Comix Zone scores 8/10 in the verdict of The Games Market editorial team.
Once Upon a Time
Comix Zone
by Simon Larocca·August 19, 2024
The connection between Comics and Cinema is now well established: setting aside nerdy discussions that would have me launching into a long-winded dissertation on how comics had already involved the world of cinema well before the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we can agree on the fact that nowadays there is no teenager or adult who has not heard of Thor, Iron Man, and their wonderful superhero company.
Spesso, however, it was another medium that drew heavily from the comic-book structure of a story, made up of panels, speech balloons, and illustrations projected toward the idea of movement while remaining static, and that medium is much closer to us: with Comix Zone, in fact, the concept of video games managed to hybridize perfectly with comic-style storytelling, giving rise to an absolutely top-tier title, still capable of standing out today on multiple fronts.
The Sega MegaDrive conversion, released in 1995, was considered by many to be the swan song of the black-mantled console, ready to retire with the inexorable arrival of cutting-edge home entertainment systems set to take its place and that of the 16-bit world. It was, of course, published by the ever-present SEGA, which in those years was still riding high and had total control over all its projects, based on the concept of a side-scrolling beat 'em up, but with the addition of innovations that enhanced its gameplay.
Innanzitutto the protagonist, a freelance illustrator who, because of a lightning strike that hits the comic book he is working on, finds himself inside the pages themselves at the hands of the villain he created himself, can move from panel to panel, choosing, once he has cleared the level of the enemies present with kicks and punches, to literally step over the edge of the panel to go to the next one or descend into the one below, thus progressing through the story. We would therefore have to define it as a multidirectional scrolling beat 'em up, in a sense.
Ciò che colpisce fin dai primi minuti di gioco, escludendo l'introduzione che ancora oggi fa scuola per quanto riguarda il taglio delle inquadrature e l'evidente epicità tipica dei fumetti supereroistici americani, è la fluidità che lo contraddistingue.
Sketch (that’s the protagonist’s name) can run, jump, perform combos, various combinations of kicks and punches and, as if that weren’t enough, Comix Zone puts a decent, but functional arsenal at players’ disposal, recoverable in many in-game panels: knife and dynamite have always been my first choices, since with the former we can make direct confrontations easier, tough just enough, while with the sticks of dynamite we can clear the area in no time, being careful not to have them explode in our hands because, as you can imagine, that is never a good thing.
Il nostro avatar has character and it shows, the interludes complete with captions and text-filled balloons allow the story to move forward, introducing supporting characters and evocative settings, such as the temple which I still consider a small gem of level design today, a very modest opinion of course.
The breaking of the fourth wall is another indispensable element of the Sega title, with which the developers have fun, and we with them, playing with metatextual language, implementing it brilliantly in the game’s structure and thus avoiding the lurking danger of considering it a mere inert ingredient, nice to look at but an end in itself.
Despite its brevity, Comix Zone manages to immerse us in a comic book story, making us feel like the protagonists of our actions and the saviors of the world.
A fictitious world, but never so real when you end up inside it.
8
Pro
Innovative concept and exceptional technical package, MegaDrive at the highest level
Immersive graphics for the time, cleverly designed levels, and a cool protagonist
Comic books and video games can coexist
Contro
Controls that are not always simple and objectively high difficulty in the second half of the game
Intense but not very long experience, it leaves you with a sense of incompleteness
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
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