Public Servant Lifestyle

Step into a pair of green judge boots and hit the streets of the Big Meg to fight the never ending fight against future crime.

Judge Dredd vs. Judge Death

They fought the law and the law won. But will you? Oxford-based developers Rebellion gives you the chance to take to the streets of Mega City One as 200OAD’s futuristic lawman Judge Dredd in Judge Dredd vs. Judge Death.

Judge Dredd vs. Judge Death is based on the legendary comic strip Judge Dredd (voted 'Best Character' at the British National Comics Awards, beating off competition from Spider-Man, Batman, Dan Dare and The Beano's Dennis the Menace) published in Britain’s premiere comic book - 2000AD - every week from the height of the punk era in 1977, to the present day. A first-person shooter game, players see through the eyes of Judge Dredd himself as he patrols the mean streets of a stunningly realised future metropolis called Mega-City One, dispensing rough justice in his own inimitable dystopian style.

As Dredd players find themselves up to top of their (undersized) judge boots in the full spectrum of – often surreal, always colourful, not to say pretty violent - criminal behaviour found in the city. All of this will be very familiar to readers of the comic strip, from littering, smoking, sugar and caffeine related abuse (minor offences) to riots, tap gangs (muggers) all the way to saving the city from the utterly evil, seemingly unstoppable – undead (and hence un-killable – oh dear!) Judge Death.

This game uses all the power and capabilities of the PlayStation2 through the versatile Asura 3D gaming Engine, which has been developed in house by Rebellion 9who also, not coincidentally, currently happen to own 2000AD itself.)

Background

Mega-City One – the setting for this hard-boiled action game (the first of a series of games being developed by Rebellion based on the 2000AD pantheon, if they are to be believed – and who hasn’t been waiting for an ABC Warriors, Nemesis The Warlock, Rogue Trooper or Robo Hunter game?) is a city of over four hundred million people, everyone of them a potential criminal. Stretching the length of what’s left of the 22nd century American eastern seaboard (there’s been a series of cataclysmic wars, alien invasions, planetary disasters and some more wars in the time between the present day and the fictional setting for the character) Mega-City One is the most dangerous city on the Earth.

It is also policed by the most draconian regime on Earth – the Judges, devised as a means of combating the explosion of crime resulting from unemployment, overcrowding, shortages, boredom, megalomania and a million other malaises. It is calculated that one serious crime takes place every second of every day, somewhere in the city – and the judges are often up against impossible odds just trying to cope with this tide.

So dangerous is this darkest of comic book settings that it demands a special breed of law enforcer. Here, there are no police, no trials and no juries – only the Judges to keep anarchy at bay. It takes fifteen years to train a Judge for life on the streets of Mega-City One. Fifteen years in the toughest training regime possible - of iron discipline, rigid self-control, concentrated aggression and overriding respect for the supremacy of The Law.

Most feared and respected of all Judges is Joe Dredd, a man vested with the power of instant sentencing, a man whose court is the streets and whose word is The Law!

Playing Dredd

Being a Judge in Mega-City One is to adopt a position of not only near supreme authority, but also great responsibility. A Judge’s sworn task is to protect the citizens of the city – he acts as Judge and jury in upholding the Law, but a Judge should never be an mindless executioner.

The fans of the 2000AD comic strip will, no doubt, know all of this already and have a good idea of how to play a Judge. For those players unfamiliar with the comics, the guidelines below should clarify how the Law works in Mega-City One.

Mega City One – Some thoughts to help you police it:

It is the sworn duty of every Judge to protect the citizens of Mega-City One

A Judge is not automatically an executioner – suspected criminals (‘perps’ – short for ‘perpetrators’) must always be brought to justice and serve their time in an iso-cube (isolation prison cell – the standard incarceration choice in the City of the future). It is difficult to question a perp and arrest his associates if he is lying on the conveyor belt at Resyk (remember the film Soylent Green? – Well in Mega City One all used material – and that includes the protein and materials contained within the human body – are recycled to preserve dwindling resources – the central recycling facility is universally referred to as ‘Resyk’, every citizen’s – and every Judges – grim ultimate destination

However – on the question of lethal force – and let’s face it, this is a shoot-‘em –up game in a setting full of crazies, aliens, robots and psychos all just waiting to take their chance against Mega City’s finest – the Judges have the authority to respond with lethal force if a perp endangers either a Judge or a citizen. A Judge should always use the minimal force necessary – players should not use their Lawgiver pistol when a stun shot will do.

