Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death
Encyclopedia
Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death is a first-person shooter video game based on the Judge Dredd
character from the 2000 AD
comic series, developed by Rebellion Developments
. It was released on October 17, 2003 in Europe and February 8, 2005 in the United States. It was released at a budget price and received mixed reviews from critics.
is filled with 400 million people, each holding the potential for criminal activity. Judge Dredd
is the city’s law enforcer, respected by all judges and feared by all crooks. The Psi Judges
sense a horrible plague approaching the city, and the Dark Judges
are their prime suspects. Later the release of viruses that change the host into a "Vampire" or a "Zombie" was then blamed on Dr. Icarus and Judge Death. Judge Dredd is then forced to fight the insane Dr. Icarus (who almost becomes immortal, his original plan was to find a way to become immortal, not make vampires) and the Dark Judges
(Mortis, Fire, Death, Fear and Death again, in that order). The last time Dredd fought Death, Death uses Icarus's immortal body to fight Dredd, but is ultimately defeated and Death flees into Judge Anderson's body, whom had been held there against her will.
Judges are only able to carry two weapons at a time. If a weapon is depleted of ammo, it is no longer usable and must be replaced by a newly picked up weapon.
through 11 levels. The campaign essentially plays like a straightforward first-person shooter, with objectives, useable weapons, and enemies to defeat. Dredd goes through the city stopping criminals and undead vampires. Players can play through the campaign on either Easy, Normal, or Hard difficulty. Also available is the ability to play the game cooperatively
with a friend on any difficulty level. Players have a 'law meter' in their HUD, which determines how well Dredd is doing as a protector. If you shoot/kill criminals who do not shoot you first, shoot them without challenging them, or if you challenge them and they give up, your law meter goes down. Another way your law meter goes down is if you shoot innocent people or other judges. If the entire meter goes down, you fail the mission. After each campaign mission, you get either a Cadet, Rookie, Street Judge, Senior Judge, or Judge Dredd rank. With each level you complete, you unlock at least one playable multiplayer character, or more depending on how well you do. You can also unlock new maps by doing the same thing.
Aside from the campaign, there is an arcade league and a multiplayer mode. In the arcade league, similar to the TimeSplitters
games, you complete various challenges, earning cheat codes for each one completed with a high rank. You are ranked with the same levels as the single player mode. There are 12 arcade challenges to unlock. In the multiplayer mode, you can play with up to 3 friends, and/or up to 12 computer controlled players in the deathmatch
-type games. Without bots, you can play non-deathmatch related games. Online play was not supported by any platform except for PC
.
wrote a Dredd vs. Death novelization
, published by Black Flame
, as a tie-in
to the game (October 2003, ISBN 1-84416-061-0). The novel alters the storyline somewhat in that certain events which in the game happened to Dredd are given to other judges such as Judge Giant
and Anderson. Galen DeMarco
also plays a prominent role.
. The arcade mode was also noted as being superior compared to the campaign (IGN said it 'adds some spice to an otherwise boiled and blanched game.'). IGN gave the game a 5/10 and concluded 'fans of the fiction will finally appreciate a style that keeps its faith, but will wonder how this game could have done its source material the same sort of disservice the decade old movie did',http://cube.ign.com/articles/597/597921p2.html negatively comparing it to the 1995 Judge Dredd film
. GameSpot was among the group of sites that complained about the game that did not completely trash it, but called it a 'short, simplistic shooter that's not worth even its budget price', concluding that 'it's not embarrassingly bad, but you're better off waiting for your next paycheck and then sinking in the extra cash into any of the much better full-priced shooters readily available on all four platforms'.http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/action/judgedredddreddversusdeath/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary%3Breadreview
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
character from the 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
comic series, developed by Rebellion Developments
Rebellion Developments
Rebellion is a British computer games company, based in Oxford, who are most famous for the first Aliens vs. Predator computer game. It has published comic books since 2000 and launched its own book imprint, Abaddon Books, in 2006.-History:...
. It was released on October 17, 2003 in Europe and February 8, 2005 in the United States. It was released at a budget price and received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
Mega-City OneMega-City One
Mega-City One is a huge fictional city-state covering much of what is now the Eastern United States in the Judge Dredd comic book series. The exact boundaries of the city depend on which artist has drawn the story...
is filled with 400 million people, each holding the potential for criminal activity. Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
is the city’s law enforcer, respected by all judges and feared by all crooks. The Psi Judges
Psi Division
Psi-Division is a fictional organisation in the Judge Dredd and Anderson: Psi-Division comic strips in 2000 AD and Judge Dredd: The Megazine. It is the branch of Mega-City One's Justice Department that deals in supernatural phenomena, using Judges with psychic abilities. Psi-Judges are often...
