By BErt

Do you like analogies? Here’s an example:

It just makes sense to mix good things together (well, usually at least. I like sex, and I like to fish, but combining those two things doesn’t seem like too good an idea). Leave it to Sega to realize that making a video game about a comic was indeed a good idea.

Comics and video games have danced together before, but the result usually ended up looking like a white guy at a nightclub: It didn’t know what it was doing, and it wasn’t pretty to look at. Comix Zone was different. This was not a video game that simply took a comic license and made a shitty beat em up side scroller; Sega instead created their own comic and made a not so shitty beat em up side scroller.

You play slacker comic artist Sketch Turner, who along with his pet rat (named Roadkill...can I get a job naming video game characters, or do they all go to 6 year olds?) gets sucked into his own comic book by the villain of said comic. Holy shit is THAT ironic; I never saw it coming. Despite the weak plot, which probably is an actual comic book plot somewhere, I’m sure; the game was just flat out fun. It’s a shame that Comix Zone came out so late in the Genesis’ lifespan; it could have done much better.

• GRAPHICS: 3.5 – Comix Zone’s graphics were good if not standard for the system, but it gets points for style and innovation. Love the use of panel borders.

• SOUND: 3.5 – The sound effects (which were given there own Batman-esque graphics) and music is pretty much what I would be playing in my head if I were simply reading this instead of playing it. Voices were cheesy, but I’m pretty sure that was intentional; just look at the laughable dialog in some actual (high selling) comics these days.

• CONTROL: 3 – The controls were hit or miss; could have been a lot better. Remember when my guy kept jumping into the pit instead of grabbing the rope just above it? Yea, that was fun.

• BCP: 4 – this has to do with a lot of things, not the least of which were the control problems I talked about. On top of that, there were very few (VERY few) chances to refill your health, one continue if you were lucky (and, you know, didn’t cheat) and just about anything you saw could hurt you in some way (yes, 5 exploding barrels in a 6 inch comic panel is a good idea...why do you ask?).

• INSOMNIA FACTOR: 2.5 – While Comix Zone is a good game, it’s not really an all night, lose a week of your life kind of game.

One of my favorite games on the system; in spite of the high controller breaking factor, it was still hard to walk away from. I’d recommend it to anyone.