It's been a long time coming, but a film cliche has finally been fully established in the video game world. (Well, okay, ANOTHER film cliche, I should say.) That would be the one about the burnt-out cop, the one who's above the rules and does whatever it takes to take down the criminals and bring them in, dead or alive. The captain, the press, even the important characters in the cop's life, they don't matter. Only the dedication behind his desire to bring down the criminal element comes into play. I've probably described nearly every Steven Seagal film ever made, and a few Charles Bronson flicks as well. But now the formula is back in Dead To Rights II, the follow-up to Namco's 2002 bullet-firing action game.

In the game, Jack Slate returns, apparently clearing up the mess that corrupted him so badly in the first title. (In case you missed it, it involves his father's death and level upon level of corruption.) This time around, a judge who happens to be a close friend of Slate's has been kidnapped upon the discovery of something revolving around higher-up crooked figures, and, instead of trying to get the situation resolved through his agency, he takes the law...wait for it now..."into his own hands". Well, OK, into his hands and into the paws of his faithful yet vicious dog, Shadow. The game takes the duo through a number of stages where enemy upon enemy is just hiding in the woodwork, and Slate has to clean house and find out the fate of his friend.

OK, so the plot's flimsy. It's just the backbone for the game's various action stages, in which there are plenty. The gameplay system that came into play with the first Dead To Rights is back, allowing you to target enemies quickly thanks to an auto-aim feature and switch between a number of weapons, including my personal favorite- the shotgun. Messy. I mean "get three mops to clean up my mess" messy. The game also re-incorporates the slo-mo effect from the first game (and countless others), and allows you to lay waste with utter precision. Another noteworthy factor is that the sequel has done away with the little mini-games from the first, focusing on general action.

I can see where Namco's intentions lied in making this a fast-paced game, but it also takes away from the diversity of it and makes it too old in a matter of about an hour. The game does have some exciting scenarios here and there, and manages to mount up on the challenge in spots, but the general gameplay fades into monotony quicker than a Boston Red Sox fan chews out a New York Yankee player. The game tries some innovation with allowing you to "sic" Shadow upon an enemy to temporarily immobilize them, but it's not entirely accurate and ends up being mostly useless.

The game also didn't manage to clean up that well in terms of presentation. The graphics have their moments of pure beauty, like some of the particle explosions that light up the screen, but otherwise they really fail to come across as anything new in terms of design or detail. It looks like any other "cop on the edge" game, without any genuine flair that Namco is known for. The sound is also a category that fails to check in, thanks to some of the worst gun effects I've heard in a game in quite some time, matched up with laughable, corny dialogue and music that sounds like it was rushed through a Van Damme studio.

If the game delivers on any front, it's on good ol', guilt-free violence. Dead To Rights II keeps it on hand like nobody's business, with lots of shooting and the ability to take down enemies up close with punches and kicks and some sick-looking takedowns. The game does its job in terms of providing a stress-relieving experience to those needing it, but nothing more. Once you beat it, there's really little to come back to, aside from maybe getting better times or seeing if you can get Shadow to do what he needs to do. The use of online play would've been something to see here, but Namco apparently didn't think it was that hot of an idea.

So Dead To Rights II stands as a game that's merely for rental only, allowing those of you interested in busting some heads time after time the opportunity to do so without being chewed out by your local Senator. As a purchase, I can't recommend it, it comes up too short, merely knocking you out with the capacity of a Vulcan grip instead of letting you have it with a full-blown closed fist. Too bad.