sense a horrible plague approaching the city, and the Dark Judges
Dark Judges
The Dark Judges are recurring villains in the fictional Judge Dredd universe recounted in the UK comic 2000 AD. They are Judge Death, Judge Fire, Judge Fear and Judge Mortis. Later storylines added the "Sisters of Death" , to their ranks...
are their prime suspects. Later the release of viruses that change the host into a "Vampire" or a "Zombie" was then blamed on Dr. Icarus and Judge Death. Judge Dredd is then forced to fight the insane Dr. Icarus (who almost becomes immortal, his original plan was to find a way to become immortal, not make vampires) and the Dark Judges
Dark Judges
The Dark Judges are recurring villains in the fictional Judge Dredd universe recounted in the UK comic 2000 AD. They are Judge Death, Judge Fire, Judge Fear and Judge Mortis. Later storylines added the "Sisters of Death" , to their ranks...
(Mortis, Fire, Death, Fear and Death again, in that order). The last time Dredd fought Death, Death uses Icarus's immortal body to fight Dredd, but is ultimately defeated and Death flees into Judge Anderson's body, whom had been held there against her will.
Main characters
- Judge DreddJudge DreddJudge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
: Dredd is one of the most feared and respected Street JudgesJudge (2000 AD)Judge is a title held by several significant characters in the Judge Dredd series, which appears in the British comics 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine...
. - Chief Judge HersheyJudge HersheyJudge Barbara Hershey is a fictional character in the Judge Dredd series that appears in British comic 2000 AD. For nearly two decades she regularly appeared as Dredd's sidekick, before being promoted to become his superior: she was chief judge for nine years...
: There is no higher position than Chief Judge in the Justice Department. - Judge AndersonJudge AndersonJudge Cassandra Anderson is a fictional character that started as a supporting player in the comic story Judge Dredd of 2000 AD and eventually rose in prominence and became the star of her own series, which is entitled Anderson: Psi-Division. It was created by writer John Wagner and artist Brian...
: A Psi judge who, captured by the Dark Judges, was used to open a vortex from Mega City to Dead World, allowing the Dark Judges to enter Mega City. - Judge DeMarcoGalen DeMarcoGalen DeMarco is a fictional character in the world of Judge Dredd. She is a former street judge who first appeared in the Judge Dredd storyline "The Pit" in 2000 AD #970.-Biography:...
- Doctor Icarus: A mad scientist who created the strain of virus that turned infected people into Vampires and the Undead in his pursuit of immortality.
- The Dark JudgesDark JudgesThe Dark Judges are recurring villains in the fictional Judge Dredd universe recounted in the UK comic 2000 AD. They are Judge Death, Judge Fire, Judge Fear and Judge Mortis. Later storylines added the "Sisters of Death" , to their ranks...
: Undead judges from a parallel universe. - Necrus: The high priest of a cult of religious fanatics who worship the Dark Judges.
Other characters
- Med-Division Judge: These Judges help the sick and injured.
- Street Judges: The elite of Mega-City One, they are the Law enforcers.
- Psi-Judges: These Judges have psychic powers to assist when traditional methods prove inadequate.
Weapons
- Lawgiver: It is the main weapon the Judges use. It has six modes of fire for the same magazine. The weapon is controlled by voice activation.
- Standard: With 64 bullets per magazine, this is the standard bullet and provides a fast rate of fire and mediocre damage.
- Armor Piercing: Holds 32 bullets per magazine and strong enough to pierce any type of metal as well as enemies.
- Ricochet: Contains 32 shots per magazine with the ability to ricochet between walls, proving useful in tight situations.
- Incendiary: Fires 8 shots per magazine, and sets the target ablaze.
- High Explosive: Fires 8 shots per magazine, and does much damage to its target. Dredd must be careful with this mode because it can also affect him, and when fired it acts similarly to an explosive weapon.
- Heat Seeker: Fires 8 shots per magazine, locking onto heat sources to hit the target effectively.
- Arbitrator: Able to annihilate an armored person when used in close range although it does less damage when fired at long range.
- Lawrod Rifle: Similar to the Lawgiver Mark 3, however this is an advanced version with greater accuracy and range. It has two firing modes, one functioning as a sniperSniperA sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
weapon, and other as an assault rifleAssault rifleAn assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
. - Stumm Gas Grenade: Used for Street Judges, and does minimal damage but causes enemies to choke and lose consciousness. Mostly useful for capturing enemies intact.
- PistolPistolWhen distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
: The most common weapon in Mega City. Citizens can use this weapon to attack, and threaten, others. - Split Gun: Gun which is effective at close range, but lacks accuracy over long distances.
- Stump Gun: A Weaker version of the Arbitrator that can only hold 4 rounds.
- Grenade LauncherGrenade launcherA grenade launcher or grenade discharger is a weapon that launches a grenade with more accuracy, higher velocity, and to greater distances than a soldier could throw it by hand....
