Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death Preview

Arresting officer, jury and judge, and general, all-around nasty do-gooder – that would be Judge Dredd.

Dredd is back in action in a multiplatform shooter called Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death, published by Evolved Games. This title features a host of arcade-style meter bonuses while trying to integrate a plot into a city scene where seemingly everyone is guilty.

GameZone.com was invited to visit the world of Mega-City One and walk in Judge Dredd’s boots as he takes on the lowlifes of this multi-tiered city.

First off, there seems to be no such thing as innocent in this town. Even people standing idly on the streets can be sentenced for loitering. Dredd is given a variety of missions to accomplish, but along the way he can take care of others, which get in his way.

But you can’t just shoot down anyone. Dredd has a Lawmeter in place, and by failing to arrest criminals, it will drop. Shoot an unarmed criminal … err, citizen … and it will drop. Make the appropriate number of arrests and it will rise to the point where you will get a commendation. If it drops too low, well, you may be targeted for arrest.

The game itself features 11 chapters and more than 24 levels of gameplay, and there are more than 50 unique characters, including wraiths, demons, undead judges and zombies. By completing a story chapter, you can unlock multiplayer models, with more than 60 models total to unlock.

Two players can work through the storyline in cooperative mode and the game will also feature four-player split screen deathmatches, blockwars and various other head-to-head competitions.

The game features Asura’s engine and tool suite, which was created by developer Rebellion. The game does have a solid look and good three-dimensional environments. The animations are solid, but somewhat redundant. The people on the street seem to have a finite number of moves and are somewhat clones of each other. And the dialog is somewhat redundant as well.

But this game is about action, and there is plenty of that. As you move through the levels, you will find that this city is a nice jungle gym of hot spots, all of which contain people who are breaking the law. Some will scoff, some will simply mock and but you will eventually find your way through this low-life scum into the heart of the action.

When the bullets start flying, the game starts to get entertaining. You can use environmental elements to advantage. The first-person viewpoint is solid and you can navigate easily through the game.

Overall the control elements take little time to learn. The graphics are lush and colorful, but the game is a tad cartoonish and surreal.

Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death is slated for release at the end of the month on the Xbox, PS2, GameCube and PC. The PS2 build has some redundancies, but this is a decent shooter. This game looks good and plays well, and with the solid array of levels and constant action, may well fill a void in the shooter market for gamers looking for an action-filled title.