History VideoGame / DeadToRights

* HeartbrokenBadass: Jack has feelings for Hildy, the stripper-turned-waitress whom he "admired from afar." Too bad she never had feelings for him and was only looking out for number one.

* ThemeNaming: References to rocks and mining are reflected in the names of half the characters in the first game including Jack '''Slate''' (slate rock), Gloria '''Exner''' (the conservation of mass between sediment in a riverbed and sediment being transferred), and Mayor '''Pinnacle''' (the top of a high rock or mountain).

** ''Dead to Rights'': [[spoiler: Jack has avenged his father's murder, but his girlfriend Hildy, his fellow assassin friend Eve, and both candidates running for mayor are dead, and the struggle for power will only continue in the city.]]

* LetsPlay: LetsPlay/{{slowbeef}} and LetsPlay/{{Diabetus}}, of ''WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'' fame, have done hilarious full [=LPs=] of both [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adhoLIQvM9o&list=PL-DNICST8ZbxORBRaSc_zzWfZo4qFoEcR the original game]] and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym44ODA9iiw&list=PL-DNICST8ZbzwuAZNlbTq-zTkBxfVMHXU Retribution.]]''

** ''Retribution'' ends in a equally vague way, Jack has seemingly planned to take a much more honest path as a cop, much like his father, but there is no plans for a sequel.

** In the first game, Jack can grab an enemy to use as a shield. Morally questionable, but within the boundaries of 1980s action movie logic. Unfortunately, there's no "knock out the bad guy" or "handcuff the bad guy" option. Instead of releasing them, Jack just casually shoots them in the back of the head.

* CowboyCop: Jack Slate don't play by the rules, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]. Oddly enough, in all of the GCPD, he's probably the most honest and uncorrupted cop of them all as well. In the reboot, however, he's transcended to the dubious rank of RabidCop.

* DenserAndWackier: ''2'' and ''Reckoning'' take themselves substantially less seriously than even the first game, with [[ExcusePlot drastically simplified plots]] and far more irreverent in ton -- just to start, the main instigating character of ''2'''s plot is named "Judge {{MacGuffin}}", and the hostage you're rescuing throughout ''Reckoning'' ([[spoiler:who actually turns out to be the final boss]]) is inexplicably wearing a Music/BritneySpears-style [[CatholicSchoolGirlsRule sexy schoolgirl outfit]] and ''[[NoNameGiven isn't even named]]''.

* DummiedOut: A very strange case indeed. The [=PS2=] version has a truncated version of Chapter 3 (the prison level) compared to the Xbox version. In the Xbox version a prisoner (called Timmy, apparently) asks you to go beat up Mad Dog and offers you a reward. In the [=PS2=] version you instead are just attacked by Mad Dog for basically no reason, and he drops the card you need. Another mini-boss shortly after, Mac, and the related mission to get a photograph back from him are both cut entirely. To keep the number of cigarette packs even a random enemy encounter is added directly after talking to Wire Boy (who asks you to get 25 packs in the first place) and several more drop from common enemies. In addition, Tattoo's mooks are invincible in the Xbox version and just have more life than normal in the [=PS2=] version, and you immediately get a Game Over for punching out security guards during the escape segment in the Xbox version, while on the [=PS2=] there's no penalty for it.

* EvilBrit: Rafshoon Diggs. Also a ScaryBlackMan.

* BullFightBoss: In the original, [[spoiler:Hennessey's]] first phase has him repeatedly charge you with an [[ShockAndAwe electrified riot shield. In the middle of the arena is an active water fountain. Do what you must.

* LighthousePoint: The FinalBoss fight of ''Retribution'' takes place on the top of a lighthouse during a storm, notable in that the light is active and can blind both Jack ''and'' [[spoiler:Redwater]]. [[spoiler:It also makes a nice spot for a DisneyVillainDeath]].

* BigFriendlyDog: In ''Retribution'', Shadow acts like this towards anybody who isn't an enemy.

* BulletproofHumanShield: Jack can grab a man to use as a shield. Okay, morally questionable, but within the boundaries of 1980s action movie logic. Unfortunately, there's no "knock out the bad guy" or "handcuff the bad guy" option. Instead of releasing them, Jack just casually shoots them in the back of the head.

* BullFightBoss: In the original, [[spoiler:Hennessey's first phase has him charge you with an electrified riot shield.]]

