Gameplay
While Judge Dredd is based on the 1990’s movie, thankfully, the game doesn’t follow the film very closely. You play as Judge Dredd, capturing as many prisoners and criminals as you can to move onto the next stage. Stage environments range from the streets of Mega-City 1 to the Cursed Earth, giving you a complete experience of playing inside of the Judge Dredd Universe.
The platforming portions of Judge Dredd are decent, even for a licensed game. Judge Dredd controls pretty well, but I struggled when it came to jumping from platform to platform. There is a steep learning curve to timing the jumps just right so you don’t fall to the bottom of a stage. After a little practice, though, you will pick up the controls quickly. The platforming is a nice touch to Judge Dredd and makes it feel less like a simple linear game since you have the freedom to explore each stage in any direction you want.
You are sometimes required to find access cards or activate control stations as you navigate each stage. These items can sometimes be challenging to locate, depending on which version of the game you are playing. As I’ll discuss in the graphics section, the Gameboy version is very muddy and causes a lot of the items to blend in with the environment. The Game Gear version is slightly better since it is in color, but still makes the task of collecting items tedious.
Prisoners and criminals litter every inch of the environments. As Judge Dredd, you can shoot or fistfight enemies as you play through each stage. The game doesn’t visually show you, such as with a color change of the enemy, that your punches or kicks are doing any damage. A lack of visual cues made fighting in the game feel useless.
Just like the Judge Dredd comics, and movies to some extent, you have a wide variety of different ammo types at your disposal. Some are super convenient such as the Ricochet Missiles that disarm an enemy so you can arrest them for bonus points. Other ammo, such as the grenades, are essential to destroying weapon caches hidden behind tall walls you aren’t able to climb over. For such a small game, I’m surprised by the comprehensive range of ammo available.
The only bad part is your advanced ammo, such as missiles or grenades, is very limited. Like post-zombie apocalypse ammo scarce. I still blew through ammo even after I mastered the slightly challenging weapon controls. The real issue is ammo only appears after you kill an enemy, and an ammo drop isn’t guaranteed after each kill. Occasionally, if you destroy a trashcan or weapon’s cache, you receive more ammo, but it never feels like enough.
One of the most compelling aspects of Judge Dredd is the ability to choose how you finish a fight with an enemy. Unlike most other games, you decide whether to arrest or kill enemies. Killing is pretty straight forward. On the other hand, arresting requires you to first disarm, usually with a Ricochet Missile, and then place the enemy into custody. The arresting mechanic is probably my favorite aspect of Judge Dredd since it forces you to use restraint while you are fighting. The game even gives you a bonus at the end of the stage for the number of arrests.
While Judge Dredd’s platforming is subpar at times, the unique aspect of arresting or killing prisoners and criminals makes the game stand out. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to score higher in each stage by capturing an enemy, rather than killing them. I wish more games gave you an option of how to deal with enemies since it makes for a more engaging experience than killing everything that moves.
Graphics
Judge Dredd is a standard 2D platformer when it comes to graphics. The Gameboy version’s graphics are pretty lackluster compared to some of the other Gameboy games of the time. The monotone color palette of the original Gameboy makes the game look muddy and uninteresting. I disliked Judge Dredd when I first played it on the Gameboy due to the game’s poor graphics.
The Game Gear version, on the other hand, really stands out. The colors are excellent and help show off some of the great pixel art throughout the game. In particular, Judge Dredd’s design looks like a perfect 8bit version of the character from the comics. I can confidently say that since the gameplay and controls between the two versions of the game are very similar, the Game Gear’s improved graphics is the way to go if you want to play Judge Dredd.
The stage environments of the game are exceptional. Each one has a unique look, which helps everything feel fast-paced as you progress. I particularly enjoyed the Mega City 1 stages, where you walk around arresting criminals and destroying weapons caches. Mega-City one feels like an excellent representation of the city I’ve read in the comics for almost a decade. Even with the graphic limitations of the time, Judge Dredd’s developers did an excellent job creating compelling environments that don’t seem monotonous.
One of the most frustrating parts of Judge Dredd is when you need to climb a ladder or pole. For whatever reason, the developers didn’t make these intractable elements stand out. The lack of visual cues is especially an issue on the Gameboy version where the environment blends together depending on which DMG Gameboy you play on. When I played through the Mega City 1 stage, the very first stage in the game, I spent a good five minutes walking up and down the ground floor, not knowing that the small lines spread throughout the environment were climbable. The Game Gear version is in color, making it a little easier to know which elements you can interact with.
Judge Dredd’s graphics are one of the game’s biggest achievements, in my opinion. The Gameboy version of the game is dull, and I would recommend you skip it. However, the Game Gear’s amazing pixel art makes Judge Dredd one of my favorite Game Gear games I’ve played.
Controls
Judge Dredd’s controls are pretty simple, as you might expect from a Gameboy/Game Gear game. There isn’t anything groundbreaking when it comes to controlling your character.
I mainly struggled with changing ammo types during gameplay. Both games are supposed to have a button combo that allows you to switch between ammo with ease. In reality, the changing of ammo is rather difficult. The Gameboy version makes it a little easier since you can change ammo with the Select button. However, due to the Game Gear lacking a second control button, I usually found myself pausing the game to change weapons quickly. The slow weapons change brought the fighting portions of the game to a crawl and took me out of the experience.
Conclusion
Most licensed games based on a movie are not enjoyable. I was pretty hesitant to review Judge Dredd due to the fact of it being a licensed game based on an awful movie. However, the game pleasantly surprised me after playing a few levels. Judge Dredd stands out due to the arrest/kill mechanic when it comes to fighting. Without that single addition, the game would have probably felt like a sub-par platformer with a Judge Dredd skin thrown on top of it.
Even if you aren’t a huge Judge Dredd fan or have never heard about the franchise, I still think you would enjoy the game. It is fun and quick to pick up and play whenever you have a few minutes. If you do plan on purchasing it, I would recommend the Game Gear version since the graphics are leaps and bounds better than the Gameboy. Even better, the game is only a few bucks on eBay, or you might get lucky and find it cheaper at a garage sale or retro-gaming store.
