Review: Dynamite Cop (Dreamcast)

October 19, 2009 by Jeffrey L. Wilson
Filed under: Beat Em Ups, Reviews 

dynamitecop Review: Dynamite Cop (Dreamcast)

Traditionally, beat ‘em ups have represented the most basic of video game storytelling and gameplay mechanics. Three of the most beloved and respected games in the genre – - Double Dragon, Final Fight, and River City Ransom – - feature protagonists on vengeful missions to rescue their kidnapped girlfriend from goons. It’s hardly the most original premise; it’s basically the “save the princess” idea transplanted into gang-infested urban environments. The action elements are typically cliched; they mainly consist of a player spamming the attack buttons as fast as possible as she guides a brawler through wave after wave of street vermin in a linear and, oftentimes, repetitive fashion.

SEGA’s criminally-overlooked Dynamite Cop takes those segments of the beat ‘em up genre and presents them with a refreshing spin that, although not genre-redefining, is a much need and welcome change to the beat ‘em up class.

DynamiteCop2 Review: Dynamite Cop (Dreamcast)

Plot: The president’s daughter has been kidnapped by a squad of modern-day pirates and the recovery mission has been assigned to Bruno Delinger and his crack Navy SEALS team (which include kickboxer Eddie Brown and wrestler Jean Ivy). The goal isn’t quite as lofty as saving the president in Bad Dudes, and dabbles heavily into the “save the helpless female” stew, but there’s more at stake than rescuing a gut-punched Marian in Double Dragon.

On the topic of intros, Dynamite Cop lets you determine how you want to handle the storyline. You can parachute onto the boat, scale the side of it, or enter through underwater ducts. This isn’t just for show; the entrance that you select gives you different routes through the game, which adds to Dynamite Cop’s replayability.

Crafted for the arcades in 1998, Dynamite Cop existed before the Dreamcast crossed Ellis Island and landed on our shores – - and it shows. The polygonal characters have a rough PlayStation-era design makes the models look like assembled pieces than true wholes. That’s not to say that the game is hideous – - it isn’t. In the same way that I enough the “rugged sprites” in the pre-King of Fighters XII SNK Playmore games, I enough these semi-blocky visuals. Dynamite Cop isn’t as slick as Soul Calibur, but it’s a solid snapshot of late ’90s polygon rendering.

Any perceived shortcomings with the character models are made up in the absolutely batshit insane character designs. In my original beat ‘em up analysis I noted that the genre has lived and breathed on outlandish characters (Final Fight’s Sodom, Double Dragon’s Abobo), and after rediscovering Dynamite Cop it’s obvious that SEGA had the same mindset during the game’s development. The enemy ranks consist of a cyborg pirate, crazed chef, a giant squid, and other oddballs that deserve a fist in the mouth (or, in the case of the squid, the beak).

dynamitecop profilelarge Review: Dynamite Cop (Dreamcast)

The ship setting provides a number of backdrops and not seen in your typical brawler. You fight in a dining hall, engine room, kitchen, and other decidedly non-urban settings. It’s quite refreshing, really, and leads to a rather interesting weapon selection. Knives and baseball bats, be damned! In Dynamite Cop lets you attack baddies with chairs, pepper shakers, huge guns, rocket launchers, and much, much more. Half the fun of Dynamite Cop is the hilarity of the fights; whacking a foe with a giant tuna is hilariously awesome.

But it’s Dynamite Cops‘ hand-to-hand combat engine that elevates it above the run-of-the-mill beat ‘em up. As with any other brawler, you can jam on the punch, kick, and jump buttons to attack the enemy, but there are quite number of combos that those that reward those willing to explore the engine. When unarmed, for example, pressing -> + punch + jump results in a dive bomber attack; grappling an enemy (initiated by pressing toward an enemy when very close) and pressing punch while holding a handgun will result in you arresting the perp. Bruno, Eddie, and Jean have similar, but different, attacks based on their unique fighting styles. Styles that become absolutely brutal as you level up.

Leveling up isn’t done in an RPG-fashion as in River City Ransom, but by collecting “P” and “S” drops from fallen foes. Five P’s or one S will activate a green gauge that slowly depletes, but as long as its on screen, all of your moves will become super-sized. Flames accompany your punches and kicks, and grapple moves deal insane amounts of game and look unbelievably cool. When Jean is in the green, her multi-part grapples that work over an opponent’s joints is one of the sickest attacks in any fighting-based game.

As your character accumulates damage, its clothes begin to get ripped to shreds. If you select Bruno as your main character and take a beating, you’ll see the ties to Bruce Willis’ Die Hard (Dynamite Cop is the sequel to the Saturn’s Die Hard Arcade) as he’s reduced to no shirt, no shoes, and bandages as he battles the terrorists. The game employs cinematic-styled music (that ranges from moody to cheesy), which perfectly fits the tone of the game. Sound effects are pretty generic, however.

Quick Time Events acts as bridges between the different areas of the ship. When on occurs, you’re presented with a relatively simple task (such as press punch, kick, or jump), which causes your character to perform an action such as knocking out an enemy or diving into a pool (accompanied by a cool, multi-angled cutscene that highlights the action). Failing these actions means that you have to fight an enemy that should’ve been knocked out or taking damage from an environmental factor. All in all, it’s  really cool method of adding randomness to the game without the player feeling cheated.

Dynamite Cop is an underrated beat em on an underrated system, which means that the vast majority of gamers, even those that are fans of the genre, haven’t had the joy of playing this incredibly entertaining title. It’s short (it’s a port of an arcade game, after all), but the fast and furious action, multiple selectable characters, insane weapon variety, and two-player co-op places it as one of the best examples of why beat ‘em ups work.


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Comments

One Comment on Review: Dynamite Cop (Dreamcast)

  1. Sam Mash on Thu, 22nd Oct 2009 10:41 am

    2. Dynamite Cop really does have elements that other beat em ups need to adopt. The new The Warriors game on Xbox Live Arcade could’ve benefited from many of the small details.

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