Overall 6.6 Graphics 6 Sound 4 Addictive 3.5 Story 5.5 Depth 5 Difficulty 10
5
Tracy, you're off the case! NovemberJoy
Dick Tracy is probably best known for its comic, which is one of the longest-running comics in American history, and for the live-action film released in 1990. The film did a great job translating the kind of action and mystery seen in the comic strip to the big screen, and it received a relatively positive reception from critics and consumers alike. The comic strip took an interesting angle that wasn't seen very often in the comic books of the time, and it's still running even to this day. But, like every other popular film of its time, Dick Tracy had to be turned into a Nintendo game. How well did they do?
To start with, the graphics clearly had a lot of effort put into them. They're dark and stylish, and make excellent use of the limited NES color palette. Every location has its own individual look to it, which helps to make each location feel like an actual location instead of a bland backdrop. If you enter a nightclub, there'll be a lot of bars and barstools, as well as chairs in the background, and a garage will have a lot of vehicles in the background that can be used as platforms.
The sound, on the other hand, didn't see as much attention as the graphics. The songs fit perfectly to their respective situations, and are great to listen to...until you realize that they're the only songs in the game. There's only one song for fighting, one song for driving around the streets of the city, one song for the police station, etcetera. It gets a bit tiring to hear the exact same song for every combat section, no matter how fitting it is to the situation. The sound effects are decent, but nothing to write home about - everything sounds just like it should, and nothing more.
The first problem comes as soon as you leave the first police station. The driving feels awkward, and the car shares the same life bar as Tracy himself, which doesn't make much sense. You have to constantly be on the watch for snipers on the rooftops, which are tiny, indistinct objects on the roofs of buildings. The first time you see them, you probably won't realize they're supposed to be enemies! They do a great job of draining your life really quickly unless you get out of the car and shoot them, which is a chore because of their tiny size. The snipers were honestly a useless addition to the game.
The sidescrolling isn't the greatest, either. You have two options for most encounters in the game: punching or shooting. There isn't much variety in weaponry, and the game limits you even more by draining a large amount of life if you ever shoot someone who isn't armed. The game also focuses on platforming, which is awkward to do because of the stiff jumping controls.
For the most part, the case-solving is well-done, but there's a few issues that I had. I really didn't like that the game sometimes makes you repeat entire areas to be able to arrest the culprits of each case. The car chases, which are required to progress, are guaranteed to make you take damage, especially if you didn't make sure to clear out all the nearby snipers first. Some of the cases also expect you to do completely off-the-wall things that you'd never think of doing otherwise, like exploring an out-of-the-way pier to find a hypnotism booklet.
There's also some issues with Tracy's notepad. It's there so that you can check the clues you've collected up to that point, in case the clue contains some information that you missed, but it doesn't record everything that it should. If you interrogate a criminal, you'd better remember what they tell you, because Tracy doesn't think to write it down in his notepad, and you need that information to continue.
Now, with the snipers and gunfights draining your life, is there a way to restore it? Yes, there is, but it just showcases the boneheaded design decisions even more. You can find first aid, in the form of a heart, in some areas of the game, although it's rare. Question is, how do you use the first aid? You can't use it with B like the rest of the items in the game, so what do you do? Hold B and push
Select! Now how would you guess that? Not only is it difficult to guess, but it's incredibly awkward to do in the middle of a gunfight!
Now, the clues are there to lead you in the direction of the culprit of each case, and they tend to do a decent job of doing that...but this game wants you to be as thorough as possible for no good reason. You have to make sure to get EVERY clue, or else you won't be allowed to arrest the culprit, no matter what evidence you have. Even if you have a bunch of evidence that proves that the culprit is the only one who could possibly have done it, you'll be rejected and told to collect more evidence.
This game gets really hard really fast. After the first three levels, the difficulty spikes upwards like you wouldn't believe. The cases become a bit more cryptic, and the gunfights become far more difficult, with most enemies either having machine guns or incredible speed that you can't get away from. At the same time, you only have one life, and it's game over as soon as Tracy dies. You can use a password to start from the beginning of a case, but you won't have any of the items you need to survive. Despite all that, the final boss is a complete disappointment whose only difference from the average thug is that he takes 20 shots to kill.
Overall, Dick Tracy represents a lot of wasted potential. It could've been a hidden gem on the NES, with its emphasis on crime-solving along with crime-fighting, but its numerous issues prevent it from being one of the NES greats. With the annoying snipers, Tracy's faulty memory, the pickiness of the game when it comes to evidence, and many other issues, I can't really recommend this one to the average player. Don't go for this one unless you really like sidescrollers and crime-solving gameplay similar to L.A. Noire. The AVGN reviewed this game, and I agree with him that it's really not worth your time.
Final Rating - 5 annoying snipers out of 10
Graphics 7 Sound 5 Addictive 6 Story 6 Depth 7 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 4.3/5
Submitted: 05-07-16
Review Replies: 1
0.2
A second life wasn't an option? totaldramaman2
Oh crap, not THIS game. This is one of the worst games I've ever played. With a name like Dick Tracy, why would they make a horrible game out of it? Because it's a movie. And any good movie turned into a game on NES is going to be bad. So, I guess let's begin this thing. This sad, sad thing.
