Now Playing: Dead to Rights II & Dead to Rights Reckoning

 One's really good and one's really disappointing.

 Oh boy, where do I start with this one? Shoot-outs and fisticuffs have been separated into different segments. Which sucks, since it's easy to run out of ammo. And all your fancy disarms and Shadow? Nerfed. Disarms now have a cooldown tied to Stamina, and how effective Shadow is depends on your Stamina, oh, and it no longer initiates a cutscene, so Shadow does what you could do but in a slower, less useful way. It feels so limiting... which is a shame, because when the game is at its best, it's a blast. 

 Because it's not a bad game, it's not horrible, but it doesn't measure up to the standards left by the first game.

 And then I took a bite out of reckoning. I was a bit worried, the menus looked exactly like the ones from II, even Jack has a lower-poly version of his DtRII model. But it's much better. Shadow has his own gauge, separate from Stamina, and initiates a cutscene when he mauls an enemy, making him as useful as he was in 1. Disarms are unlimited, just get close to an enemy and tap circle. And you can trade your guns for knuckles at any time, not that I needed to since I haven't run out of ammo yet, but I like knowing that I have possibility.
 I've played but two levels and I know that this is what Dead to Rights II should've been. An expanding and not limiting, that's the way to go... although I think the cover function is gone, but who needs it, this is an arcade shooter not a cover-based shooter!