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. The CPC+ version runs on cartridge only, taking advantage of the Plus' advanced hardware.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Spectrum version has detailed but almost colorless graphics. The city landscapes and building interiors are nicely drawn though. Flip screen is also present on this version (as in all other 8bit versions), which makes the game rather frustrating. Strangely enough, there is no sound during gameplay rather than a nice introductory tune at the main menu.