.  That can be to your advantage – it gives you a little breathing space or it gives you a cheap shot on the boss."

 

These Notes Here Are Important, I Reckon 

• Combo Point System – Earn points to cheat!  (er...to unlock cheats)

• Unlockables Include Super-Deformed Mode where altered graphics and unrealistically proportioned bodies collide, giving the game a completely new look.

• Execute Untold Tactical Trickery against your most Tenacious opponents.

• Sawed-Off Shotguns means dual-wielding; Streamlined Camera means no dual-fumbling.

• Target enemies with the press of a button.  Look ma, one hand!

 

I’m so happy I could kick my feet up all day!

 

 

Time To Interrogate

 

How does becoming prone help in the multiplayer mode?  Does it help during the single-player missions as well?

 

Bryan Chu: In multiplayer it helps out in a couple of different ways.  We just played a multiplayer game here, and this one's kind of funny because I dove in front and kind of played dead.  People ignored me until they walked right past me and I let 'em have it with a shotgun fron point-blank range.  Aside from dirty tricks like that you're harder to hit when you're on the ground.  You can dive behind objects, make sure you land in the prone position and then you can use them as cover.  Then pop up to fire later.  It gives you a little breathing space.

 

Also, it comes in very handy if you jump into a crowded room.  A favorite tactic of a lot of players here is, especially in single-player when there's a room, you dive into the room, land in prone (behind the guy), and you can switch off your targeting very quickly and gun down the opponents much faster than if you were standing there trading shots.

 

So you can fire your weapons while lying down?

 

BC: Yes.  Best way to picture it is: have you ever seen the John Woo/Jean Claude Van Dam movie Hard Target?  That's probably not the best one to reference but it comes to mind.  There's a scene where he dives under a table and pops up underneath the guys and kills two of 'em.  That's basically what you're doing.

 

Tell us more about the new hard-hitting moves and disarms.

 

BC: You have 16 disarms total.  There's five disarms per class of weapons (pistol, shotgun and rifle class); and the dive tackle disarm.  You also have the ability to do evasive dive rolls.  In previous Dead to Rights Jack would crouch, but that was only to sneak around.  Now Jack can roll from side to side and dodge bullets – that comes in very handy.

 

The overall level of control is better than you had in the previous games.

 

 

So much for that whole “over my dead body” theory.

 

 

What are the multiplayer maps going to be like?

 

BC: Multiplayer is straight-up deathmatch, four-player wireless via PSP.  Throughout the game as you play you can unlock cheats and skins for multiplayer, so it's not a game where you have four Jack Slates running around.  You can play as the villains and other NPCs you see while playing the single-player game.

 

Can you describe the multiplayer maps for us?

 

BC: The multiplayer maps are based on the single-player story maps.  You will have the chance to see them as you play the game.

 

Is that how you unlock them – by playing through the single-player mode?

 

BC: Yes, as you complete them they become available in the game.

 

Levels/scenarios: brand-new for PSP, or are these upgraded versions from Dead to Rights 2?

 

BC: This is entirely different from the PS2 version.  Dead to Rights: Reckoning and Dead to Rights 2 are two separate games in the Dead to Rights series.  The stories are not the same and neither are the levels.

 

Are there any mini-games?

 

BC: If you're thinking of the dancing game from the first Dead to Rights, we do not have that one.

 

Any mini-games at all?

 

BC: No.  We decided to stick to the core shooting and action of the game.  We think that's what translates best, and that's what people want more of.

 

I'm glad.

 

BC: There's a combo point system for bigger and better kills and taking out more people, but we didn't want to [give players] things they weren't looking for in Dead to Rights.

 

The points you get for really high combos are used for unlocking the cheats, unlocking the extra skins in multiplayer, that sort of thing.  There's a whole list of cheats ranging from unlimited weapons and unlimited ammo to the special super-deformed mode which makes the game an entirely different experience.

 

 

Jumping for joy.

 

 

Does the PSP have any advantages over PS2?  Was there anything about the PSP that made it more fun to work with than PS2?

 

BC: I'm not a developer so I can't speak on the technical side.  Personally I rather enjoy the PSP.  It's great that it targets a different audience and allows us, a publisher, to bring games to a whole new group of people.  The type gameplay that people look for in a portable is different from the console experience, so overall I think it broadens the appeal of the industry and fulfills the needs of more people.

 

Will there be any plot twists or story revelations in Reckoning?

 

BC: I don't want to spoil any story surprises in the game.  There a couple of twists within the story and I'd rather people discover them than tell you right now.

 

With Star Wars Episode III, you see familiar faces, locations, etc.  Will there be anything like that in this prequel?

 

BC: The gameplay will seem very familiar to Dead to Rights fans like with the dual-wielding and Shadow is always at your side.  The overall tone and setting of the game is very true to Dead to Rights.  The story itself is separate and complete – I think what you're looking for is a reference to a future event that happens in [the first Dead to Rights], and that I don't believe happens.  But the gameplay will remind you of everything loved about the game.

 

Can you tell us anything about the soundtrack?

 

BC: Other than it rocks...?  [Laughs]

 

Stylistically it's the same kind of music as the previous games.  It's a fast-paced, hard rock soundtrack that's entirely fitting with the game.

 

Thanks to Bryan Chu and everyone at Kohnke Communications for having a wonderful conference call.