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Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley |OT|

A

Axiom

Member
I really wish this game was attached to a more fun game if the trial is anything to go by. I want to reward what these guys are trying, but I'm probably better off picking up The Maw as my 'Splosion Man thank you.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
Oh dear.

Playing the trial I just climbed the building while fighting the bradbots and reached the top, jumped right off the ceiling pipe and ran to the right to find the edge of the building, I ran down it which was a long way and then off the edge to fall into a never ending drop.

Great quality game building there, I didn't even try to glitch out of the map it's just what the game has given me so far from playing.
 
Vorg

Vorg

Banned
I downloaded the demo but didn't even finish it. The controls are so clumsy, and the ever respawning enemies so annoying. It's weird because it was one of my most anticipated games this year. Great humor, but gameplay is just not there, in my opinion.
 
A

acm2000

Member
not tried it yet, but maybe we were all expecting a bit much for twisted pixel to make it a hat trick of awesome little games in a row
 
D

Diablohead

Member
Finished the demo, lovely cut scenes and some cool shooting segments but it feels so simple that it's boring.

I was going to complain about lack of being able to crouch or duck but then right near the end of the demo it tells you to slide, if only we had that knowledge from the beginning of the trial.

I also feel that smiley's hit box is too big, i've had bullets pass my head clear yet they suddenly hit me for damage, the fact you can't normally crouch too makes things a pain.

Nice game but not for me.
 
S

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
I dunno, with the polish of the overall game assets... for 15 bucks, I'm not too suprised things control a bit janky. I don't think Analog controls are a good fit with sidescrolling actions games... to I appreciated them trying with the triggers+right analog aiming. I know I'd be happier if this thing felt precise like good ole Digital controls.

But anyway, this is a crazy ambitious idea for a game here; save for Spiderman: Shattered Dimensions, how many things out there do you see with such varied artstyles and attempts at gameplay? From the very get-go, all I could think about was "man... that's a crazy idea!" The Good seems to strongly outweigh the bad, which is very strange, when the bad = gameplay mechanics. These guys are GOOD at what they know!

And I have to smile at the fact that the live-action "Scientist" of Twisted Pixel, look so much like their 'Splosion-man selves... :lol

Oh, and LoL at Yusuke and Kuwabara VA's being the main charas, as mentioned by Spruchy. That just makes punching that annoying Star in the face so much more fun!

A Preview of the Premium Theme included with the game, Via ThemeXbox:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BfJhRwhhvA

Avatar Awards:
128
128
128
 
T

TimmiT

Member
Finished the game. I loved it for the most part, but the last level was very dissapointing.
They copy and pasted the first level, changed some stuff and added the final boss from Splosion Man.
 
S

Shotgun Kiss

Member
I have to retract my earlier statements somewhat; I've just finished the second chapter, and the gameplay is getting incredibly tedious. I still think it's a good game, but definitely not up there with Splosion Man or the Maw. It wouldn't be so bad if sections were shorter/enemies didn't take so much damage before dying, but as it stands, clearing an area feels like a chore.

I think 1200 points is too much; 800 points would have been a much fairer asking price, especially as that was the price of Twisted Pixel's previous games.
 
E

EternalGamer

Banned
Axiom said:
I really wish this game was attached to a more fun game if the trial is anything to go by. I want to reward what these guys are trying, but I'm probably better off picking up The Maw as my 'Splosion Man thank you.
Click to expand...


I sent this email to the developer. I encourage others to email them to. Feel free to plagiarize any and/or all of it:

To Whomever It May Concern,

I am a huge fan of your games. Splosion Man was one of my favorite games for any platform. I sold it to about half dozen of my friends I proselytized for it so much. All of us were really looking forward to your next release. But many of us have a serious problem with Comic Jumper. Unfortunately, the basic shooting gameplay is simply not very fun and this seems to be pretty widely recognized among critics and gamers.

The good news is that it seems there would be a very, very easy fix to this problem. If it were simply balanced it better where the basic enemies died in one bullet shot like every other classic shooter ever since Contra 1, the game would be far better. This could be counterbalanced by making your character die in two or three bullet hits. Everything else about the game is great, except the plodding, slow pace of killing the peon enemies, which really drags the games' momentum down.

