Developer: Sega Publisher: Sega Release: 11/02/99 Genre: Beat em up
With every passing generation it seems we leave certain genres behind. Shooters were all the rage in the late 80s and early 90s. But with the PlayStation and Saturn they lost relevance in the West. 3d platformers had their day in the sun but now are a rare breed. The beat em up was a sad casualty of the move to 3d. Sega were one of the few that kept the spark alive in the arcade with the Dynamite Deka series. The first game was breath of fresh air only let down by its brevity. Dynamite Cop sadly suffers the same fate despite being a better game.
Without the shackles of a movie license the game’s story and premise goes completely nuts. Wolf Hongo returns along with his “modern” day pirates and steals an ocean liner that just so happens to be carrying the President’s daughter. She manages to escape and hides and your job is to rescue her before the pirates find her. Mind you she is hiding in a bright pink suitcase behind them but I digress. Astute gamers will realize this is essentially the plot to Speed 2 but I am sure Sega did not want to pay for another film license.
Die Hard Arcade excelled in the gameplay department, offering a mass of easy to perform moves unheard of in the genre. That same system returns more or less intact except now you have even more options. For one you have a choice between three characters although to be honest the differences between them are only slight. Your character can face eight directions rather than left and right. This opens up your attack options although it also means targeting is an issue. The number of grappling attacks is staggering; to the point you will probably need to consult a FAQ to remember them all. Lastly P icons grant a temporary strength boost once you collect five.
I was not joking when I said the game ratchets up the absurdity. The pirates are an eclectic bunch with everyone on the ship getting in on the action. Aside from mercenaries you will fight crazed cooks, S & M freaks, guys dressed like lobsters, island natives, and I am not making this up, a giant octopus. As goofy as it sounds the enemy variety is one of the game’s greatest assets. You will rarely fight the same enemies more than two or three times, an issue that plagues other brawlers. The assortment of weapons available is just as silly as the henchmen. Aside from your typical handguns and machine guns don’t be surprised if you find a toilet plunger, giant fish, or mini nuke lying around! Weapons are so plentiful in fact you might spend the majority of the game relying on them rather than fisticuffs!
As much as I like the core gameplay Dynamite Cop is still an arcade game. That means it is short. There are only three missions with each comprised of multiple smaller arenas. All told you can reach the end in 20 minutes. At the start you choose one of three entry points in the ship. This changes your path through the game somewhat as each has a few exclusive areas giving some replay value. But the bosses are still the same. The bonus missions remix the content by adding modifiers such as double damage or a time limit per room. It is a cool idea but the game needs more content. Sega were usually good about adding substantial extras to their home ports so the fact Dynamite Cop is so bare bones is surprising. It reeks of trying to get another title on the market as fast as possible.
Dynamite Cop was originally a Model 2 arcade game which means it looks old. Despite being on the Dreamcast little work was done to modernize the visuals. The game runs at a higher resolution but that simply means the blocky character models and environments look crisp. To its credit it is running at 60 fps and the animation is smooth; you can see the bones of Virtua Fighter in the character move sets. But considering how the game looks that is the least you should expect. One area that does not lag is the epic music; it is like they were scoring a movie but lost the license.
In Closing
I like Dynamite Cop. But like its predecessor it is one step away from being great. There is not enough meat on its bones to warrant a purchase. It is doubly disappointing looking at the number of modes and extra content added to Zombie Revenge, a similar title. Dynamite Cop would be perfect as a cheap downloadable title but little else.
