8/10
In the relatively short time I have been in possession of Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs Death my friends all seem to have deserted me. Now I know I haven\'t changed my socks in a while and I\'m very much in one of those "I\'ll shower tomorrow" phases but I\'m beginning to suspect that my personal hygiene isn\'t the sole reason for the disappearance of my pals. Perhaps it\'s my incessant lawgiver impressions, which I happen to think are pretty darn spot on. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I now call everybody \'punk\' or \'scum\', or is it simply my constant slack-jawed insistence that I am, indeed, the law. Whatever it is, I apologise to those who have recently been subjected to it; come back, I promise I\'ll shower tomorrow.
This is the essence of a quality licence - something that recreates the atmosphere of whatever medium came before and it\'s a lot better than the rather poor Sly Stallone vehicle. Of course Mr. Dredd and Co. have been around for eons on the pages of 2000 AD comics but Dredd Vs Death strikes a good balance between the over the top darkness of the comics and the sugar-coated Hollywoodisation of the film. The few graphic novels I\'ve read from 2000 AD have all been up to the earlobes in weird sexual connotation, vile debauchery and literally oceans of blood but Vivendi have toned down the cocktail of gut-churning gore and brooding babble, opting for a far more mainstream approach with an end result that, whilst feeling a little too familiar in places, suits console gaming rather well.
Having made his way through the predicable training level, Dredd finds himself on the streets, dishing out justice wherever it\'s needed. Gassing and cuffing a bunch of rowdy demonstrators leads almost immediately into the main meat of the narrative, which sees our helmet-clad he-man hunt down the ethereal Judge Death and his decidedly creepy cronies. It\'s by no means a weighty premise and more often than not you know what you\'ve got to do before you\'re given mission updates but it chunters along nicely without overstaying it\'s welcome.
Dredd Vs Death has a faint odour of Half-Life about it, which some may find a bit too well-matured. The warehouse world is back in force and much of the gameplay consists of gunning your way to the next gigantic blast door or override switch. The NPCs you encounter along the way, be they fellow Judges or helpless hostages, lack any sense of self-preservation and seem intent on dying no matter what measures you take to keep them alive. A new, albeit mostly redundant, aspect is the law meter, which depletes as you slaughter innocent civilians or prone perps. Failure to keep a good kill to arrest ratio nets you a party with the Special Judicial Force, who will cut you to ribbons without so much as a "Freeze scum!" The only other notable thing about the mechanics comes from your lawgiver, which is pre loaded with six different types of ammo, each eliciting a supremely classy soundbyte upon selection. This is a nice tactic to avoid the FPS weapons overload scenario and while none of the armaments are particularly interesting, different situations call for different ammo types, making it one of the best features.
The game has all the standard FPS-isms that you would expect for a contemporary title with elements of stealth, melee combat, destructible environments and squad combat. The trouble with this mish-mash of ideas is that they each feel a little underdeveloped and no one part sticks out as being particularly well done, which is sad because as you play you begin to pick at the over-diluted nature of some sections of gameplay. A more interesting aspect is the nature of the baddies; many of your adversaries are zombies or vampires and as such don\'t carry firearms, forcing you to think a little about ammo conservation. Huge stretches of the game can be played without finding even a morsel of weaponry, meaning that on occasion your brick-like fists have to suffice. At other times however you really are spoilt for choice as you charge around derelict housing sending your foes to the underworld with all manner of firepower, from bouncing bullets to heat-seeking shells. In all the game plays very nicely and has pace, excitement and tension making it a well balanced FPS. The few let downs I\'ve mentioned are easy to overlook given the enjoyment level and from a gameplay point of view it\'s one of the best FPS games I\'ve played in a while.
By far the best addition to the conventional formula is the full two-player story mode, which is a very welcome annex to a title that could easily have been a disappointment. This takes the whole game to a new level as you and a buddy go right through the game covering each others\' backs. The visuals do suffer a touch but it\'s easy to get used to and a small price to pay for such a jump in enjoyment levels. Other multiplayer options are available, some of which are wonderfully good fun and far more interesting than the bog standard deathmatches.
Things go a little downhill when you get to the graphics, which are technically not all that great. Although the frame rate is steady throughout and the draw distance is excellent, the palette is overly garish, the environments are monotonous and the animation is repetitive and unrealistic. One feature of note, however, is the outstanding quality of the ragdoll physics. They may be a little over the top, as you can send corpses flying across rooms with a few bursts of gunfire, but they are undeniably the most accomplished element of the presentation. Altogether though, the effect is a consistent one, which holds a lot of charm and should please the fans of 2000 AD\'s darkest copper.
There\'s a good fifteen minutes playtime in changing ammo and listening to your gun coolly inform you of your selected shell type, it really is wonderful and worth a rental for that alone. Further aspects of the audio are pretty standard; a tense yet righteous score, meaty weapon effects, appropriately despairing howls and groans and manly grunts and \'oofs\' all add up to a textbook audio package.
Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs Death is one of the easiest recommendations I\'ve ever made. I can\'t imagine anyone not taking some enjoyment from it, even if you\'re not particularly fond of FPSs. A little more finery would have gone a long way but as it is, graphical warts and all, you\'ll have fun impersonating Mr. Dredd, even if your mates don\'t feel the same way.
Reviewed by Tom Leclerc for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).
Topic: Judge Dredd for PAL Gamers(2 Players Co-op) (Read 636 times)