Not Bad!
The plot is introduced through a series of cutscenes that have Slate spewing some of the most laughably ridiculous dialogue ever heard in a videogame. This isn't always a bad thing. Dead to Rights II is aware of its cheesy premise and pushes the camp to new limits. Almost every level begins in the same fashion: Slate crashes a vehicle into an enemy hang-out, beats someone to a pulp, and delivers an awesomely-bad one liner.
Dead to Rights bears some semblance to the Max Payne series, but with some key differences. First off, there is an auto-targeting system that marks one enemy at a time with a circular crosshair. This way, all you need to do is tap the right shoulder button and Slate will stay focused on the selected enemy. The game throws a huge number of enemies into any given confrontation, so the auto-targeting is the most elegant way to handle the combat. In terms of gameplay and visuals, it has arcade-shooter written all over it. No sooner do enemies fill a room than has Slate pumped them full of lead and moved on to the next group of autonomous drones. The cycle doesn't require a lot of thought, but it almost perfectly defines the term "mindless fun". Namco takes advantage of this by presenting a quick play feature and four difficulty settings. Gamers are encouraged to jump into the action at any point without worrying about too many details.