Dead to Rights Preview

Namco Hometek hired senior producer Andre Emerson to create an action-adventure game. Noting the successes of games like Metal Gear Solid, Syphon Filter, Resident Evil, and the like, the prestigious Japanese publisher/developer perceived a huge gap in its catalog. It's that gap both Emerson and Namco are hoping to fill with Dead to Rights, the US-developed third-person action game due out next year. And by all accounts, the game seems very much primed for the job.

Essentially, Dead to Rights is a third-person bullet-fest, in the spirit of games like C-12 and Syphon Filter. It's the game's themes, though--and how they directly influence its gameplay--that really set it apart. Dead to Rights is heavily informed by the visual and stylistic language of Hong Kong action films, which are characterized by intense, almost balletic action sequences and are populated by characters packing endless supplies of guns and ammunition, often wielding one weapon per hand. The game's story is driven by the same hallmarks of the Hong Kong action flick--themes of revenge, redemption, and aggressive heroism--and, more importantly, the game's play mechanics are built around the intense visual action that's fascinated fans of the style. "Our character does things with far less subtlety than you'd find in a lot of other products," Mr. Emerson boldly stated, putting it best. Protagonist Jack Slate, fugitive ex-cop and expert killer, literally flies through the battlefield, wielding two handguns as well as he does a rifle, and when need dictates, he snaps foes' necks and snatches the hardware from their fallen bodies. And due to the game's tight control scheme and masterfully designed play mechanics, doing it all feels just as compelling as it looks.

Even at this early point, everything about the game seems as well polished as it is well conceived. And even to someone who's only casually versed in the Hong Kong action style, it's obvious that the team knows the drill quite well. It's easy to see that such an environment would make for a great product. "Rather than say, 'Hey, let's make the Hong Kong action game that's essentially Doom with a paint job' or something, I truly spent time revisiting the films that I really loved anyway, and I tried to look at those and see what about their pacing it is that works so well," Emerson explained. The effect is apparent--where so many developers simply dress a generic game design with the trappings of a certain visual style, the Dead to Rights team examined its chosen focus, found its most compelling potential gameplay elements, and worked them into a strong game system. The result is a game that plays as well as it looks, and it serves as a genuine extension of the Hong Kong action film, faithfully representing it in a 3D gameworld. And the diversity of experiences that the game offers will help ensure that its contribution is enduring. "What we want to do is make this feel like a story-inspired action flick. To do that, there are lots of challenges outside the moment-to-moment shooting and traversal that I think need to make their way in. We've done tons of these kinds of things," Emerson told us, definitely whetting our appetites for what we were about to see.