Sketch Turner is a comic book artist that gets a nasty
surprise when one of his one creations pops out of his comic one day and traps
him inside his own drawings. Now Sketch has to fight for his life while his
nemesis is on the outside drawing more adversaries. His not alone though. Along
for the ride is his pet rat Roadkill and providing useful information is Alissa
Cyan. Comix Zone is not your usual run-of-the-mill Side Scrolling Beat 'Em Up
that's for sure.
The first thing you'll instantly notice about the game is
the outstanding graphics. These must surely rank as some of the finest graphics
that has ever been coaxed out of the system. Just looking at all the color and
detail and it's hard to believe that this is a Genesis title. Keeping with the
comic theme everything is drawn in style with all the small touches you would
expect to find in a comic. Speech bubbles, BOOMS! and CRASHES! are all over the
place and each scene that you do battle in resemble a comic book panel to the
finest detail.
There are lots of comedic exchanges between Sketch and his
own creations as they do battle and Allisa has her own spot on the top of the
page where she keeps you up to date or provide some help on your current
situation. The animation in the game is over the top with loads of cool
touches. Just leave Sketch alone for a while to see him take of his shoe and
smell it to see how much detail was put into the characters. The basic idea is
to make your way from the first panel at the top of the page down to the last
panel on the bottom. You do this by beating up the multitude of comic baddies
that get drawn onto the page as you look on. These dudes are mean and have
their own unique personalities. Each has a wide range of moves and to make
things worse they can also block your attacks. Of course Turner himself is no
helpless artist and can bust some mean moves himself. Punches and kicks are
common with flying kicks and combos also thrown into the mix. Your little buddy
Roadkill can also be unleashed once you find him to soften up your enemies.
Along the way items can also be picked up to help you out, like energy drinks
to restore health or one use weapons such as knives and grenades.
It's not all fighting though as at some points you have to
solve a little puzzle to progress. These won't tax your brain for longer than a
second but provide a nice break from the all reflex action. The comic book you
are fighting through is littered with deadly traps and wicked foes and each
location have a beautifully drawn comic background. This can be anything from a
temple (where you have to fight in a Mortal Kombat style tournament) to
underground lava caverns or the ruined streets of Newer York. Comix Zone is
packed so full of small touches that you just have to keep playing to see what
happens next. Enemy projectiles can shred parts of the page you are on, little
bits of paper litter the air while you beat up a foe and a whole bunch of other
cool effects are everywhere. There is even one part where you frantically try
to make your way down the page as it burns down above you. At certain parts you
can choose your next route so there is some replay value if you want to see and
do it all.
Besides the excellent graphics it's clear to see that Sega
spend some time on the audio as well. Apart from some very cool tunes the game
is packed with some of the best sound effects in a Beat 'Em Up. With the usual
grunts and groans there are also some cool speech samples and booming
explosions. All of the characters have some trademark sound effect and fights
really do sound like fights. The game can either be played with a three or six
button controller and everything is very responsive. Busting out killer combos
is a breeze and the auto blocking can help you out in sticky situations. Sketch
is easy to control and except for the occasional slipping off ledges respond to
your input well.
All is not good and well however. It's a shame that the game
is one-player only as the two-player mode is usually the highlight of these types
of games. The game is also pretty short and tries to make up for this with a
very high difficulty level. You only have one life and falling down chasms
kills you instantly. You can restart after you die, but have to go all the way
back to the start of the page. This is not that bad though as the levels aren't
that long. With loads of cool touches (Like the way Sketch turns into a
superhero with the right powerups) outstanding graphics, awesome sound and
killer gameplay Comix Zone is a must have title for your collection. Sure it
could have been bigger and include a two-player mode but it's still an
excellent game that should not be missed.
[9/10]
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