Comic Jumper - The Game Journal Review

Title: Comic Jumper

Developed By: Twisted Pixel Games

Published By: Twisted Pixel Games

Comedy is a tough racket. Making people laugh is not always an easy thing to do, especially in video games. When a game sets out to be funny, when humor is as important to the game's design as any other element, it's usually a recipe for disaster. There's something about the pandering nature of a game that asks you to laugh at it, that usually does not resonate with me.

Thankfully, Twisted Pixel's Comic Jumper is a genuinely funny game. While I didn't find their previous effort, Splosion Man, as hilarious as some of my peers, Comic Jumper hit all of the right notes for me when it came to the game's sense of humor. Of course, not all of the jokes are winners, but more often than not I found myself smiling after a punch line. Twisted Pixel isn't afraid to break the fourth wall, with references to Twisted Pixel's other games and live action full motion video sequences. The absurdity of the humor works well with the game world they've crafted. 

The story follows Captain Smiley, a comic book hero, who's readership has fallen to such low levels that his comic book is put on hiatus. In order to earn enough money to get his comic going again he has to make guest appearances in other comic books. Captain Smiley guest stars in three different comic series, with each series having multiple issues. There is a Conan knock off, a "Golden-Age" comic and Twisted Pixel's take on Japanese Manga. Each comic has its own unique art style and gameplay wrinkle. For example, in the Manga levels, instead of moving left to right on the screen, Captain Smiley moves right to left.

Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn't meet the high quality of the humor. It's not that the gameplay is bad, more that it feels repetitive. For the most part you'll be holding your guns on bullet sponge enemies waiting for them to die before training your gun on the next enemies that pop onto the screen. Twisted Pixel does try to add some variety by including melee only levels as well as shifting the perspective to a behind the back view with some on-rails sequences that allow you to strafe while moving cross hairs around the screen. There are also a few sequences where you'll have to press buttons corresponding with those on screen. I realize with the variety of things I've just listed that calling the game repetitive seems a bit foolish, but once you're in the game, shooting the same enemies over and over again with little variation in their attacks and it taking too many bullets to kill them, you'll know what I mean.

That being said, it's not like the gameplay is bad. It's just repetitive. The bullet sponge issue is eventually mitigated by upgrading Captain Smiley's abilities, which you can do for cash you earn while playing each level. You can go back and play levels multiple times to grind for cash, and there is a nice leaderboard system set up for each level letting you compete with your friends' best scores. 

Rare is the game that makes me laugh out loud. Comic Jumper is one of those games. Taken as an overall experience, the humor, which I feel is as important an element as any other part of the game, helps Comic Jumper rise above its, at times, frustrating gameplay. If you want to play a funny game, this is your best bet out of the recent crop of titles released on XBLA. It's a shame the actually gameplay itself ends up feeling so repetitive and uninspired.