Dick Tracy was poised to be the event movie of the year in 1990. The marketing blitz from Disney was insane; there were toys, clothing, a hit soundtrack, and even video games. I’m sure many like me were unaware of Dick Tracy’s origins as a serialized comic strip from the 1990s which is why it was necessary. Clearly Disney were positioning it to be their Batman. While the end result did not live up to their expectations it was still memorable. The games that followed met the same fate. The NES game is pretty bad but its Sega counterpart is pretty decent. There are lots of aspects of Dick Tracy that I like but it could have used a little more polish.
With its all-star cast it is easy to see why Disney was confident the movie would be a success. For me the colorful cast of villains was the draw. They reminded me of Batman and the Flash in that regard. The Genesis game is not a direct movie tie-in but loosely follows its story, in which Dick Tracy is hot on the trail of gangster Big Boy, who is in the process of consolidating his power over the city. Nearly everyone in Dick Tracy’s rogue’s gallery makes an appearance in a logical manner. But for all of its fan service the execution lets it down.
Mechanically Dick Tracy is a simple game. There are no power-ups whatsoever. Instead Dick Tracy comes equipped with everything you’ll need. Your pistol has infinite ammo and never needs reloading. When in close proximity Dick will belt enemies with a mean punch. While this is a side-scroller you have to deal with enemies on two planes. Enemies pop out of cover in the background to attack, almost like a shooting gallery. For those you have a tommy gun with a targeting reticule. This is the game’s defining feature and one that it leans on pretty heavily.
Dick Tracy is very similar to Rolling Thunder in terms of its pacing. This is not a run and gun action game; in fact Dick Tracy actually walks pretty slowly. The thugs aren’t as iconic as the Geldra but are exhibit comparable behavior. Every enemy is deliberately placed and the game moves at a measured pace. You never know where or when an enemy will pop out of the background. It almost makes you paranoid as even a slight misstep will end in death in seconds. If you pay attention it is fairly obvious where they’ll spawn although there are still surprises. Later in the game new enemies are introduced and they even roll in from the foreground.
The designers vary things up in a few ways. In some stages you will conveniently run out of ammo, forcing you to rely on fists. These levels will test your skills in terms of positioning and prioritization as the thugs are not under the same limitation. There are a few cool driving segments, with Dick Tracy perched on the side of a police cruiser picking off rival thugs. After every boss battle is a bonus round where you shoot targets to (hopefully) earn credits and extra lives.
Dealing with enemies on two fronts is certainly interesting but there are flaws that drag the game down. The main one being lack of diverse enemies. As goofy as the Geldra seemed they were a varied bunch. You can only fight the same generic gangsters so many times before it gets old. This isn’t a particularly long game but they heavily recycle certain locations. You’ll have to walk through the same warehouse and city streets multiple times with the only difference being enemy placement. Possibly my biggest issue is that most levels drag on far too long. This isn’t simply a result of the game’s slow pace. The most egregious offenders are the driving stages that simply.won’t.stop. Even the bosses are giant damage sponges. These long drawn out battles ruin the cool set pieces of each fight.
The difficulty is incredibly high like Rolling Thunder and Shinobi. After the first two stages it ramps up considerably and never lets up. Enemies spawn in groups with little down time. While the time limit isn’t much of a factor having to inch your way toward the exit lest you end up overwhelmed isn’t fun. Without any items such as even health power-ups there is little room for mistakes. There is nothing wrong with a difficult game per se but only when it is balanced. This is not.
In Closing
This is a hard one to judge. I like the general action of Dick Tracy but its overall execution lets it down. This could have been great but instead is a flawed gem.
