Dead to Rights has been brought back to the level of "human" difficulty, after debuting on the X-Box with a challenge level tuned for those weaned on Contra and other 16 bit backbreakers. The slightly improved controls, easier minigames, and less tedious hand-to-hand combat make this version of DTR the one to keep for years to come.
After your father is killed while snooping around in the business of some very important people up to some very bad things, you're sent to prison shortly after blindly attempting revenge in what amounts to 2 of the hardest tutorial levels ever. This is where you can begin to see how Namco begins to correct for the error of its ways: the prison level was where many gave up completely due to some tedious hand-to-hand combat where you fought legions of superhuman thugs that could beat you senseless in seconds, and some of the most blister-inducing mashing of buttons since Mortal Kombat's test your might all those years ago. Here, your incarceration doesn't last nearly as long, and is more annoying in the way that the fly on your shoulder is, rather than the toss-your-controller moment that the X-Box version's jailbreak was.
There are many more instances of these little tweaks, but the above is certainly the most significant. The targeting system also seems to be improved ever so slightly, though that may be partially thanks to the design of the Dual Shock. This is the game that X-Box owners probably wanted when the game was first released, and the newly balanced gameplay makes up for any graphical inefficiencies that the game may have, even more when you remember the original DTR wasn't the prettiest gem to ever hit shelves in and of itself.
Once you leave the pen, the game really picks up: you're truly in your own Hong Kong action film, and it plays just as smooth as the action in those cinematic classics moves. You'll use everything from shotguns to assault rifles, you'll throw a canister at an enemy, freeze time, shoot the canister, then watch him burn as you unfreeze time once again, you'll do the classic Max Payne bullet shoot dodge, guns akimbo and all, and in the nastiest gameplay innovations of the last year, you'll take human shields, executing them when you're done with their services, and disarm your foes with some of the most brutal hand-to-hand combat maneuvers imaginable.
There's still a little more variety than I would have liked for a shooter of this kind, but as a whole, I think we can expect more shooting and less karate/minigames in DTR2. In the interim, pick up Dead to Rights. It's up there with Max Payne as the premier shooter for any system, and in some ways, surpasses it.
-George
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