* CanineCompanion: Shadow. In the original game, he wasn't a "partner" so much as a special move you could activate to instantly kill a bad guy and retrieve his gun. In ''Dead To Rights: Retribution,'' Shadow follows you around during fights, and serves as the playable character for stealth sections.

* TheChewToy: Julian Temple in ''Retribution''. While he helped form [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner GAC]] and as such is partially responsible for much of the conflict, he's also a total pushover and a complete wuss. He's ([[TheDreaded very justifiably]]) afraid for his life around Jack, and once you find him and spend a few missions [[spoiler:escorting him all the way to jail intact]], the player gets [[ComedicSociopathy the joy of slamming him into elevator buttons]] and using him as [[spoiler:a pack mule for infinite ammo.]]

* DaChief: Capt. Inness in ''Retribution''.

* DrunkenMaster: Fahook gets completely sauced when it comes time to fight him, wildly firing off an automatic rifle and using his bottle of "magic potion" to breathe fire. Also Tseng in ''Retribution'' is pretty blitzed on cocaine when Jack fights him.

* ExcusePlot: In contrast to the first game, which had an actual (absurdly-convoluted) plot with various twists and developments, the second game has essentially an Arcade Game plot which is essentially "Go kill Boss A, who tells you about Boss B. Go kill Boss B, who tells you about Boss C. Etc, until you get to the final boss." The game even lampshades this, with the Judge whose death kicks off the plot being named Judge MacGuffin.

* FanService: The Stripper minigame.

* HeroicBSOD: In ''Retribution'', Jack loses it when he finds Frank's near-dead body. Even as [[RabidCop intense]] and HotBlooded as he is, he gets realistically reduced to a panicked, sobbing wreck as he desperately tries to save him, and when he fails, has to be stopped by Faith from [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge beating the crap out of his (supposed) murderer]].

* InformedAttribute: Multiple characters in ''Retribution'' refer to Jack as "a good cop." One assumes they've never actually seen Jack [[YourHeadASplode on]] [[GroinAttack the]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill job]].

* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: In ''Retribution'' Jack says this about GAC, as an example of [[AndThatsTerrible why they clearly are evil]]. Jack himself, however, also qualifies, in both games.

* KaizoTrap: Of sorts. The final boss fight seemingly ends with Jack hurling the FinalBoss into a furnace to burn alive. This is followed by a cutscene of said boss walking out of said furnace right towards Jack, making the player think he's trying to make one last act of defiance before dying...[[{{Determinator}} until suddenly the fight resumes and Jack has to take him out one more time.]] Seeing how hard the rest of the fight is, it's pretty easy to get to this part while on your last sliver of health and then get killed when the boss cheap-shots you.

* MeaningfulName: SWAT Chief ''Redwater.'' You know, like blood.

* MoralityChain: ''Retribution'' features one to Jack in the form of Faith Sands, an EMT and acquaintance of his who does her best to keep him from going off the deep end once his father is murdered. Part of Jack's decision to start operating "the old-fashioned way" like his father is done as a promise to her, and even when [[spoiler:she reveals that the entire meetup [[FramingDevice the first half the game is built around]] was semi-willingly arranged to bait out his location to GAC]], he remains protective of her career and her overall well-being.

* MurderInc: Mayhem Inc in the original game, which is bewilderingly identified as "[[OpenSecret that assassin’s guild out of Broadway.]]"
* MythologyGag: As well as GAC returning as antagonists, Pinnacle is briefly mentioned in ''Retribution'' though is apparently not the mayor. The ending also features a cameo by Preacherman, and mentions that the mayor is now Gloria Exner, Pinnacle's opposing candidate from the original.
* NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight: Double subverted. The Final Boss in ''Retribution'' has [[spoiler: Redwater]] swinging a knife at the unarmed detective. He and Jack can disarm and use the knife against the other.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: If Eve hadn't been so eager to shoot Marvin in the face, he could've told Jack about Fahook and a large chunk of the plot wouldn't have had to happen.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Augie Blatz from the first game apparently really likes his Christopher Walken impressions.

** Rather oddly, despite Jack ending the first game with a big speech about how he's still going to do his part to fight injustice, there has never been an actual sequel, just a prequel and an alternate continuity.

* ThrowawayGuns: Jack doesn't have time to reload. He just tosses his pistols aside and draws new ones.