: Best fired at large areas. - Las Pistol: A very lethal directed energy weapon.
- Las Rifle: A deadly directed energy weapon surpassing even the Las Pistol.
Gameplay
In the single player campaign, you play as Judge DreddJudge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
through 11 levels. The campaign essentially plays like a straightforward first-person shooter, with objectives, useable weapons, and enemies to defeat. Dredd goes through the city stopping criminals and undead vampires. Players can play through the campaign on either Easy, Normal, or Hard difficulty. Also available is the ability to play the game cooperatively
Cooperative gameplay
Cooperative gameplay is a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates. It is distinct from other multiplayer modes, such as competitive multiplayer modes like player versus player or deathmatch...
with a friend on any difficulty level. Players have a 'law meter' in their HUD, which determines how well Dredd is doing as a protector. If you shoot/kill criminals who do not shoot you first, shoot them without challenging them, or if you challenge them and they give up, your law meter goes down. Another way your law meter goes down is if you shoot innocent people or other judges. If the entire meter goes down, you fail the mission. After each campaign mission, you get either a Cadet, Rookie, Street Judge, Senior Judge, or Judge Dredd rank. With each level you complete, you unlock at least one playable multiplayer character, or more depending on how well you do. You can also unlock new maps by doing the same thing.
Aside from the campaign, there is an arcade league and a multiplayer mode. In the arcade league, similar to the TimeSplitters
TimeSplitters
TimeSplitters is a series of first-person shooter video games created by Free Radical Design. The games are often compared to Rare's shooters GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark since Free Radical Design was founded by a group of ex-Rare employees who developed these games...
games, you complete various challenges, earning cheat codes for each one completed with a high rank. You are ranked with the same levels as the single player mode. There are 12 arcade challenges to unlock. In the multiplayer mode, you can play with up to 3 friends, and/or up to 12 computer controlled players in the deathmatch
Deathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
-type games. Without bots, you can play non-deathmatch related games. Online play was not supported by any platform except for PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
.
Novel
Gordon RennieGordon Rennie
Gordon Rennie is a comics writer, responsible for White Trash: Moronic Inferno, as well as several comic strips for 2000 AD and novels for Warhammer Fantasy....
wrote a Dredd vs. Death novelization
Novelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...
, published by Black Flame
Black Flame
Black Flame was an imprint of BL Publishing, the publishing arm of Games Workshop and a sister imprint to the Black Library and Solaris Books. Black Flame was devoted to publishing cult fiction in the fields of science fiction, fantasy and horror...
, as a tie-in
Tie-in
A tie-in is an authorized product based on a media property a company is releasing, such as a movie or video/DVD, computer game, video game, television program/television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property...
to the game (October 2003, ISBN 1-84416-061-0). The novel alters the storyline somewhat in that certain events which in the game happened to Dredd are given to other judges such as Judge Giant
Judge Giant
Judge Giant can refer to either of two fictional characters appearing in the Judge Dredd comic strip in 2000 AD. They are father and son...
and Anderson. Galen DeMarco
Galen DeMarco
Galen DeMarco is a fictional character in the world of Judge Dredd. She is a former street judge who first appeared in the Judge Dredd storyline "The Pit" in 2000 AD #970.-Biography:...
also plays a prominent role.
Reception
The game received mostly average reviews from critics. It currently has an average of 57% for the Xbox version, 56% for the GameCube version, 55% for the PC version, and 52% for the PlayStation 2 version. Some areas of complaints were weak A.I., lackluster graphics, overly bizarre character models, and simplistic gameplay. However, the game was praised for its multiplayer and arcade mode, which contains over a dozen maps and several playable characters and modes, similar to that of TimeSplitters 2TimeSplitters 2
TimeSplitters 2 is a first-person shooter video game available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube game consoles. The game was published by Eidos and developed by Free Radical Design. The game was first released in October 2002 in North America and Europe, and later in Japan...
. The arcade mode was also noted as being superior compared to the campaign (IGN said it 'adds some spice to an otherwise boiled and blanched game.'). IGN gave the game a 5/10 and concluded 'fans of the fiction will finally appreciate a style that keeps its faith, but will wonder how this game could have done its source material the same sort of disservice the decade old movie did',http://cube.ign.com/articles/597/597921p2.html negatively comparing it to the 1995 Judge Dredd film
Judge Dredd (film)
Judge Dredd is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Danny Cannon, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Armand Assante, and Max von Sydow. The film is based on the strip of the same name in the British comic 2000 AD...
. GameSpot was among the group of sites that complained about the game that did not completely trash it, but called it a 'short, simplistic shooter that's not worth even its budget price', concluding that 'it's not embarrassingly bad, but you're better off waiting for your next paycheck and then sinking in the extra cash into any of the much better full-priced shooters readily available on all four platforms'.http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/action/judgedredddreddversusdeath/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary%3Breadreview