Dick Tracy
1990 Sega of America Sega Master System Dick Tracy is a 2D side scrolling game based on the movie of the same name. Dick Tracy is set in the 1930s and you play Police Detective Dick Tracy as he sets out to clean up the city from a syndicate of mobsters. The character of Dick Tracy is so typical of pre-Second World War detective stories, he’s tough, takes no shit, wears a long yellow trench coat with a matching fedora whilst sporting a Tommy Gun. Tracy is able to shoot with his pistol, hit mobsters in the background with his Tommy Gun and when things get a little hairy, he’s able to clobber personal space invaders with his fist. The game itself isn’t very long, comprising of 6 stages, each containing 3 levels. The first level is always a 2D side scroller, overcoming certain obstacles, such as boxes, ladders and sewerage pipes whilst being attacked by mobsters both on Tracy’s level and in the background. Level 2 shakes things up a little bit, sometimes it contains a level where Tracy has to rely on his wits and fists or the level could be a car chase, with Tracy clinging for dear life on the side of a cop car, whilst giving chase to gangsters as they shoot like Stormtroopers at Tracy. Dick Tracy doesn’t contain the best 8bit graphics, the game itself feels very pixelated at times. Compared to other games released in 1990, Dick Tracy already feels a bit dated, for example, some of the mobsters that attack Tracy on his level contain no face, it is just basically a flesh coloured square and that is a little disturbing. The backgrounds of the level don’t really change much and feels as if the background was just put there to fill space. However, what is pretty cool is that certain elements such as crossroads, movie theatre entrances and parked cars give the illusion of depth, a sort of semi-3D and not many games of 1990 can boast that. As with most music with 8bit games, the sound on Dick Tracy is repetitive and doesn’t really change stage to stage. The music tries to add to the overall ambience of a crime riddled city, but instead of giving a feeling of immersion, the music sounds gloomy and dreary and at times pushes towards a monotonous drone and the sound effects aren’t much better. The sound effects tend to be dull thuds instead of crisp sounds, even the gunfire seems muffled and only add to the drone like atmosphere. Gameplay wise, Dick Tracy is rather clunky and it hasn’t aged well at all. The way Tracy moves is rather stiff and rigid. When jumping, Tracy feels solid rather than a lithe jump that you would get with Mario or Alex Kidd and only a year later Sonic. The gunfire is slow, both from Tracy and enemy gangsters, making it easy to dodge on both sides, this factor only adds to the sluggish nature of the game. Dick Tracy only really picks up the pace during boss fights, where it goes from half concentrating sluggish to quite frantic in less than a heartbeat. The Lips Manlis and Big Boy Caprice fights are good examples of this, where it feels at times that you can’t catch a break. Dick Tracy is a rather flawed game, which is surprising considering that it was released in the wake of the movie. It wouldn’t be crazy to think that Sega might have put some money into the production of Dick Tracy because of this, but it seems a poor show. The main problem that lets Dick Tracy down is its clunky playstyle, which makes the game feel unbearable at times. Dick Tracy hasn’t aged well and there are a lot better games out there released in 1990. 4/10 Adam
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