** In the first we have the very eccentric Patch, an assassin that frames Jack for the murder of Augie Blatz, he only gets the introduction, next time he is fought while you are riding a news chopper and is vaporized from the resulting Car Explosion.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Redwater]], the BigBad of ''Retribution'', seeks to rid [[WretchedHive Grant City]] of its crime, but seeks to do so by replacing its existing police with [[PoliceBrutality the more extreme and unethical GAC]] (supposedly relative to [[RabidCop Jack]], anyway) and turn the city into a PoliceState. He also gets Frank killed [[HeKnowsTooMuch for knowing too much]].

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Averted in the first game in the sense that Jack never actually clears his name and instead skips town. He also straight up murdered the head prison guard in cold blood during his escape for no reason other than the guy was kind of an asshole, to say nothing of the mass mayhem he causes trying to track down his father's killers.

* HeroicBSOD: In ''Retribution'', Jack loses it when he finds Frank's near-dead body. Even as [[RapidCop intense]] and HotBlooded as he is, he gets realistically reduced to a panicked, sobbing wreck as he desperately tries to save him, and when he fails, has to be stopped by Faith from [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge beating the crap out of his (supposed) murderer]].

* {{Camp}}: The first game in the series fits the category. While the ''intent'' ([[https://player.fm/series/1181239/156230437 based on the creators themselves]]) was to make a game in the vein of works by Creator/FrankMiller and Creator/JohnWoo with utmost sincerity and seriousness, the game's got a lot more color and theatricality for it: [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness the story and dialogue wildly slides in tone]] (at times being completely straightforward, other times containing utterly bonkers setpieces and [[OneLiner quippy one-liners]]), several of the villains are [[EvilIsHammy so full of ham that they’re practically walking delis]], and many instances of the GunFu and HeroicBloodshed action is [[RuleOfCool over-the-top]] and [[ArtisticLicensePhysics physics-defying]] [[UpToEleven even for the genre]]. Top it off with an [[HeroesLoveDogs over-the-top]] [[CanineCompanion doggie special attack]] and [[RatedMForManly raw manliness]], and you have a game of true camp appeal.

* {{Camp}}: The first game in the series fits the category. One of the creators of the game, Flint Dille,[[https://player.fm/series/1181239/156230437 wholeheartedly]] claimed that they were making a game in the vein of the works of Creator/FrankMiller and Creator/JohnWoo and the tropes that go along with those works and with the utmost sincerity and seriousness. However, some things in the game belie this:
** The game, which is supposed to be a gritty combination of FilmNoir, GunFu action movies, and set in [[CityNoir "Grant City, the hardest place on Earth"]], is [[SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty quite colorfully saturated and brightly lit]], including [[PrisonEpisode the prison level]].
** Several of the villains are [[EvilIsHammy so full of ham that they’re practically walking delis]].
** The dialogue can be [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness very silly but is delivered very seriously]], especially our hero Jack Slate's, alternating from a PrivateEyeMonologue[[https://youtu.be/Z5InMTmy-GQ?t=3m18s]] one moment to making [[https://youtu.be/Z5InMTmy-GQ?t=8m3s wisecracks]] [[https://youtu.be/4aZYErj8LTo?t=1m50s the]] [[https://youtu.be/c4jVMQ2baao?t=31m23s next]], causing him come across as down right {{Adorkable}} at times.
** Jack can ruthlessly disarm his foes with moves that [[ArtisticLicensePhysics often break the laws of physics]]. Even [[HardBoiled Inspector Tequila]] wasn't so [[RuleOfCool spectacularly over the top]].
** When Jack needs to enter a nightclub to confront the gangster over the death of his father, how does he do it? The lady he has a crush one does an erotic dance to distract the security guards. The dance is so good to them, that one security guy just up and chucks one guy across the room just to get a better view.
** There’s a level where you have to fight gun-toting massage parlor workers.
** A group of {{Mooks}} in the game are unironically called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iDALjY4QnY GAC]].
** [[https://www.playstation.com/en-nz/games/dead-to-rights-ps2/ The New Zealand Playstation page]] for ''Dead to Rights'' even declares Jack's name to be camp. Indeed, it does come close to a certain other [[Film/LastActionHero Cowboy Cop with a similar name]].
** The game has our hero [[https://youtu.be/jh4FqNId6IA?t=1m36s punched in the balls]] in the most [[OffhandBackhand nonchalant]] manner.
** It features one of the most gloriously over-the-top moments in video games: pursuing Fahook's plane as it takes off, Jack jumps a motorcycle off a ramp, then jumps off the motorcycle in midair, turns around, guns akimbo, and shoots said motorcycle so that it explodes, using the resulting explosion to propel himself toward the plane, then kills three men standing on the cargo ramp firing machine guns at him as he dives toward the closing ramp, and finally slides aboard just before it closes. [[https://youtu.be/LLAs3cq_ksE?t=56s The whole thing can be seen here.]]
** The first half of the last level takes place in a hotel's grand plaza/ballroom, which is designed in a golden faux ArtDeco style.
** Throw in a couple of DistressedDude moments (such as when Jack must escape the [[HighVoltageDeath electric]] [[DeathTrap chair]] and later must endure WaterTorture while tied upside down), add in [[HeroesLoveDogs an over the top]] [[CanineCompanion doggie special attack]], slap on a RatedMForManly sticker, and you have a game of true camp appeal.

