Dick Tracy

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Dick Tracy is a side scrolling action game, where you control Dick Tracy through five different stages, killing gangsters with a variety of weapons. Your mission is to investigate the disappearance of Lips Manlis an underworld boss and owner of The Ritz nightclub. Each stage leads to one of the mob bosses until you ultimately capture the big man himself. You hold no weapons at the beginning and your primary attack is your punch. In the meantime, ammo can be collected for either a pistol or a machine gun. The gameplay has some glitches. For example, jumping across platforms to avoid dead pits is sometimes impossible. Also, when entering a new screen you'll frequently be shot before you even have the chance to react and this gets even worse because the game runs in flip screen mode! Other than its few problems, Dick Tracy is a fine title that offers intensive action.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Commodore version offers detailed and colorful graphics along with smooth sprite animation. As in all 8bit versions, the game is played on flip screen which makes it rather frustrating. Well, the C64 version cannot compare to the CPC+ counterpart but it looks and plays good. Comparably, the CPC version uses better colors while the CPC+ version is technically the best, with more colors and hardware sprites. The sound on the C64 version is nice, featuring an introductory tune and a few catchy tunes during gameplay.