This is a great retro shooter, based on a very interesting film idea. In the game you play as Tracy, shooting criminals in front and behind of him with a pistol and over on the far wall with a tommy gun. Although Dick Tracy was primarily a kid's film, there is a lot of violence in this game, what with the central objective being to shoot everything in sight before it shoots you. However, as much violence as there is, there is enough cut scenes to give you an idea of what the story is about as well. Overall, this is a great game for the Genesis/Megadrive, and I advise anyone who has one to get this game and see the film.
3 Reviews
Crap
CuriosityKilledShawn24 May 2006
Warning: Spoilers
What a horrible game! I would describe Dick Tracy as a run-and-gun platformer but that would kind of a lie as it is horrible slow and plodding with no sense of excitement at all. It's one of those horrible games where that generic baddies shoot at you and you see this little white dot that is supposed to be a bullet move across the screen very slowly. In real life it would easy to dodge but the little Dick Tracy sprite moves likes he's stuck in cement.
There are some levels where you shoot the place up but you can do very little damage and since nothing becomes of it other than the background changing slightly, it's kinda pointless.
The music is awful too. Who makes these awful tunes? The graphics do resemble the bright primary colors of the comic-strip though and it's pretty much the only positive thing I can say about this otherwise completely disposable game.
Graphics C+ Sound D- Gameplay D- Lasting Appeal F
There are some levels where you shoot the place up but you can do very little damage and since nothing becomes of it other than the background changing slightly, it's kinda pointless.
The music is awful too. Who makes these awful tunes? The graphics do resemble the bright primary colors of the comic-strip though and it's pretty much the only positive thing I can say about this otherwise completely disposable game.
Graphics C+ Sound D- Gameplay D- Lasting Appeal F
Tracy taking the case on the Genesis
hellraiser718 June 2019
This is another licensed video game I really like, and I also feel is one that is under the radar. When I was a kid, I really loved the Dick Tracy movie, Dick Tracy is one of my favorite pulp heroes and to be able to play as Dick Tracy was a real treat. Though unfortunately like with most licensed games there have been a couple of misfires (NES and Game Boy versions) however this game on the Genesis is its hit.
I really like the graphical presentation; they capture the colorful 30s noir fantasy world from the movie and comic strip series. I like those cut scenes we see before and after we get though a level, their pretty much one big comic panel the could of came from the original comic strip.
The character designs are pretty good or decent, each of the enemies are generic but each like in the film have different colored coats which means a different specialty. Dick Tracy of course look like well Dick Tracy, with the square jaw and that trademark yellow coat and hat.
The bosses whom are of course the crooks with the colorful mugs from the strip are here, the animation on them is decent, though it's hard to distinguish due to the fact their located in the background of the game which to me is one misfire, I sort of wish at times they showed up on the foreground so we can get a better look at their mugs, just seeing the facial features of those villains was always one of the best things about them. But I can get past it as the bosses still do their jobs and from the cinematic panels, we do see their mugs, so we have a good idea whom were fighting.
The game has an interesting format as we see in on one segment, it's the typical 2-D run and gun much like "Shinobi" and "Rolling Thunder" but there is something added to it where it's also a on rails shooter much like "Cabal" or "Wild Guns". As you are going forward punching and shooting at bad guys that are advancing your way, you also are using your tommy gun to blast away at some of the crooks that are gunning for you.
The control on the firing is solid, it might seem a little strange at first, but you get the hang of it, you pretty much control like a cursor as you guide your shots to where you want them to go. It's just really cool as you not just killing crooks but also firing the guy you actually do some damage to the environment which just enhances the effect of welding the weapon, it's just really cool taking crooks out while doing some necessary property damage at the same time. But the bad guys in the background each have a shooting pattern which you can avoid but not forever, so you better nail them before they nail you.
Another segment is where your out of bullets and its pretty much straight forward action platforming where you must take out the bad guys with your fists while getting from point A to B. It's a fun segment, though nothing really special which to me makes this my least favorite portion of the game.
The Boss battles are really fun but tricky as the bosses will come out of unexpected places, if you don't watch carefully you could easily miss them, which you should dare as they have varied attack patterns which can cause big damage to you. And since it takes a while to drain their health completely makes you must put some effort into the fight.