** [[https://www.playstation.com/en-nz/games/dead-to-rights-ps2/ The New Zealand Playstation page]] for ''Dead to Rights'' even declares Jack's name to be camp. Indeed, to does come close to a certain other [[Film/LastActionHero Cowboy Cop with a similar name]].

** The first half of the last level takes place in a hotel's grand plaza, which is designed in a golden faux ArtDeco style.

* MeaninfulName: SWAT Chief ''Redwater.'' You know, like blood.

* {{Camp}}: The first game in this series fits the category. One of the creators of the game, Flint Dille,[[https://player.fm/series/1181239/156230437 wholeheartedly]] claimed that they were making a game in the vein of the works of Creator/FrankMiller and Creator/JohnWoo and the tropes that go along with those works and with the utmost sincerity and seriousness. However, some things in the game belie this:

* {{Camp}}: The first ''VideoGame/DeadToRights'' fits this category. One of the creators of the game, Flint Dille,[[https://player.fm/series/1181239/156230437 wholeheartedly]] claimed that they were making a game in the vein of the works of Creator/FrankMiller and Creator/JohnWoo and the tropes that go along with those works and with the utmost sincerity and seriousness. However, some things in the game belie this:

* {{Camp}}: The first ''VideoGame/DeadToRights'' could fit this category. The one of the creators of the game [[https://player.fm/series/1181239/156230437 wholeheartedly]] claimed that they were making a game in the vein of the works of Creator/FrankMiller and Creator/JohnWoo and the tropes that go along with their works and with the utmost sincerity and seriousness. However, some things in the game belie this:

* MurderByCremation: You defeat the FinalBoss of the first gameby pushing him into a furnace.

** The game has our hero [[[https://youtu.be/jh4FqNId6IA?t=1m36s punched in the balls]] in the most [[OffhandBackhand nonchalant]] manner.

** A group of {{Mooks}} in the game is unironically called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iDALjY4QnY GAC]].

** It features one of the most gloriously [[https://youtu.be/LLAs3cq_ksE?t=57s over-the-top moments in video games that cannot be done justice in mere words]]: pursuing Fahook's plane as it takes off, Jack jumps a motorcycle off a ramp, then jumps off the motorcycle in midair, turns around, guns akimbo, and shoots said motorcycle so that it explodes, using the resulting explosion to propel himself toward the plane, then kills three men standing on the cargo ramp firing machine guns at him as he dives toward the closing ramp, and finally slides aboard just before it closes.

** The dialogue can be [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness very silly but is delivered very seriously [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness very silly but delivered very seriously]], especially our hero Jack Slate's, alternating from a PrivateEyeMonologue[[https://youtu.be/Z5InMTmy-GQ?t=3m18s]] one moment to making [[https://youtu.be/Z5InMTmy-GQ?t=8m3s wisecracks]] [[https://youtu.be/4aZYErj8LTo?t=1m50s the]] [[https://youtu.be/c4jVMQ2baao?t=31m23s next]], causing him come across as down right {{Adorkable}} at times.

** The dialogue is, at times, [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness very silly but delivered very seriously]], especially our hero Jack Slate's, alternating from a PrivateEyeMonologue[[https://youtu.be/Z5InMTmy-GQ?t=3m18s]] one moment to making [[https://youtu.be/Z5InMTmy-GQ?t=8m3s wisecracks]] [[https://youtu.be/4aZYErj8LTo?t=1m50s the]] [[https://youtu.be/c4jVMQ2baao?t=31m23s next]], causing him come across as down right {{Adorkable}} at times.