Judge Dredd vs Judge Death

I`ve read several reviews on this Judge Dredd vs Judge Death, most of which cover `Judge Dredd the comic publication` rather than the game..

This is the low-down on this xbox First Person Shooter (FPS) budget title, which for the money is above average & certainly worth a play. I`d like to start by stating there seems to be a present trend in the games industry with FPS titles. Developers insist on trying to incorporate stupid aspects of strategic gameplay to try enhance the games depth or make them original. I wish they`d stop and keep things simple because they rarely achieve what they set out for (using brute force as an example). It`s all about shooting, picking up your gamepad on some rainy afternoon & blasting away corridored enemies at your hearts content. If the games well made, it`s always a great classic formula for those who just like a bit of mindless action.

Dredd V`s Death tries to incorporate a certain measure of strategic gameplay by giving you a judgement meter. The emphasis is on making arrests to maintain your meter. It doesn't exactly work, enhance the gaming experience or appear to be necessary gameplay. Fortunately, It doesn't hinder it either, it`s forgiving to a degree & doesnt spoil the action. The less pedantic could get away with only having to make two arrests maintaining your meter and blasting everything else to kingdom come.

For people familiar with Timesplitters 2, it`s very, very similar graphically and in terms of gameplay. I wouldn't be surprised if the same team worked on both games. Colours are clear and crisp with lots of atmospheric effects like mist `n` rain. Backgrounds are futuristic rendered backdrops almost `Bladerunner styled` other than Mega-City 1 but they pass. There`s a number of great light effects which work really well. Always good entertainment to watch torched zombies light up dark corridor walls as they claw their way towards you. Level design is interesting but the game follows a very linear path, level above level based so...not much exploring to do. However, I did like many of the choices of location and ideas. How many people get to wander through futuristic shopping malls, blowing away zombies, rescuing hostages whilst listening to elevator music combos? Straight out of a zombie movie.

The array of weaponry may seem impressive but guns feel a little underpowered sometimes with enemies taking several hits before dying.

You start with the standard `lawgiver`pistol which has six settings (different types of bullets). As you progress, there`s around 6 other firearms to use. The problem I found was that it`s difficult to know whch setting to use depending on the scenario for maximum effect.

Although the weapons do differ greatly in variety, they all do about the same damage. This renders them `visual interactive treats`rather than progressive aid or game enhancement. The initial targetting is up there with the best, if a bit sensitve. There`s a x2zoom feature on several guns, including a sniper style rifle mode but not much opportunity to pick off targets or any real stealth play. Head shots do more damage and there`s fun to be had with rickocheeing bullets if used correctly.The only grenades on offer are gas which have no little or effect on the undead. It`s just as well because you`ll find they`re rubbish anyway,still- plenty of barrels to blow up. There`s the option of a meele attack but it`s very slow & cummbersome. It can take up to three hits to kill an enemy leaving you open in large crowds of drooling undead. Animation and A.I of the enemy is pretty bog standard. There`s a fair variety of fodder in single player. Basically there are four types of zombie, vampires and several occult humanoids. The zombie ratio far outweighs the superior armed occultist humans. I assume that the undead are characteristicly stupid as usual because they charge at you jerkily & sometimes get stuck on the scenery. Also, they tend to throw themselves off high drops like lemmings but this can be used to advantage. There`s obviously been some effort to distinguish a variety of a.i behaviour because the human opponents react differently. There`s also a comical element of `ragdoll physics` which doesnt erm.. look quite right. Sometimes when killed and laid down ,ememies will suddenly fly up display the most ridculous acrobatics - arms, legs and torsos flying everywhere 20 feet in the air. It`s generally fitting because the game`s very tongue in cheek anyway. There`s the usual cheesy remarks after kills eg: "die you vampire scum! "... even a dead Kennedys quote sneaks in there: " You fought the law and the law won". When there are 8 or more enemies, there`s noticable slowdown but the action`s fast paced enough so the experience still flows.

The game sounds consist of the usual gun shot noises combined with a few `starwars sampled` laser audio. The levels can be very atmospheric with creaking noises, things dropping and various other sound effects. The voice acting is done well and Dredd sounds miles away from the stallone dipiction/movie flop(thankfully). Then you`ve got a general mediocre mix of pumping techno beats & hard rock riffs as background music. Always a nice touch - The rumble feature is also put to good use at times, (for a change).

This is a game that you`ll want to stick at playing but chances are you`ll probably forget about it once completed. It does have some replay value in the form of an arcade level, up to 4 co-operative multiplayers (always good) and lots of unlockable features. There`s also cheats to be earned upon completing the arcade challanges. All in all, for £10 new, you can't really complain about the quality of this release, it`s a bargain. Paying anymore would be a crime, not because it`s bad but the genre has been done to death and the game's very short. You carry two guns, only have the option of seperate usage/one at a time. There`s no online feature, system link or anything else but who cares.. The story isn't really worth following but again, who cares? This is primarily a selfish single player afternoon experience. There`s nothing exceptional or original, I would place it somewhere between aliens on the Playstation 1 and Turok on the N64. It`s a revamped outdated Xbox game but it`s respectable, well produced and I would even go as far to say: outranks the more costly: Golden Eye, Rogue Agent. Buy it(sorry about this excessively long review, thanks for reading).