So, here is my very, very simple proposal. Add a new difficulty option in an XBLA update. You can simply make the basic enemies die in one hit and keep the players health the same and call it "Way of The Coward Nacho Supremo Edition" or make it to where both they and the player die in one bullet and call it "Classic Hardcore" mode. Or some other difficulty variation. Just please, please, give me a way to play this game with basic enemies that die in one hit. There is a very good reason why every 2D action game before this one followed this formula.

I have never written a company in this way in my life. But this is a case that breaks my heart because everything else is so good and it could so easily be remedied; everything else about your game is superb. Please don't let something as simple as a damage value ruin it for many of your fans.

Sincerely,
Click to expand...
 
T

toythatkills

Member
It'd take a lot more work to balance the game than just making the enemies die in one hit. If that's all they did, there'd be less than an hour of game, probably. They'd need to up the enemies, or balance it some other way.
 
E

EternalGamer

Banned
toythatkills said:
It'd take a lot more work to balance the game than just making the enemies die in one hit. If that's all they did, there'd be less than an hour of game, probably. They'd need to up the enemies, or balance it some other way.
Click to expand...

It may not fix all the problems, but they could counter it by making you die in one or a few hits too. And, of course, this is only in regards to the basic peon enemies and the bullet play.

There obviously is no magic perfect fix and it may make it easier, but it would be way, way more fun and less tedious even if it made it shorter. I will take a short fun game over a long tedious game any day.
 
S

Shotgun Kiss

Member
Has anybody else played the new Splosion Man levels? I haven't played the multiplayer one, but I just finished the single player one, and it's a good one; it makes me wish that they had supported the game with DLC levels proper. Only one single-player level and one multiplayer level is a bit disappointing.
 
P

Parallax Scroll

Banned
Against.

The dialog is funny, but I really don't care for the gameplay. And it's not a genre thing, I love me some good 2D action. But this is more like semi-shit 2D action.
 
N

Nelo Ice

Banned
just played the demo loved the presentation but the gameplay was kinda meh
played the lara croft demo after and i had a blast compared to comic jumper

unless i decide to get the steam version of lara croft im heavily leaning towards picking that up rather than comic jumper+super meat boy as i originally intended to do for the rebate

at this point main reason i want comic jumper is to get the premium theme+splosion man lvls+avatar awards rather than playing through the game :lol
 
M

MrDaravon

Member
Parallax Scroll said:
Against.

The dialog is funny, but I really don't care for the gameplay. And it's not a genre thing, I love me some good 2D action. But this is more like semi-shit 2D action.
Click to expand...

Yeah, after the demo I could tell that I would probably really enjoy the humor, but I literally cannot get past the shitty, shitty gameplay. Super disappointing. Maaaaaybe I will bite down the line on sale, but it seems like I might be better off just youtubing the game for that content.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
On the Spotlight there's an embarrassingly yet entertaining live action video of Major Nelson running away from some Bradbots. I highly recommend you all check it out.
 
V

VinZuku

Member
If The Adventures of Bayou Billy, Gunstar Heroes and Earthworm Jim had a love child Comic Jumper would be it. I love this game.
 
E

EternalGamer

Banned
VinZuku said:
If The Adventures of Bayou Billy, Gunstar Heroes and Earthworm Jim had a love child Comic Jumper would be it. I love this game.
Click to expand...

Except it is not as good as any of those. Not even Bayou Billy. At least there aren't any shitty jeep sections though.
 
S

Shotgun Kiss

Member
Uggggghhh... I keep going back, wanting to like this game, but as soon as I make it 5 minutes into a level, I start to absolutely hate it. The presentation is wonderful, but the gameplay is horrible because it's so damn tedious. I don't care if enemies dying in one hit would make the game inbalanced; better that than it being tedious to the point where it's a chore.

I'm sick of dying all the time because a dozen enemies appear at once, and it's impossible to kill even one of them before about four of them have already fired/threw shit at you from different directions. And if you take it slow and play it safe, the levels take fucking AGES to beat because they're far too long (which is baffling, seeing as how there are so few enemy types, Twisted Pixel should have been well aware that they needed to keep them short).

