Dead to Rights: Reckoning is a standard action game that attempts to follow in the footsteps of the console game Dead to Rights II by offering nothing more than pure, 100% action. The overall plot should be familiar to many; a cop taking the law into his own hands at any cost to bust the bad guys. This game can be compared to a Steven Segal movie; short on plot and filled with flying lead. There are faults, however, that could distract from the overall experience of the game.

First off, the game’s control scheme, while not terrible by any means just isn’t up to par with current action games on the consoles. The somewhat crunched together layout of the PSP doesn't help things by any means. The game allows you to lock onto characters so you could blast them but it was more of a hassle then it was worth. It is entirely possible to lock on to the wrong enemy at the wrong time. While it was nice not having to manually aim, a little more finesse on the lock on system would have made it less of a chore to accomplish.

The story in Dead to Rights: Reckoning wasn’t there. Missions begin and end with a quick cuts scene that are driven by text. Actual dialog would have been much better than just text in this case. The text tells the story of a hostage that needs rescuing. Then after that you switch to shooting Triad gangsters in the face to shooting armored militia members, well, in the face. It is hard to grasp the story of the game because is it never fully fleshed out. It would have been nice to have a living, breathing story to the game and fire bullets like they were going out of style. Having one of those is good but but having both, makes a game great.

For the gameplay you basically enter an area, shoot everyone you see, wait for a few more rounds of guys to spawn, shoot them, and then move on to the boss. To kill a boss, it’s pretty much shoot him, wait for more guys to run at out you, kill them, then kill the boss. Sometimes you'll find some body armor or health recovery items, which come in handy. Dead to Rights: Reckoning has a lot in common with Dead to Rights II in terms of gameplay. So, if you have played DTR2 you know what you are getting into with this version of the game. The John Woo and Max Payne aspects of the series are all still intact, which has been a hallmark of this genre of game. Slow motion shooting and duel wielding weapons are all still here in the game, which is nice to see included on the portable version of the game. The game uses lock-on targeting that often moves directly from one target to the next, so taking down enemies is usually an exercise in holding down buttons. Most of the weapons in the game are ridiculously underpowered. At point-blank range, some enemies will still take 8-10 shots from a machine gun. Another attack Jack Slate has besides just blasting away is enemies is his melee attack. When you get close to any enemy, you tap the circle button and he will disarm the thug and kill him with his own weapon. This can be at times amusing to watch. As satisfying as it is to watch, other enemies in the vicinity will still be shooting at you, keep in mind things seem to be running in slow motion. The result is the enemies' shots still ring out at full speed and as you sit there breaking the thug’s arm and disarm him you are getting shot and losing precious life in the action. Personally, I actually died in the game doing this.