Dead to Rights was one of my favorite games on the original Xbox.  For those of you who think Fable was the first game to highlight man’s best friend well you’re wrong.  Dead to Rights featured a husky named Shadow that stood by the side of his heroic owner, Jack Slate.  Who let the dogs out?  Jack, that’s who.  You can see the first set of screenshots for the game below!

Screenshots: Dead to Rights: Retribution

“Dead to Rights: Retribution represents a full re-boot for the franchise, focusing on the raw intensity of mixed combat while introducing a new mature Neo-Noir storyline that better fits its crime drama roots,” said Todd Thorson, director of marketing and public relations for NAMCO BANDAI Games America.

“Fans can look forward to a new combat system, built from the ground up to seamlessly mix equal parts high-impact gunplay and brutal multi-opponent bare-knuckle brawling as well as a more integrated play experience between Jack and his partner Shadow as they exact revenge on those that have polluted Grant City and tormented its desperate citizens.”

Returning to Grant City, a boom town gone bust that is falling to the worst excesses of crime, greed and corruption; Dead to Rights: Retribution follows vice cop Jack Slate as he fights to expose shadowy figures that will stop at nothing to exert their deadly influence over the crumbling metropolis. Dead to Rights: Retribution will form an original story portraying key events that shape and define Jack Slate’s character including how he and Shadow first come together as partners against those who would bring the once great city to its knees.

Introducing an innovative new hybrid combat system, Dead to Rights: Retribution puts the full combat potential of a highly trained, highly agitated law-enforcement officer into players’ hands. Use your sidearm to pick off enemies from a distance, take cover and blind-fire with the game’s new ranged combat mechanics, or push the issue by taking human shields, stealing weapons with special disarm moves or dishing out Jack’s own brutal brand of justice with deadly takedown moves.

Jack is equally lethal in close-quarters combat, offering players branching melee combos, counterattacks and disarms as they take the fight to the criminal element of Grant City. Jack will encounter a variety of ruthless gangs in the filthy slums and menacing alleys of Grant City, each with their own unique abilities and fighting style that will test his resolve to crush their murderous stranglehold.

Deadly on their own, Jack and Shadow are even more formidable as they team up to defeat the threats they will uncover. Players will take full control of not only Jack, but also Shadow at various points in the game to stalk enemies or reach areas of the environment that are not accessible by one or the other. Shadow’s heightened senses make him skilled in detecting new threats or flushing out enemies from cover so that Jack can easily dispense with them.

Look for it this year on the Xbox 360 and PS3 folks.  The day of the dog returns!