Dead to Rights averaged in pretty good when it came to reviews back in 2002 when it was originally released. Dead to Rights II, however, averaged in pretty bad when it came to its 2005 release. Namco Bandai’s regaining their Dead to Rights franchise with Dead to Rights: Retribution, coming late this year, and it’s looking pretty freakin’ badass.

You’ll play as Jack Slate, who starts off in a mission with his dog, Shadow. In Grant City, a hostage situation is on the rise at the top of a techie sky-scraper. As you play through the level, you’ll experience countless amounts of blood-splatter on your TV.

Dead to Rights: Retribution will feature a third-person view with a bit of first-person elements. That includes blood-splatter on the screen and effects like that. And trust me, you’re going to see a lot of blood this time around.

For the most part of the game, you’ll be travelling alongside your K9 pal, Shadow. However, you’ll be able to switch between whether you’re playing as Jack or as Shadow in certain levels. Shadows a helpful dog when you’re playing as Jack, fetching dropped guns for you. When you play as Shadow, however, things get a bit different.

In Chapter 7 of the game, Jack’s pretty messed up. His shoulder’s all over the place, there’s blood everywhere and his head is bleeding like crazy. Your mission in this level where you play solely as Shadow is to protect Jack and clear the path for him so no enemies would kill him in his less than regular state. When playing as Shadow, the player will only see in black and white for obvious reasons. But, he has an advantage: the ability to see through objects, allowing the player to easily plan a sneak attack on an enemy.

Namco Bandai says the single-player mode would take around ten hours to finish, sporting three difficulty levels to test your skill. They didn’t give any mention of multiplayer, but there will be unlockable content in the game.

Namco Bandai has released some new images of the game which can be seen at the gallery.