I've never had buyers remorse to this extent before. I now think it wouldn't even have been worth it at 800 points. If you're undecided about buying this game, do yourself a favour and don't bother, unless they release a patch that addresses these issues. Just watch a playthrough on YouTube instead.

Heartbreaking.
 
M

Mdk7

Member
Just tried the demo...
The gameplay is still kinda meh (even though it seemed better than the impression i had at E3), but i never ever laughed so much in a game.
I'm thinking about buying it just because of the humor, it's THAT good.
 
A

Air Zombie Meat

Member
It just seems like the game is way too padded out with filler. Every bit lasts longer than it should and repeats over and over. For example, the raptor miniboss. I couldn't believe the amount of times that thing gets thrown at you. It has a simple easy pattern but requires loads of hits and you fight it about 20 times. Also you get the same patterns of enemies, most of which aren't fun to fight, thrown at you over and over again.

The presentation, graphics and humour are great though. I'm just going to be playing through it in small sessions every now and then to minimize the problems.
 
S

Spirit of Jazz

Banned
I think the game gets a little better in the last level with some of the bullet helly segments. Ultimately though it's let down by poor level design more than anything else which is really surprising given that's where 'Splosion Man excelled. As people have stated they should have gave enemies less health and I think to counter balance this they should've gave the game more bullet hell and Smiley a much smaller-hit both.

I don't think there's much wrong with the mechanics, it's just the game's designed to be too easy and this makes some of it really repetitive. Also there's a distinct lack of power-up for a side-scroller.

The presentation is top-notch though and made it well worth the purchase.
 
F

FateBreaker

Member
I beat it. Being a huge Twisted Pixel fan, this was pretty disappointing. It's a decent game, but I'd rather list a pro-con summary.

- the humor falls flat most of the time. I don't know if it's my age, but most of these jokes are just not funny...not even close. (It does shine at certain points, though.)
- the combat for the 1st half of the game feels like a secondary aspect implemented to the game. It is extremely simplistic, but not in a good way, like Splosion Man.
- General level design is pretty bleh, unlike Splosion Man.
- There are four worlds in this game. The 2nd word (or the first full 3-episode world) is just terrible in pretty much every way.
- The voice acting, especially for Star, is really overdone and obnoxious. Am I the only one who feels this way?
- There are two QTE sequences. This is not a bad thing, really, but I don't understand why this is even a gameplay component if it only occurs twice.
- I am not one to complain about this, but it's really short. I beat this in a day before night came, and I remember Splosion Man taking quite a while.

+Art direction is great
+Music is appropriate; the "Brad" song is surprisingly comical.
+The ability to upgrade Smiley and unlock collectibles is a really cool aspect.
+It gets funnier near the end. The
manga
was definitely comical. The
old-school
world was OK, too.
+Has a good difficulty.
+Bosses are well-designed, fun, and usually challenging.
+The variety of gameplay, while most of it quite shallow, is refreshing since it changes so often.
+Edit: Oh, and new Splosion Man content!

It was pretty good, but definitely my least favorite Twisted Pixel game: Splosion Man (9/10) >>> The Maw (7.5/10) > Comic Jumper (6.5 or 7/10)
 
L

LevityNYC

Banned
LevityNYC said:
Umm... yeah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTlfbBzatDM
Click to expand...

LOL. These guys rock.

Hey Stephen,

Thanks so much for the email. And thanks for the video, sorry you lost 5 to 10 minutes. If I could give it back to you, I would. I lost 15 minutes one time, and it never came back, so I know what you are going thru. ;) Seriously tho, the bug is already fixed. I'm estimating that the fix should go up on LIVE next week some time so keep a look out. Thanks for letting us know. Best wishes, and happy gaming.

Jay S.

Community Mgr. TPG
 
corrosivefrost

corrosivefrost

Member
Mdk7 said:
Just tried the demo...
The gameplay is still kinda meh (even though it seemed better than the impression i had at E3), but i never ever laughed so much in a game.
I'm thinking about buying it just because of the humor, it's THAT good.
Click to expand...

