One Cop And His Dog

The ‘leading man and animal sidekick entertainment’ genre hasn’t always been a successful one. For every Every Which Way But Loose, there’s been a Turner and Hooch (or perhaps that should be for every Turner and Hooch there’s been a Every Which Way But Loose, it’s sometimes hard to tell). Anyhow, you get the picture.

Namco’s pairing of tough cop Jack Slate and his crime-fighting canine counterpart, Shadow, in the Dead To Rights series encapsulate much of that ambivalence. As with most tough cops (and one who incidentally has been jailed for a crime they did not commit), there’s plenty of Max Payne-style blasting everything that breathes with the help of your slo-mo adrenaline. Jack’s other moves include melee fighting and disarming as well as the ability to take the bad guys hostage. Shadow, on the other hand, is best used as an instant-kill weapon; actually an instant-kill weapon which also dutifully picks up the dead guy’s weapon and returns it to you. Useful sometimes for sure but something you’re not likely to use all that much.

But maybe things will have changed for the PSP release. Called Dead to Rights: Reckoning and developed by UK studio Rebellion, there are some additions to the game. Disarms have been enhanced with a new dive tackle, and in an affront to his manly cop pride, Jack can also now fire his guns from the prone position. The other major extra is a four player Wi-Fi deathmatch.

Just released in the US, Dead to Rights: Reckoning is due in the UK during September.