Two other hits for the game are the bonus stage which is a shooting practice where you must nail pop up targets but make sure you hit the right ones which are the crooks and avoid hitting the innocent by standards. I thought that was fun because it was the best use of three buttons on the controller for that game, as you press the button you hit the placement of the target.
And of course, the other hit is the moving stages, there are a couple in the game. I always like those kinds of stages as the pace is just brick and the action is fast and fun. It's a bit similar with those car stages in the arcade game "Lethal Enforcers". You just riding along in the squad car gunning down the crook in their cars from the background to even the foreground.
One more hit for the game is that music, I really like the soundtrack for the game some of the tracks in the game are on my honorable mention list. That music really fits the nature of this game as it has a sort of old schooled nourish tone to it.
It's true the game is that it's a bit on the redundant side, which is why the game misses the target by an inch. Another is that it was too bad they never made a video arcade game based on the movie/comic series, it would have made a cool light gun shooter then or even now, oh well.
Overall if you're a fan of the film, comic series, or are just simply into collecting and playing retro licensed games, then like Tracy this is game worth taking on.
Rating: 3 stars
I really like the graphical presentation; they capture the colorful 30s noir fantasy world from the movie and comic strip series. I like those cut scenes we see before and after we get though a level, their pretty much one big comic panel the could of came from the original comic strip.
The character designs are pretty good or decent, each of the enemies are generic but each like in the film have different colored coats which means a different specialty. Dick Tracy of course look like well Dick Tracy, with the square jaw and that trademark yellow coat and hat.
The bosses whom are of course the crooks with the colorful mugs from the strip are here, the animation on them is decent, though it's hard to distinguish due to the fact their located in the background of the game which to me is one misfire, I sort of wish at times they showed up on the foreground so we can get a better look at their mugs, just seeing the facial features of those villains was always one of the best things about them. But I can get past it as the bosses still do their jobs and from the cinematic panels, we do see their mugs, so we have a good idea whom were fighting.
The game has an interesting format as we see in on one segment, it's the typical 2-D run and gun much like "Shinobi" and "Rolling Thunder" but there is something added to it where it's also a on rails shooter much like "Cabal" or "Wild Guns". As you are going forward punching and shooting at bad guys that are advancing your way, you also are using your tommy gun to blast away at some of the crooks that are gunning for you.
The control on the firing is solid, it might seem a little strange at first, but you get the hang of it, you pretty much control like a cursor as you guide your shots to where you want them to go. It's just really cool as you not just killing crooks but also firing the guy you actually do some damage to the environment which just enhances the effect of welding the weapon, it's just really cool taking crooks out while doing some necessary property damage at the same time. But the bad guys in the background each have a shooting pattern which you can avoid but not forever, so you better nail them before they nail you.
Another segment is where your out of bullets and its pretty much straight forward action platforming where you must take out the bad guys with your fists while getting from point A to B. It's a fun segment, though nothing really special which to me makes this my least favorite portion of the game.
The Boss battles are really fun but tricky as the bosses will come out of unexpected places, if you don't watch carefully you could easily miss them, which you should dare as they have varied attack patterns which can cause big damage to you. And since it takes a while to drain their health completely makes you must put some effort into the fight.
Two other hits for the game are the bonus stage which is a shooting practice where you must nail pop up targets but make sure you hit the right ones which are the crooks and avoid hitting the innocent by standards. I thought that was fun because it was the best use of three buttons on the controller for that game, as you press the button you hit the placement of the target.
And of course, the other hit is the moving stages, there are a couple in the game. I always like those kinds of stages as the pace is just brick and the action is fast and fun. It's a bit similar with those car stages in the arcade game "Lethal Enforcers". You just riding along in the squad car gunning down the crook in their cars from the background to even the foreground.
One more hit for the game is that music, I really like the soundtrack for the game some of the tracks in the game are on my honorable mention list. That music really fits the nature of this game as it has a sort of old schooled nourish tone to it.
It's true the game is that it's a bit on the redundant side, which is why the game misses the target by an inch. Another is that it was too bad they never made a video arcade game based on the movie/comic series, it would have made a cool light gun shooter then or even now, oh well.
Overall if you're a fan of the film, comic series, or are just simply into collecting and playing retro licensed games, then like Tracy this is game worth taking on.
Rating: 3 stars
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