When I first saw Twisted Pixel’s third Xbox LIVE Arcade game, Comic Jumper after The Maw and Splosion Man I was highly intrigued due to its amazingly detailed presentation using the comic book art style which it is based on. Comic Jumper’s hero is a somewhat insecure superhero stereotype with an actual smiley face as a head and a trash talking star on his chest. If that sounds crazy to you then wait until you hear what else happens in Comic Jumper.
The story of Captain Smiley is based around his comic shutting down due to dwindling readership which forces our hero to guest star in other comic books across modern comics, Fantasy style, the 60s Silver Age and even Manga. He does this of course, unwillingly but am I glad he decided to do so. Comic Jumper is an absolutely hilariously written game with plenty of authentic comic book references across several genres and has Smiley riding unicorns.
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Smiley and Star have some really funny back and forth arguments which had me laughing out loud. Early on in the game Smiley is forced to use an enemy fambot in order to skate down the side of a building while blasting more robot women away with his dual pistols delivering some very funny lines. That is only a small slice of what you can expect in Comic Jumper. Smiley along with the ever sarcastic Star will venture through the different locations and environments in each comic while jumping from frame to frame as pages turn which is a nice touch to the narrative authenticity the game keeps to comic books.
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Comic Jumper is an all out shooter at heart with fairly simple gameplay mechanics which mostly consist of holding down the right trigger throughout the 5 hour campaign firing bullets. The shooting is broken up by some quick time events and ever some funny cut scenes. Blasting away an array of enemies using the dual guns is fun initially but looses some of its charm after a couple of hours due to repetition and overly long enemy waves. There is also no debating that Comic Jumper is a very unforgiving game and will have players die, a lot. This is rather reminiscent of some classic side-scrollers from years past. Taking out enemies and completing each of the highly unique and lovingly detailed comic book stories will earn Smiley money to spent on upgrades and special features when back at home base from where our hero also travels to all the different comic books.
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Don’t be deterred through my criticism on combat though as Comic Jumper is an absolutely fantastic game that has to be played by everyone, even if you are not a comic fanatic.
The adventures of Captain Smiley might be one of the best downloadable games I have played. The incredible wit and innovative design which includes full motion video, displaying reader’s opinions of each comic you play through is just one of the many features which make this game an instant purchase. Even the development team at Twisted Pixel lends a hand during combat when Captain Smiley gets in too much trouble. Yes, Comic Jumper has a few issues with combat and repetition but those only put a small dent into what is otherwise an incredibly funny and enjoyable experience.
Score: 9 / 10
Comic Jumper was developed by Twisted Pixel and published by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 on October 6th. A review code of the retail version was provided to us by Microsoft for reviewing purposes.