Citizens may not be subjected to unwarranted violence

Perps must always be given a chance to surrender. Justice cannot be served if they are dead

The full resources of the Justice Department are behind you at all times. Players can query the Central Computer for information, call in forensics or riot squads, ask PSU (the Public Surveillance Unit – Mega City One’s ‘Big Brother’ that follows, records and monitors suspected perps wherever they go) to follow a suspect or monitor a vid-phone call. Players can also have Weather Control rain – for instance to help break up an illegal demonstration

Judges uphold and enforce the Law – they do not interpret it. Whatever their personal feelings, it is the Law

Judges have an incredible range of equipment (the Lawgiver multi function pistol – capable of rapid fire – and loaded with a variety of lethal ammunition types, incendiary, ricochet, high explosive and armour piercing rounds – the Lawmaster bike and sophisticated body armour)

They are also equipped with supreme authority. But Judges are not lone law enforcers – they have the backing of a massive organisation, but they can expect the might of that organisation to be turned against them should they break The Law themselves. The Special Judicial Service (SJS) Judges can show up at any time, their mission to judge the Judges – and they display the self same ruthless efficiency in the pursuit of that role as do the normal street Judges in the pursuance of perps

There are only two ways out of a situation between an errant Judge and the SJS – a gruesome shootout (fun once – but it soon becomes clear you’re always going to be overwhelmed as single player against a squad of SJS) that can only end in death, or serious injury and arrest. Arrest by the SJS means facing the only fate left for a Judge gone bad – transportation to the penal colony on the moon Titan. Either way, it’s an endgame. Plus, if you're busy fighting the SJS you'll never get to confont the real uber-villans of the piece - those wacky, unstoppable Dark Judges.

Arrests

It’s not all gunplay – there’s far more to the dirty business of policing the Mega City than blazing firefights. The imposing authority of a Judge in full uniform and kit is enough to make most perps surrender immediately, dropping their weapons and ceasing any criminal activities, leaving the Judge free to handcuff and arrest them. However, some perps are truly desperate and are willing to risk even the wrath of a Judge in order to remain free.

To make an arrest, a Judge must present himself to a perp and issue a verbal challenge – ‘Freeze, meathead!’ is a popular example. Only one Judge may call upon a perp or group of perps to surrender at any one time. This is considered to be a standard action. A perp must be able to witness or hear a Judge in order for an arrest to be attempted.

Sentencing - Before a Judge continues his street patrol or current investigation, he must sentence the perp to a period of time in the cubes.

The Dark Judges: Fiends Reunited

The Dark Judges, namely: Judges Death, Judge Fear, Judge Fire and Judge Mortis, are undead perversions of Judges from another dimension, who decided that, because all crime was committed by the living, life itself had become a crime, punishable by...well, death really.

By the time they first encountered Dredd and Psi (Psionic) Judge Anderson in the comics they had already Judged their whole world and found it - unsurprisingly, guilty. Mega-City One presented a fresh task for them, and they periodically try to inflict their warped justice upon it. Understandably, this represents something of a problem for the Judges themselves – so when the Dark Judges make an appearance and the corpses start piling up it’s time for the player to face a real challenge in the big league.

Judge Dredd vs. Judge Death features a unique new storyline that fits in perfectly with the continuity of the comic from which it was spawned. With a full cast of characters from the Judge Dredd stories, including Psi Judge Anderson and many of the most famous Mega-City One locations. The history and character of the Dredd universe is absolutely central to gameplay. For instance, because Dredd is so rigid in the comic – and must obey the law he upholds and react according to the severity of all crimes - gamers won't be able to just blast their way through the game.

Jason Kingsley, CEO and Creative Director of Rebellion, says, "Judge Dredd has always been an obvious choice as a videogame licence, but no one has ever managed to put across the atmosphere and awesome visual scale of the comics in a game before. Now a combination of our powerful Asura engine, and our love for the character will enable us to put out the Judge Dredd game that gamers and comics fans have been demanding for so many years. In VU Games we have a partner with a great deal of experience in publishing and marketing cutting edge games, and we look forward to a long and successful relationship for Dredd and other future titles."

The following links may be useful for more information on the Judge Dredd vs. Judge Death game:

The official Judge Dredd vs. Judge Death game website

2000AD Online - The Mighty Tharg's 'Nerve Centre' on the web

Rebellion - publishers of the Judge Dredd vs. Judge Death game - website

Judge Dredd vs. Judge Death is available now for PlayStation2 and on PC format, from Rebellion.

PSP Ltd is not responsible for the contents of external websites.

More information available in Gaming