Dick Tracy - NES - Quick Review
Dick Tracy on the NES puts you in the shoes of the famed detective from the comic strip and movie, although this version of the game was only based on the comics. In the game, your goal is to solve five cases trying to build up evidence against Big Boy Caprice and his gang. Each level is broken up into driving areas, where you patrol the city traveling to various locations in search of clues, and action areas where you'll get to square off against gang members, pick up the clues, talk to suspects, and eventually make the arrests you need.
In the driving sections, the D-Pad controls your cars direction, A is the brake, B shoots your gun (in and out of the car) and Select lets you get out of the car. When you're in the action areas, D-Pad moves you and crouches you, A jumps and B fires your weapon/punches. Overall it's a pretty tough game, but let's see what's good and bad about it, and if it's worth it.
The Good
- Detective Work. This game puts you right into being a detective, at least as best as the NES was capable of doing. You start off each case with a single clue which you need to follow in order to find the next and the next until you've collected enough evidence to make an arrest. While the footwork isn't exactly like detective work, like I said for NES standards it's pretty damn good.
- "Save" System. After completing each case, you're given a password for you to enter after selecting Continue on the main screen. This game is notorious for being difficult to beat, and having the ability to pick up later in the game is a huge plus.
- Good Guy Dick Tracy. The game forces you to be a good and thorough detective. While you're in the action areas, if you shoot anybody that isn't armed with a weapon, you'll take damage yourself. Furthermore, you can't arrest the criminal who's responsible without obtaining all of the evidence. So if you're thinking of doing a quick run through the game and starting each level off by going right after the bad guy, you won't be able to.
The Bad
- City Threat Level. While you're out driving around, you have to deal with snipers on top of buildings and other cars chasing you around, all of which can damage and eventually kill you. While the idea of it is well placed, the fact that you can barely escape taking damage from these guys is a huge wall to overcome. It seems that the snipers can always hit you, and the cars chasing you can travel just slightly faster than you can. You do have the option of hopping out of the car and using it for cover from the snipers, but it's still a huge pain to deal with.
- No Map. All of the clues lead you to specific locations, and you can even look at your suspect book and it gives you their last known locations. That's great and all, but what about a way to find those locations that doesn't require driving around the city constantly being shot at? It doesn't even have to be a map that you can bring up all the time, just an option in your office so you can try and pick a route to go to the crime-scene. Nope, instead you have to drive around aimlessly through every single street hoping that this time you've gone in the right direction.
- Minimal Health Recovery. Through the course of the game, you're given very few options for recovering health. You have to find First Aid Kits to be able to use them, or try and hoof it back to a police station to heal up a bit there. But if you're going to be running from a location to try and heal up, chances are you're already on low health as it is, so the probability of making it all the way back unscathed is very low.
- One Life. That's all you get in this game, one life. One chance to solve all five cases, while running around the city with snipers shooting at you and gang members driving you off the road. Couple that with the points mentioned above and it's almost like they didn't want this game to be beat. At least offer a continue option each time you gather a clue. Something to help the player even the slightest bit.
Is it Worth it?
This ones a tough call honestly. It's a pretty fun game, but it's tough as hell, and there's really no gray areas in between. You're either having a ball in this game, or wanting to rip it out of your console and snap it to pieces. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but still, this thing is hard to get through. So if you're up for the challenge then definitely pick this one up. But if you're more a fan of the older games that are more casual, you might not want to add this one to your collection.
You can find Dick Tracy on NES for around $5, and if you toss in another $5 and hit your local drugstore, you can pick up some aspirin for the headache this game is bound to cause.
In the driving sections, the D-Pad controls your cars direction, A is the brake, B shoots your gun (in and out of the car) and Select lets you get out of the car. When you're in the action areas, D-Pad moves you and crouches you, A jumps and B fires your weapon/punches. Overall it's a pretty tough game, but let's see what's good and bad about it, and if it's worth it.
The Good
- Detective Work. This game puts you right into being a detective, at least as best as the NES was capable of doing. You start off each case with a single clue which you need to follow in order to find the next and the next until you've collected enough evidence to make an arrest. While the footwork isn't exactly like detective work, like I said for NES standards it's pretty damn good.
- "Save" System. After completing each case, you're given a password for you to enter after selecting Continue on the main screen. This game is notorious for being difficult to beat, and having the ability to pick up later in the game is a huge plus.
- Good Guy Dick Tracy. The game forces you to be a good and thorough detective. While you're in the action areas, if you shoot anybody that isn't armed with a weapon, you'll take damage yourself. Furthermore, you can't arrest the criminal who's responsible without obtaining all of the evidence. So if you're thinking of doing a quick run through the game and starting each level off by going right after the bad guy, you won't be able to.
The Bad
- City Threat Level. While you're out driving around, you have to deal with snipers on top of buildings and other cars chasing you around, all of which can damage and eventually kill you. While the idea of it is well placed, the fact that you can barely escape taking damage from these guys is a huge wall to overcome. It seems that the snipers can always hit you, and the cars chasing you can travel just slightly faster than you can. You do have the option of hopping out of the car and using it for cover from the snipers, but it's still a huge pain to deal with.
- No Map. All of the clues lead you to specific locations, and you can even look at your suspect book and it gives you their last known locations. That's great and all, but what about a way to find those locations that doesn't require driving around the city constantly being shot at? It doesn't even have to be a map that you can bring up all the time, just an option in your office so you can try and pick a route to go to the crime-scene. Nope, instead you have to drive around aimlessly through every single street hoping that this time you've gone in the right direction.
- Minimal Health Recovery. Through the course of the game, you're given very few options for recovering health. You have to find First Aid Kits to be able to use them, or try and hoof it back to a police station to heal up a bit there. But if you're going to be running from a location to try and heal up, chances are you're already on low health as it is, so the probability of making it all the way back unscathed is very low.
- One Life. That's all you get in this game, one life. One chance to solve all five cases, while running around the city with snipers shooting at you and gang members driving you off the road. Couple that with the points mentioned above and it's almost like they didn't want this game to be beat. At least offer a continue option each time you gather a clue. Something to help the player even the slightest bit.
Is it Worth it?
This ones a tough call honestly. It's a pretty fun game, but it's tough as hell, and there's really no gray areas in between. You're either having a ball in this game, or wanting to rip it out of your console and snap it to pieces. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but still, this thing is hard to get through. So if you're up for the challenge then definitely pick this one up. But if you're more a fan of the older games that are more casual, you might not want to add this one to your collection.
You can find Dick Tracy on NES for around $5, and if you toss in another $5 and hit your local drugstore, you can pick up some aspirin for the headache this game is bound to cause.
