Volatile Games' Nick Dixon is in the hot seat…

Name/ Nick Dixon
Company / Volatile Games
Job title/ Creative director
Working On/
Dead To Rights: Retribution
Did you know? Volatile Games is a ‘mature division’ of Blitz Games, which created such greats as… erm…
Bad Boys: Miami Takedown

Why did Namco decide to revive the Dead To Rights franchise after so long, and how did you become involved?
It seems like the revival of the series is kind of a red herring, given that it’s not doing it in-house… In so many ways the timing seems to be right. The current generation of consoles provided a great opportunity to relaunch the series in an exciting new way. We have the freedom to do something different and unique for a very different audience of gamers. Very early on we had meetings with Namco and it became evident that we shared the same vision for the franchise. They saw that we had the passion, skills and tools to realise that vision alongside them.

What about Dead To Rights attracted you to it in the first place?
It was the chance to completely reinvent something – taking what is known and presenting it in a new way or telling a story in a different, more mature fashion was very appealing and exciting to us. So many people will have various expectations about what we will or should be delivering with Dead To Rights: Retribution and we’ll meet the best of those expectations and, I think, surprise a lot of people.

How much is the game focused on hand-to-hand combat, as opposed to gunplay?
That is the beauty of the seamless combat system we have created. It really depends on the most important element: the player. We present a toolbox of mechanics that can be used and interpreted to create a unique and cinematic playing experience based on the player’s preference. We do, of course, orientate certain situations in certain biases to create differing combat scenarios, but ultimately the player may use the triumvirate of combat – gunplay, hand-to-hand and Shadow – as and when they wish.

… continued