$20 GOTW: Dead to Rights (Xbox, PS2, GC, PC)

Sorry I’m late this week fans.  I had a few job interviews and whatnot, but here I am.  This week’s $20 GOTW celebrates America’s love affair with 80’s action movies.  You know, the kind with one man against a crime syndicate, shooting up a whole bunch of $!#t.  Dead to rights was a game that came out in the second year of the Xbox’s life cycle.  What’s surprising about it is that it was made by Namco, an Japanese company.  At the time, they had Americanized action down pat.  It would be released on PS2, Gamecube, and PC several months later with new features such as the ability to bypass some of the more annoying minigames.  You play as Jack Slate, a former cop out to clear his name and avenge his father’s death.  Your quest for revenge takes you throughout Grant City’s slums all the way to the top of it’s criminal empire, as crooked cops, businessmen, foreign white slavers (yes you read that right), and even the mayor are wrapped up in the conspiracy.  It implimented the popular “bullet time” gameplay device, something which would be whored out in several other games.  Also of note were the cool disarm moves, where with a button combination and quick reflexes, you could disarm an opponent and kill him with his own weapon.  Your canine friend Shadow also helps out in some of these sequences, hitting up an opponent and taking his weapon for you to use.  As mentioned before the game uses several minigames to keep the action from getting stale.  These minigames involve disarming bombs, participating in boxing matches, and even a gallery-shooting level.  It was followed up with a rather dissappointing sequel last year, and a planned spinoff, “Grant City Anti-Crime”, was cancelled altogether.  Even so, if you love all out balls-to-the wall shooting, you can’t go wrong with this.  It may not reinvent the wheel, but damn if it ain’t fun.