I did.

I'm not liking the gameplay at all. And I'm so sick of the girl screaming at me about my health because the side scrolling gun sections are insane.

FateBreaker -- does the game get better after the 3 Nanoc episodes? I've forced my way through 2... I really hate how easy and simple the melee is vs how balls hard/unforgiving the shooting is... I can only take a level or so at a time.
 
robot

robot

Member
Picked up it despite the mostly negative reviews and having some fun with it. The demo really impressed me but so far havent been blown away like that in the Nanoc levels.

It reminds me of an old licensed game (like from Ocean or LJN). You know the gameplay is not very good and the deaths are often and cheap, but the subject matter keeps you playing through. In this case it's the humor and style of each comic world. I'm really enjoying the 1960's and cant wait to play the Manga portion. It's fun in small bursts. Oh and the Twisted Pixel special attack is one of the funniest/weirdest things I've ever seen in a game.

I would've absolutely recommended this at 800 points but it's really tough to at 1200. I guess it's technically 800 if you buy another 1200 point game and get the 800 back later on, so I guess consider that.
 
L

LevityNYC

Banned
corrosivefrost said:
I did.

I'm not liking the gameplay at all. And I'm so sick of the girl screaming at me about my health because the side scrolling gun sections are insane.
Click to expand...

"Stop sucking!
 
RiccochetJ

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
Just picked this up. While I'm not enjoying the gameplay right now, I have a feeling it will get a lot better as I level up, much like DR2. However, I'm having a blast because everything else is hilarious. I'm writing this as I'm looking at my stats screen and Twisted Pixel is singing to me :lol
 
Y

Yuripaw

Banned
I'm really undecided if I want to get this game or not. I really wanna play through just to see how good/funny it is, because all the presentational stuff looks great. It's just the game play looks pretty terrible. =/
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
Axiom said:
I really wish this game was attached to a more fun game if the trial is anything to go by.
Click to expand...
This is pretty much how I feel after playing the demo.

Stiff controls that just don't feel good are a dealbreaker for me here. Love the concept of jumping into different comics and styles, but the gameplay just isn't up to snuff.
 
N

Nelo Ice

Banned
so unless i decide to trade this for another xbla code like say lara croft or super meat boy i might as well take free avatar rewards a premium theme and 2 splosion man lvls right? :lol

edit:screw it *redeems*
 
robot

robot

Member
Finished it in under 5 hours. Honestly I thought the first & last levels were the best. It seems like they put the most time into those two
but they are pretty much the same exact level
. The
splosion man
boss at the end was a really cool surprise. The whole game was pretty funny for the most part, and the difficulty wasn't nearly as frustrating as I thought it would be. Had a tough time seeing bullets in the Manga universe - it's last boss was brutal. And the unicorn was hilarious.

I did some grinding on the 2nd challenge to upgrade my character, which helped a little. Even managed to rank 4th on the leaderboards for that challenge.
 
R

Ramenman

Member
I played the demo...

Splosion Man had a very minimalist yet polished presentation, and a completely awesome level design crafted around a simple yet efficient gameplay mechanic.

In Comic Jumper, it seems the focus has shifted to the presentation. It is indeed polished and quite original, self aware and stuff. The problem being, they forgot the gameplay as a result. It's simple, but not efficient, and not that much fun. Also, repetitive.

Really, after Splosion Man who shines through is gameplay, it is problem...

Still, only talking about the demo here. But it doesn't make me want to buy the game...
 
F

fernoca

Member
I'm really enjoying the game, but I kinda agree about the gameplay. No actual problems with it, but is like some of the movements and actions end being more complicated, just by design.

Love using the dual analog-setup to move and shoot, but considering that enemies take a few bullets to die and you have them coming from both sides; it makes things harder than they are. And maybe is just me, but noticed that the more I upgrade the damage, the more enemies appear on screen. I though that by upgrading it first, enemies would die faster and the flow of the game would be better, but with each upgrade; there are more enemies; that may die faster; but doesn't make sense. Unless is just me. Noticed it more in the Challenges area.

But overall, the game is darn great. So hope they make more.
 
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