A judge is missing. He apparently had documents linking international crime to local prominent people. He was abducted in broad daylight, so obviously the people responsible don’t think much of the local law enforcement efforts, and they believe they are untouchable.

For cops that play by the rules, there may be barriers placed in their way to hamper their efforts, but there is one cop who doesn’t play by the rules. His name is Jack Slate. He goes in with guns blazing, dog barking, and anyone who gets in his way is a blood-splatter on the wall, door or floor.

Widescreen Games and Namco teamed up for the PlayStation 2 release of Dead to Rights II: Hell to Pay, a taut and gritty shooter that is long on consistently paced violence interspersed with profanity and a seamy underbelly of society. Gee, all the things that should make for a solid shooter title. Unfortunately, with Dead to Rights II this is more of the “safe” approach and no real risks were taken.

And the game does have failings. Like any arcade shooter, there are power-ups along the way in the form of weapons, ammo, first-aid kits, and other things you need to pick up in order to advance the game. Unfortunately, some of the items, like the first-aid kits are placed in areas that you may stumble up while hugging a wall to use natural cover and trigger when you don’t need them. Fortunately, the game is so linear – not necessarily a good thing when one looks at the replay factor – that should you start the level over for whatever reason (death or just to do it more efficiently), you can count on those power-ups being in the same place.

The game also will auto-switch weapons at times – also not a good thing. Initially you can find a lot of ammo for the dual-.45s that Slate carries. But for some odd reason, the game would occasionally auto-switch to the shotgun while there was still a full load-out on the .45s. Of course, the shotgun does more damage, and you can – if you line them up correctly – take down a couple of opponents with the same blast, but for general ear deafening, rapid-fire chaos, the .45s are top drawer. They may do less damage than the other weapons, but they are somewhat satisfying.

Dead to Rights II does not feature the most intelligent of AI systems. Enemies will generally stand in the open or run straight into your firing. A quick flick of the R1 button targets the closest enemy, but this sometimes stumbles on targeting a bad guy who is in a different room, and not the closest bad guy in the same room shooting at you.

Jack is accompanied by his faithful and sometimes unseen partner, Shadow, a wolf-hybrid that will attack bad guys (when he is available), or retrieve ammo for you. He works off the same meter that controls the game’s version of “bullet time.” Run out of that juice and you run out of the slow-mo effect or Shadow’s willingness to risk himself to save your hide. 

There are some very good, and slightly manic, moments in this game. Jack is not above grabbing a bad guy and using him as a meat shield to catch the steady barrage from said meat shield’s cohorts. Or just for fun, you can grab a bad guy, throw him into a choke hold, put a .45 to the back of his head and pull the trigger – all while uttering some gritty and highly sarcastic taunt. Someone should have told Slate that taunts are wasted on the dead.

The control scheme of this title is generally good and easy to use – so players will not be spending a lot of time learning the game, and will instead be able to jump right into the action. The sound is a mixed bag – sporting some music that grows old after a short while, the steady sound of gunfire, and decently delivered but highly cliché dialogue. Jack has that gritty voice that delivers one-liners without passion that is rather standard for the cop living on the edge. Think Sylvester Stallone in “Cobra,” only a little deeper, and a little more gravelly. And the game does have its share of profanity.

The game’s graphics are decent, with solid environments and animation. There are not a lot of moves that Slate can pull off, but the ones he does are well done. Enemies can take several devastating wounds before finally dying – the auto target is the head, which takes hits with sprays of red, and yet you have to pump between 3-5 shots from the .45 into that target before the bad guys don’t get off the floor and shoot back at you anymore.

Dead to Rights II feels like a game of missed opportunity. This is repetitive gaming (enter a room, shoot hordes of bad guys, pick up something, shoot the hordes that arrive late to the party, move to the next area, repeat), to say the least. While the elements were cliché enough, the game feels like it still could have been a decent shooter. But with long load times, suspect AI, and very linear gameplay, the title moves over onto that “pass” list. However, if you were a big fan of the first title, and crave that mindless, twitch-gaming fix similar in nature, then Dead to Rights II offers that.

Gameplay: 6.0
The game has long load times, but once you are in a level – which seem rather short – the action flows and the control scheme is not overly complex. Players should be able to jump in and go without a lot of trouble. Some elements do require either a trip to the manual or the tutorial (like learning to use the canisters), but for the most part, this is designed for easy access.

Graphics: 7.0
The game is solid, with good interiors and solid animation. Do not expect the title to tread new ground, but for what it offers, this game is done well. The game also supports both 4:3 and 16:9 video displays.

Sound: 6.5
The sound is decent, but cliché.

Difficulty: Medium
A couple of difficulty levels but the AI is more of the ‘run straight at you’ style, so if you keep moving, you should do well enough.

Concept: 5.5
This game sports nothing new or unique. 

Overall: 6.0
Granted, this was not the retail version sent out, but it was the review version sent out. Linear gameplay, long loads and some crashes did nothing to endear this game to the shooter’s heart.