Does Dynamite Cop Pop or Slop? (Dynamite Cop (DC))

Member Name: writersblock

Product:	Dynamite Cop (DC)
Date:	04/08/02 (233 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Use anything as weapon, control, extras

Disadvantages: Mediocre graphics, short, crazy storyline

Did Tom Clancy have a hand in writing the story to this video game? Probably not, but it does have that espionage/infiltrate/rescue feel to it that he writes so well about, but with more holes in the actual story than a mole community. But do you really play an pure beat-em-up for the story?

--Ben Affleck in The President’s Daughter--

Funny thing happened on the way to the cruise ship...the President’s daughter has been kidnapped! Imagine a group of modern day pirates hi-jacking a famous cruise liner called “Bermuda”. Hard to imagine that, isn’t it. I thought David Copperfield was the only modern day pirate and none of the characters look like him. Okay, now that you have those pirates pictures and see them overtaking the cruise liner (did I mention that it is ironically called “Bermuda”?), think of the worst possible person that could be on that liner. Did you say the President of the United States? If you did, you’d be wrong because it’s not one single person this band of no-gooders is after. There are over a thousand of the world’s most powerful people on board...oh, and Richard Simmons. (I can hope, right?) And this is why they have taken control of the ship.

But wait, things get goofy because the Navy SEALS have also been called out to action to quell the situation and are aware that you are going out there also. The SEAL commander is well aware of your hot shot attitude and cavalier demeanor towards your missions, which are successful, but at maximum costs. The commander wants you to stay out of HIS way, but you know who runs the show. You’re going to be his Big Poppa tonight.

--The Best Threesome Ever...In Dynamite Cops, That Is--

You have three characters to choose from. Bruno is your rough-n-tumble Dynamite Cop who loves his Monkey sidekick “Banana”. How sweet. He is a tad slower than the other two, but has powerful martial arts mo
ves that can be strung together quite effectively. Jean is a quick little lady who was trained by the Navy SEALS. She loves sushi and Japanese animation. Also, if your a cat lover and like long walks on the beach, then give her a call because she’s looking for you (that is a true statement from her bio). Eddie is a former NFL player who was also trained in Navy SEAL tactics. When riled up, there are only two things that will relax him...reggae and kickboxing. His side job? Moonlighting for a psychic advice hotline. Look people, those are real bios. I think that they add some comic-depth to the game, which makes it interesting, thought the game makers didn’t explore any of their little side hobbies--like Jean’s long walk on the beach turn-on.

Controlling these characters is relatively simple. Moving is done with the analog stick or digital pad and the fighting is done with the X, Y, and B buttons. The X button Punches, the Y button Kicks, and the B button jumps. And like most fighting games, pushing them in different sequences will elicit combos specific to your player. I found the control pretty much right on the money: not to loose or not to tight. The response time from the button presses were quick and efficient and I didn’t have to think ahead for my moves. The only issue I had was when using projectile weapons, aiming at enemies on an angle often missed and a little readjustment was need before actually hitting them. Minor, but the enemies seemed to come at you at an angle a lot.

--You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish--

Walk around and beat things and people up to achieve your goal. That sounds like a beat-em-up to me. But when I say beat people up, I mean you can use anything to beat people up. Besides the normal swords, sticks, guns, and Anti-tank missiles; you can also legs of lamb, chairs, casino chips, buns (yes, bread buns), and tuna fish. Finally, a game that will satisfy your urge to s
lap someone with a tuna fish, Monty Python style! Wait, that’s not all: you can also use the enemies. When you knock one to the ground, often you’ll be able to pick them up by the feet and sling them over your shoulder to slap back to the ground. Walk over to another baddie and slap him with the other baddie. Pure hilarity. But believe me, you’ll be glad to have all that stuff to use because your fists and legs won’t just do sometimes.

The story progress rather quickly, but you have three different methods of breaching the ship. You could parachute in, infiltrate from the side by swimming, or just plain using a grappling hook and get on the main deck to start. Each different start has you traveling through a few different scenes, but you will eventually see some of the same backgrounds as the other ways.

