Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd is a 1997 light gun shooter video game developed by Gremlin Interactive. Though it came out just a couple years after the Judge Dredd film, the game is actually based on the comic book of the same name. It was published by Acclaim Entertainment for the arcades, and for the PlayStation by Gremlin Interactive in Europe and Activision in North America, respectively. The PlayStation emulated version was re-released by Urbanscan for the PlayStation Network on 24 January 2008. The game met with overwhelmingly negative reviews, with criticism directly at its unintelligent and unfairly difficult design and its unreliable targeting cursor. Gameplay Judge Dredd is a light gun game set in the 22nd century, where Judge Dredd fights an ex-judge prison escapee, who kidnapped the mayor, and his army of merciless androids. The gameplay is similar to Area 51 and Maximum Force with some elements from Time Crisis, in that the game's full motion video is integrated with the action. Reception The PlayStation version was almost overwhelmingly panned by critics. The complaints were numerous and varied from review to review, but some of the more common ones were that the cluttered screen and confusing backgrounds make it unfairly difficult to spot enemies, the targeting cursor lags behind where the gun is actually aimed, and enemies take multiple hits too kill, making it almost impossible to get through some sections without getting hit. IGNs Douglass C. Perry also found the level designs poorly paced, with an imbalance between swarms of enemies overwhelming the player and dull stretches of waiting for something to shoot. PSM denounced the lack of sound marking when a player is hit or even loses a life, pointing out, "This means that no matter how well you do, the game will leave you confused and frustrated when it ends." A number of critics described Judge Dredd as a third-rate Area 51 clone.