Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley (2010)
I am reviewing the Xbox 360 version to clarify. This is similar to Comix Zone where the actual levels are within comic books as well as a few manga volumes. It's one of those comedic, self aware games too. At times the 4th wall kept getting broken. I do like they somehow mixed actual digitalized people into the game.
You might be surprise to know there's some variety within the game play. You get a few shooter style game play with quick time events as well as beat em up sections. If that doesn't sound strange yet don't worry we're getting there. You play as Captain Smiley who has a talking star on his chest named you guess it Star.
You start in a failing comic book series. Which led to the character forced to star in other comic series. You can only imagine the fun the developers had with that idea. This is more ambitious than you expect it to be. You got a hub world you interact with the other characters. One of them also acts as your upgrade system as well as buying bonus content.
Achievements unlocked rewards you trophies further confirming in game you gotten em. There's a few mini games you could play in the hub. There's a couple levels that will remind people of the 90s. In terms of it's difficulty which quickly brought me back to that era. I will confess this is not balanced well in it's difficulty.
It's not NES Battletoads level bad either. Beat em up sections actually easier than Comix Zone. Some of the shooter sections are a little too unforgiving at times. Yes I have rage quit this game a few times over that. Especially in the first manga section. Just last night I finally gotten past that level. You also can buy these specials with a rather bizarre animation.
You see digitalized hands banging on the screen. Then this bearded guy shows up ready to head butt the screen breaking it lol. I also liked some sections you get to beat up Star to a degree. Yes there's a counter for doing this in the game. The story of the game is eventually your series gets rebooted. Such a bizarre ending I actually wondered two major things.
1. What the hell is going on?
2. Is the game over?
I can confirm the game is over when you see this. You see an FMV cutscene of a kid reading the reboot 1st issue at a playground. Suddenly you get this wacky, over the top developers are rich cutscene. It's almost like they were literately on drugs lol. There's also challenges if you wanna do em. I think by far my favorite character is Star.
The duo sorta reminds me of Banjo and Kazooie. Captain Smiley is notably more like Banjo whose the nicer of the two. Whose also the main character you're playing as. Star is more like Kazooie saying whatever he wants. I simply respect the creativity that went into this. I would say it's currently an underrated classic as well as overall an overlooked comical action game.
Especially having Chris Sabat voicing Star was comedy genius!!! One of the biggest voice actors in anime history no less. You can tell the story doesn't quite take itself seriously. Captain Smiley simply wanted his own series again. He nearly quit over the manga volumes. Then again who could've blame him otherwise?
It's a very cuteness overblown ridiculousness. It's more meant for the female audience which kept getting mentioned. We even had a few ladies in buses attacking you. Not to mention, in some sections you ride this horse that can fly. Let's put it this way I rather replay the anime level in Gex 3. These were actually among my least favorite levels.
Mostly due to how truly unbalanced in the difficulty some sections are. Thankfully this doesn't do the lives system. Check points is questionable at times. Unless you know from experience you got em or not. You might die thinking you'll continue close to where you die. Most of the time, you have to restart that section of the level again.
This quickly gets old as well as frustrating. The music has some decent songs I'll say. I actually prefer the sound effects over em. This plays amazingly well on Xbox Series X. The hub world I just wish you do slightly more. Mostly you explore with not much to actually do. I will give some credit they attempted the concept.
I felt the bizarre humor is among the game's strongest aspects. I also liked they do change the game play to a degree at times. It does help to prevent this becoming repetitive and boring. Repetitive it still is regardless I just meant the kind of repetitiveness that turns you off. Maybe not resuming to possibly finish the game.
Obviously it has some notable flaws. For what it is I did find some enjoyment in it. I'm not quite sure how to go about recommending it either. If you enjoy 16-bit era level difficulty this is for you. Personally I prefer Saints Row IV way more than this!!! I also respect the ambitious concept of traveling through comics.
Which in a sense makes it better than Comix Zone. But in it's defense Comix Zone notably has better music. Not only that I even felt with it's famous difficulty. It was surprisingly better balanced than this!!! I also preferred the final boss as well. Comic Jumper is a strange game that kinda sticks with you. There isn't many actual upgrades either.
You earn money with later levels being a huge amount. You are virtually guarantee to max out well before then. There isn't much depth into that sadly. Also even with those max upgrades the game is very unforgiving at times. I will say this though you might enjoy some of the characters. Either in characters or within the hub world.
What I mean by in characters is a lot of them has different roles within these comics you explore. They act notably different from the actual people in the hub world. This is actually an aspect I do respect they done. Comic Jumper is a game that's an unique hybrid of a bizarre adventure. It is best to go into this without any expectations.
Comic Jumper also among a handful of games I gotten added to the voting section of GOG as well. I could see the right people truly enjoying this game. Obviously there's better similar style comical games out there. Just for the fact you play as a character going through a few comic series is rather cool. Overall it's more of a strange gem than anything else.
It may not be balanced in that way as well. The humor does work to a degree. If you're new to it altogether. The change in genres may keep your interest. You also get a game that knows exactly what it is. It's a different kind of a superhero game. Comic Jumper is just one of those rare experiences within video games you may not experience again.