--- Why isn't this as good as the movie? ---In your police department, you can Hit the Street, look at your notepad, or ask the mugshots. Rick (I'm saying that to avoid swearing) has already found the first clue. To solve the case, I have to find the other clues. In this game, that's going to be fun. So, our mugshot of Steve the Tramp tells us to go to 5th and B. So, you Hit the Streets and drive there. But the control is so bad, it makes it harder than climbing onto ropes in Dark Castle. I have to repeat;ey rock the D-pad around, while trying not to snap onto the other streets. Your car goes flying when you turn around. It goes from going foward to being upside-down in a second. And, like Ghostbusters, you get hurt when you crash into other cars. In Mario Kart, do you get hurt? No, not unless you have no coins. It's pointless to get hurt, because with these controls, you have to hit cars. Then the snipers come along and shoot you and your car goes even more out of control. You can shoot, but it's pointless because there's nothing to shoot, and you can hit the snipers. There's no map, so it makes getting to 5th and B extremely difficult.
--- All over a fake $20 bill? ---Yeah, and it doesn't even sound like they SPENT it, it was found NEAR the shop... even thought it's INSIDE the shop. I mean, in Hyrule, they don't arrest you for having a fake Rupee NEAR a store. Now, the game becomes a side-scrolling game. You can beat up people, but what did they do to you? Why do you grab thier shirts and throw them to the ground? The poor guy got so hurt, he disappared! So, other than your grab and throw, you have a gun, and you can punch the crap out of people. They fly farther than that sword power-up in TLoZ: Link's Awakening flings enemies. They can even fly down the stairs... he's not stopping. Okay, here's Steve the Tramp. He looks nothing like his mugshot, more like a pale dective with green clothes. So, should I interrogate or arrest him... well, if I arrest him, I have to do that ALL over again, so I better interrogate him. He tells me to go to 9th and F. But, Rick is too forgetful (or stupid) to remeber to write the address down, so YOU have to write it down, or you have to remember it for 15-25 minutes. So, once there, you learn that if you shoot an unarmed person, you lose health. HOW IS THAT FAIR? Let's pretend that a rule in Mario is, you can't jump on a Goomba that doesn't have a birthmark on his left foot. Well, it's not THAT unreasonable, but it's still madness that if an unarmed person falls into Rick's line of fire, you get hurt!
--- My poor, poor Select button. ---You push Select to switch between your fists and your gun, and you have to do that CONSTANTLEY. So, here's the first clue. Rick starts monkey-ing around on the rope before I finally figure out I have to punch the clue. So, there are footprints in the green paint in a pier. My mind is blown with all the logic that made. So, you chase this blue car, and the bullets finally come into use. Then, you catch Mr. Long-Shoulders, (no offense to anyone with long shoulders) and he tells you to go to 4th and D. Again, you have to rember it, while the clue is in the notebook.... instead of being preserved in a bag... so much logic. I figure earlier when I said he was forgetful must actually be the case because Rick forgets the notepad at his OFFICE. By this point, the snipers are going to get you, and you get one life. NO CONTINUES. So, I just have to go the clue and the 4th and D, but the only reason I remember that is because I wrote in the review! He should bring the notepad with him, write the LOCATIONS in there, and then put the clues in a bag. You know what really makes me upset? The car and you share the same life bar. It's like TMNT on NES, you and your car SHARE a health bar. It makes NO sense. So, the clue at 4th and D is in the air, but you can't jump and get it. So, you have to go really far back, climb up onto some boxes, climb all the way back the clue, and find out you're either gonna fall down in between the clue andthe platform you jump from. If you jump, you're going to land above it. So, I figure I HAVE to jump into it and punch it in midair. Now, when the moon is full and the plantets align in such a way, a Green Pikmin will come down from Earth and invade your cartridge, and you can get the Clue. Yeah, I re-used that joke from my Cheetahmen 2 review. So, the clue says to go to 1st and H, so while I'm over there I get shot by the DANG SNIPERS. So, skipping the other clues, I go and get the next clue, which tells me that Numbers, another mugshot, is hiding at 8th and J. The place is full of guys with guns, and once you finally get to Numbers, if you skipped some clues like me, when you choose to arrest Numbers, a cop tells you that you don't have nough evidence. I HAD TO GET THOSE OTHER CLUES? THAT'S UNBELIVIBLE, I mean, I see how you don't have enough evidence if you only have the first clue, but I have a clue that tells me that NUMBERS is GUILTY. That is unaccaptable. You can't get all the clues without dieing A SINGLE TIME! IT'S BULLCRAP! The sidescrolling fighting parts, you can get good at, BUT THE SNIPERS HAVE AN UNPREDICTABLE PATTERN, YOU CAN'T KILL THEM, YOU CAN'T DODGE AGAINST THEM, AND THERE ARE NO REASONS FOR NEEDING THEM! THEY DID NOT NEED TO BE INCLUDED IN THIS PIECE OF BULLCRAP! Well, you can get out of your car and shoot them, but thier too small to hit! This game is unbelivible. This IS the worst game I think I have ever played. And because of my descion, I end my longest post I've ever made. I guess I'll see you in my next review.
Graphics 5 Sound 3 Addictive 1 Story 5 Depth 3 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 10-31-11
Updated: 10-31-11
Review Replies: 3
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