You go through a few levels kicking bad guys to The Realm Of Bad Guys, seeing a quick movie sequence, fighting a boss, and going through more levels. The levels don’t get boring because there are a few of the same scenes, but because you can have different routes, you’ll run into different rooms. One route takes you through the casino, another through a lobby, and yet another into the storage bay. It was good they varied up this part of the game. One difference is the insertion of “Visual Scenes”. As the computer manually showed you where you were going, it would surprise you by asking you to hit a button or press the pad in a direction in order to avoid a whuppin’. This is similar to Shenmue’s Quick Time Events, except with Dynamite Cop’s visual scenes, they weren’t random. If you missed the first time, you could do it again and it would be the same for all the characters.

One downside was the length of time to finish the game. I would expect 95% of the gamers out there can finish the game with on character is 30 minutes. After that, you can finish with the other t
wo people taking a different route, but the story ends up being the same.

--Extras, Like a Hooker With 3 Butt Cheeks and 4 Nipples--

Sega did add a lot of extras in the game since a port of just the arcade portion would not have lasting power. You get bonus games and a Gallery section and the ability to download the “Detonator Pack” and another mode which is just a variation of the original mode.

Bonus Games. There is a versus mode, which has you and a friend competing on a mission to get the highest score. Survival mode places you in a sub-level of a mission and throws enemies at you until you die: your score is based on how many you have beaten. Tranquilizer Gun is a port of an arcade game Sega originally released in the spring of 1980. It is an entire game itself, but it’s not much fun. You are a jungle animal hunter and you roam the jungle (in one screen, Pac-Man 2D fashion) firing tranquilizer darts into animals. When they are sedated, you then have to drag them back to your truck to score. It’s not addictive, it’s not fun, nor does it contribute to the well-being of the world. After 1 minute, you’ll be wishing to be popped with a dart so you can bypass the vision that is Tranquilizer Gun.

Gallery. During gameplay, you will come across these little books that will pop up. These are illustrations and open up different drawings you can find in this section. You have to search everywhere in the game for these illustrations in order to unlock them all. If you are anal about finishing games, you will find this spectacular and cracka-rific. Also in Gallery, you have the option of viewing the on-line comic at the Japanese Sega Home Page. Um, is SegaNet still around???

Detonator Pack. Wow, this sounds cool. But after getting past the name, you will find nothing special. You can download this pack from the Dreamcast Network. You will have another character to use, new weapons and more
illustrations. Good, just what I need, more illustrations.

Showdown Mode. Since it takes 30 minutes to finish the game, Sega has added another mode called Showdown. You do have to unlock this mode, but it’s easy to do so. Mission 4 is the same as Mission 1 except that the damage from enemies is greater. Mission 5 is the same as Mission 2 except you have a time limit to complete each room. Mission 6 is the same as Mission 3, but you have a lower level of healthy AND damage from enemies is greater. These extra add-ons does make the game more challenging, which takes the game longer.

--Visual Display and Sound the Playstation Would Be Proud Of--

Graphics are usually what makes a game decent, if not great. Dynamite Cop, while excelling the gameplay area, falters on the sight-seeing. The hues are bright and actually are a great change in pace if you’ve been playing the XBox or PS2 for a while, but that’s not the problem. The backgrounds are detailed enough to recognize what is what, but that’s not the problem. The problem is that a lot of the main graphics are blocky, as if Nintendo gave Sega the rights to use their technology from F/X, the first produced video game to use polygons. Explosions looked like rising square mushrooms. The bad guys were too long-legged to really walk. And the boss guy in the kitchen was suppose to be rotund, but he was slightly rotund with a hint of 90-degree angled skin. Eeewww. While not sickening, the graphics were probably immediately ported from the arcade without any enhancements. And enhancements are what ports should have.

The sound was normal. Gunshots sounded like gunshots, slapping tuna fish sounded like slapping tuna fish, and the music was mediocre. No much aurally, but you get use to the sounds after a while and really don’t care. That is how I was after playing through the game for the fifth time trying to find more illustrations.


This game is a
good addition to your Dreamcast collection. It harbors childish beat-em-up gameplay which makes many game great, but it could get tiring. With decent extras to give it replay value, it won’t wow you or thrill you; it will just make you nod your head and think, “This is an okay game.”

Now, back to my threesome...

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