Comix Zone is a little game developed by Sega and released for the Sega Genesis. When I first came across this game, I was a little kid that just got into computer gaming. I had picked up a small batch of Sega games on CD-Rom. The game is most akin to the Street Fighter series. It takes a similar tone to story, along with the same beat-em’-up style action. Needless to say, I fell in love with Comix Zone immediately. I played it to the point of insanity; memorizing every secret passageway and patterns for bosses. But I’m going to keep this as unbiased as I can

Storyline

The storyline of Comix Zone is nothing new to us at this point, but is still creative. You play as Sketch Turner, a comic book writer that gets thrown into his own creation after a lightning bolt strikes the comic, unleashing its evil villain. Once Turner gets enveloped, he’s guided around by a woman on a radio and is guided through the comic until the final confrontation with the villain.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Comix Zone is nothing if not repetitive. But I say that in an almost endearing way. I love the game for what it is. The combos are few and the items don’t do much other than one-hit-kill or distract your enemies.

The enemies themselves are nice and diverse. They allow for a nice change in pace for combos. Some baddies jump around, some don’t. Some of them even perch themselves up on their own sticks and bounce around. Enemies’ attacks never hurt you much, but the game always a challenge for me considering the health items are scarce.

The bosses themselves all have a pattern, and once that’s figured out they don’t pose much of a threat. But although that’s true, I still died more times than I’d like to say.

Graphics and sound

The graphics in Comix Zone look close to an actual comic book or graphic novel. Overall they look nice, but don’t expect next gen graphics on this game. The only issue I’ve continuously faced is a clipping problem when things start to explode in one way or another. Turner phases in and out of reality a few times before deciding to stay after throwing down dynamite.

There were never any real issues concerning sound, and the only thing to note is that the punches sound comic-booky (is that a verb?)

Controls

The controls for Comix Zone aren’t that complicated. It’s clear that this is an arcade game. As such, there is a punch button, kick button, and special move button. I prefer the controls on a keyboard but console controls work well also.

Difficulty

Comix Zone always offers a challenge. It will be difficult until you start finding hidden health items. I died a lot before I started learning which paths to avoid, but I’ve been playing this so long it’s hard to remember when I couldn’t actually play it.