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Classic Game Review: Comix Zone By: PoisonRamune, the Apathetic Lizardman I remember watching a surreal Warner Bros. short when I was a child, called Duck Amuck. It starred Daffy Duck being painted into bizarre and downright awful situations by a mysterious animator’s brush. While the short constantly holds high positions on various “Top # Greatest Cartoons of All Time” lists, many people on the streets fail to remember the film.
Oddly enough the same can be said about a game that follows a similar premise. In Comix Zone you play as Sketch Turner, an up and coming comic book artist who gets zapped into his own work. As he makes his way through the pages of the comic, he is constantly thwarted by drawings from a mysterious artist’s pencil. The game was critically acclaimed and is a staple on most “Top # Greatest Classic Games of All Time” lists, but for some reason very few people had heard of it. And that’s a damn shame too, since this game is simply amazing. As I mentioned before the premise of the game was very innovative for it’s time. Even though many games now use the “trapped in the player’s favorite medium" as a plot device (ie: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Viewtiful Joe, etc.), this was a really fresh idea during its inception. And not only were you stuck in a comic, you were stuck in a comic book. Thus, the environment would act/react accordingly; enemies could be bashed through panels, your assistant rat could tear at the corner of a page to reveal hidden supplies, and you could die at any possible confrontation with an enemy. Though that last point isn’t very comic bookesque, it was very true in this game. The game was hard. Let me rephrase that, it was challenging yet fair.
It’s challenging in that every enemy encounter is basically either a mini-boss fight or a full on boss fight. Don’t go walking around the Comix Zone expecting enemies that go down in 1-4 hits, those guys are hanging out in some other non-licensed comic game (maybe the Cheetah Men). The monsters in Comix Zone are ruthless, not only because they’re your own created characters turned against you. They’re also pretty pattern/exploit based, so learning how and when they’ll move and attack is essential. I must admit I’ve only gotten to the 3rd panel of the 3rd world (not page) in my 13 years of playing this game. And to get to that point I had to have played my absolute best with no grievous errors. However, on any other given run-through I’m normally dead anywhere between the 1st world’s boss and the 2nd page of the 2nd world. The graphics are amazing. Even though great pixel art is almost a given on games so late in the Genesis’ life, these are simply superb. The stylization is stunning, exactly what you’d expect from a game that was meant to emulate the styling of a comic book. The dark, run down city is dark and dirty. But not in a way where it obscures your view or what you’re supposed to be doing. The same with the snowy mountain in the 2nd world; while there is snow falling in front of character in the foreground, you’re not blinded by it nor does it hinder the gameplay in any way. The sound quality is awesome. While the music isn’t as memorable as many other classic Sega gems, it certainly is better produced. It’s the kind of 16 bit music that my cell phone’s polyphonic ring tones aspire to be, clean and ready to get you into that fighting mood. The effects as with the music are pretty generic, but what great effort did they put in making generic noises sound good. The gameplay is that of your standard beat ‘em up. You go from panel to panel dispatching the enemies that the mystery hand has dispatched to take you out, working your way to the end of each page. The brawling system though wasn’t very standard; in fact, it was pretty in-depth. You could go through each fight just jamming on the attack button, but don’t expect to live very long doing so. Despite the fact that you only had one button for attack, there were various moves and combos you could pull off based on D-pad tilts. And believe me, you’re going to need to utilize every combo and special move in that operations guide if you wish to escape the Comix Zone.
Playing the game while faded is somewhat self defeating. I mean, the game is really fun to play while drunk. Especially if you had a crappy day at work and need to go sick house on one of your co-workers in effigy; there’s nothing like jump kicking the rock man in the head while pretending it was some incompetent intern. However, don’t expect to beat the game while sipping on jungle punch; your dexterity and judgment just aren’t there. As playing Comix Zone while drunk is like fighting while drunk; I barrel into every confrontation head first full of gusto, thinking I have a chance this time. But in the end I'm an awful mess, wondering what the hell just happened, and why everything went awry With that being said there is a certain joy in playing this game while faded and going no where with it. Especially since there’s that glimmer of dumb drunken hope telling you “You may very well do it today, something in you might make you just ‘saiyan-up’ and kick the ass out of this game.” Then you get dropped by some stupid Tibetan with a spear and you release what a moron you are. Final verdict:
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