September 27, 2006
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Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 cult classic Reservior Dogs is one of the coolest movies ever made. Now, that’s not so much my personal opinion as it is a fact. Moving on…
The movie picks up after the surviving members of Joe’s crew blasted their way through police (and some innocent civilians) to the abandoned warehouse after their diamond heist goes very, very wrong. The game, on the other hand, allows the gamer - who plays as any of the Mr. Colors, Nice Guy Eddie, or Joe – to 
play out the diamond heist, learn where Mr. Pink stashed the diamonds, and witness the kidnapping of (the soon-to-be-earless) Officer Marvin Nash. In typical Tarantino style, the game’s plot is revealed through a series of non-linear, intersecting story lines. The game has a feature that, surprisingly, rewards players for making shrewd, cunning decisions, and not for becoming a foul-mouthed, trigger-happy maniacs. The game’s “Threat System” lets you see how far you could push the police before they attack. You can use hostages as leverage, but play it cool; if your Adrenaline Meter climbs too high, your character will get anxious and jittery – not a good way to be when handling hostages and police presence. The Adrenaline Meter also comes into play during “Bullet Festival,” which is employed as a very unorthodox technique for crowd control when you’re out on the street. In addition, the game features the complete movie soundtrack and the vocal work of Michael Madsen, reprising his role as Mr. Blonde.
The Xbox version of the game was recalled in the U.K. because the appropriate rating of “18” (equivalent to our “M” rating) had not been printed on the disc. Australia, however, has banned the game entirely, deeming it “ultra-violent.” In this connection, British police officials have condemned the game for its excessive violence toward police. “Players can take police officers hostage and go on to burn out their eyes with a lit cigar, chop off their fingers with a cigar cutter, and hack off their ears using a scalpel, while [the police officers] plead for their lives and scream in pain,” reports The Yorkshire Post.
Reservoir Dogs will be available for PC, PS2, and Xbox on October 24.
