Dead to Rights
Jack Slate and Shadow: The background
Ah, a man and his best friend. Nope, not cold beer, but a dog. And a dog that is almost the absolute crime-fighting embodiment of its hard-edged owner at that. But both Slate (man) and Shadow (dog) had to face considerable adversity before fate brought them together. Slate endured war as a Marine before joining up with the Grant City Police Department, while Shadow was trained to combat drug trafficking until being forced into illegal dog fighting by a no-good police captain. Long story short: Shadow runs away. Holes up with a load of junkies. Slate busts said junkies and finds Shadow. They go on a crime fighting spree. Form bond. Slate drafts Shadow to GCPD's K-9 division and the two of them get down to the business of cleaning up the criminal faeces soiling Grant City's streets like a six-legged poop scoop.
And the star of the show is?
Lupine-a-like Shadow may be able to press buttons, sniff out bombs and disarm criminals, but owing to a distinct lack of fingers he can't double-fist guns, fire grenade launchers or punch men hard in the head and then shoot them point blank in the face when they're on the deck. Slate can, of course, and he can also do it all while floating gracefully through the air in glorious bullet time slo-mo. This definitely makes no-nonsense copper Slate the master of this outfit. Of course, Shadow does have the advantage of being able to casually tongue his own doggy balls whenever he fancies, although we can't recall this enviable canine trait being featured in the game.
So this is a mutually beneficial relationship, right...?
Definitely. Shadow is an employ of the law, so he can bite criminals - something he loves doing with a tail wagging passion - while Slate effectively gets another weapon to use when facing down Grant City's cold-ass thugs, gangsters and miscreants. Both man and hound believe that justice is a dish best served cold (Shadow probably likes his with meaty chunks in jelly) and their partnership enables them to do that in double-hard fashion.
Arbitrary true friend rating: 8/10
Never mind chasing squirrels, Shadow is one seriously bad ass anthropomorphic hound with a penchant for ripping out the throats of criminals and chowing down on their bloody bits. Jack Slate loves him for it. Shadow loves him right back for giving him the opportunity to 'connect' with his feral animal instincts. These boys are tighter than a pit bull's nut sack in zero degrees.
