Dick Tracy
System: Genesis
Release Date: February 1991
Developer: Sega Technical Institute
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Action
Big Boy Caprice has his sights out to take over the town in Dick Tracy! Everyone’s favorite detective is in 16-bits and it’s pretty much the same game as we saw on the Master System. One thing lost in translation to the Genesis is the wrist watch, which was used to launch a screen clearing attack. Other than that, enjoy the graphical upgrade and the extra button to make life a bit easier.
Tracy needs to get to the right of the level, but there are a ton of Big Boy’s thugs standing in his way. Most levels give you a pistol, which you can fire off at your enemies with a touch of Button A. If you’re too close, or if you’re in certain levels, you can only throw a punch. Tracy can jump with Button B and you’ll have to get adept at it in later levels when there are gaps that need to be bounded over. There are enemies that show up in the background and you need to gun them down with your Tommy gun with Button C. Facing left or right when pressing the button will dictate where the cursor begins.
You also have the occasional car chase scene. These require you to have good reaction times as enemies appear in the background and shoot at you from the foreground. It’s not easy to get through a level in just the life bar you’re given. You have six units of health, but getting shot or hit with dynamite takes multiple units from you. There are checkpoints in the levels, but if you don’t reach it before learning the layout of enemies, it’s back to the beginning. This isn’t a problem in the first three missions, because those are easy, but the fourth level blasts the difficulty to the stratosphere.
Each mission is split into three levels, with the last being a boss stage. The rogue of the mission attacks you from the background throughout the level and you need to drain their health throughout while attacking the regular enemies that show up. Then there are areas that are just fighting the boss. Once you learn what their attack is, it’s easier to avoid, but good luck living long enough to.
If you need extra credits, after you bag the bad guy of the mission, you head to the shooting range where you have to shoot the bad guys and not the good ones. The better you do, the more continues you earn. If you make it to the end, Big Boy tries everything he can to take you out. You need to avoid clock gears that he tries to drop on you. But if you do, he’s sent up the river and you get to see your game stats.
Graphics: 2.0
The graphics are decent, but don’t do anything special to appeal to everyone.
Sound: 2.0
Nothing stood out to me sound wise, but nothing was bad, either.
Gameplay: 2.0
Tracy moves too slowly, and his jumps suck, but shooting works well.
Difficulty: 2.5
You get a decent number of chances and you can earn a lot more through the shooting gallery. Some of the enemy layouts are totally bogus, though.
Fun Factor: 1.5
I enjoyed the first few levels, but I totally hated the last couple levels.
Overall Rating: 2.0
Dick Tracy earns a C. It’s a better game than the Master System version, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a particularly good game.