Padd Solutions

Comix Zone is a goddamned brilliant game. Old news to most i'm sure, but it just really struck me on a recent playthrough just how ahead of it's time it really was. Here's the thing; I grew up on Comix Zone. When I was a kid it was easily my second favorite game (next to Sonic 2 of course). I thought the concept of playing through an actual comic book was absolutely the coolest thing ever. Never once though did I conquer this game. In fact it was, at the time at least, considered to be notoriously difficult and in an era that was know for ridiculously hard games, that was saying a lot.

You see the biggest challenge (aside from the bullshit jump sections. Comix fans know what i'm talking about) was that literally *everything* you did in the game drained your health. See a door you need to get through? Punch it and lose health. Rock blocking your way? Kick it and watch as your health melts away. That huge spinning fan? Ok, well it's probably not a good idea to punch something like that anyway. You get the point though. No matter how hard I tried, and no matter how many different paths I took, ( another feature ahead of its time. Comix feature multiple paths so that every playthrough was different) I was always screwed on health by the time I reached the boss.

Very recently though this game was offered up as a freebie to all PSN Plus users. On my quest to 100% the game I came to a startling revelation; Comix Zone isn't a 2d side-scrolling brawler at all... it's actually a puzzle game. I took my time going through the game this time, really just sat back and looked over every single comic panel I was in. Eventually I was shocked to learn that literally at every single point in this game where you lose health, there is actually a solution to the puzzle that gets you by unscathed. The game doesn't every put you in a position where you HAVE to be injured. Sometimes you need only to use your loyal rat to pull a switch on the other side of the screen. Other times you need to find a loose object in the environment, get behind it, and push it to destroy fan blades or block doors. It was a stroke of absolute brilliance by the developers, and sadly one that is overlooked by all but the most hardcore players.

Comix Zone was released in 1995/1996, and I have yet to see any single 2d "beat-em up" that comes anywhere close to replicating the near perfect balance that game achieved. When you can actually create a puzzle game that doesn't even feel like you're playing a puzzle game...well that's rather amazing. Comix Zone was a game where you could literally play however you wanted. You could choose your own paths, choose your own play style, do things that the industry still to this day wont let you do. Like I said before, when I was a kid I simply played the game as a bare bones brawler, and very rarely had much to show for it. Luckily the game has aged so well that going back to learn all of its nuances is an absolute pleasure.

Comix Zone will always be remembered for its unique concept first and foremost. But I hope that someday soon people will appreciate it for its genius game design as well. In fact I hope that more indy developers take notice of the innovations of Comix and try to implement them in to current gen games. With DLC games on the rise now is the perfect time for ideas like this to resurface. For old school fans and new school people alike; do yourself a favor and get yourself a copy of this game. Most important of all though, play it. Really and truly play it. A lot of people will be quick to declare old school gaming obsolete, but if anything we still have a lot to learn.

All hail Comix Zone. Easily one of the greatest games ever.

  In a turn of events that managed to leave Gabe Newell and his bed of money in peace, Sega and Valve have combined forces to add Sega Genesis games to the Steam digital distribution service.

     I don't know whether to be happy, sad or indifferent, but I'm sure Adam would be more than happy to edit this post with reactions whenever he's done smacking chickens in the face with his toy sword.

     That being said, here's some big headlines in gaming thus far in 2010.

      On May 12th, Valve pissed in the mouths of PC gamers everywhere by allowing Macintosh devil's to partake in the joyous wonders of computer gaming through their digital distribution service, Steam. Launched in a time frame only slightly affected by the infamous Valve Time, the service allows Mac users to download and play select game titles available for download straight to their computers, no discs required. It's launch and go, just as its Windows counterpart has been for the 6 years since Steams launch in 2004.

     While news such as this seemingly should have upset the PC Gaming Master Race and it's minions ("Macs are for plebs.") it's been taken more with a grain of salt and watchful eye on how the simpler users of the Apple community take to their beloved service. Revered and also hated, Steam has surprisingly made the jump over the enemy gates with only a few minor hiccups.

     The selection at the moment isn't exactly the biggest, but it's shaping up quite nicely for under one month out in the wild. With choices like Portal, which was free to all Steam users from May 12th to the 24th, Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2 rounding out Valve's personal offerings (Team Fortress 2 allowing Mac and PC users to duke it out with each other cross-platform style), other titles from a wide range of companies have also entered the fray with some great games covering many different genres.

    Will Mac overtake Windows in the world of gaming? It's doubtful that'll be happening anytime soon, but this is certainly a huge step in the right direction for those of you who just can't help but drool at the scent of Steve Jobs mechanically engineered body odor pre-sprayed on every last one of your electronic devices. Or if you just like Macbooks and video games. Whichever.




     This little bit of big news hit the planet around the same time Gabe Newell betrayed all of those who ever truly loved him (see above.) LittleBigPlanet, the game that required no sequel, had it's sequel announced just this past May and holy hell in a handbasket was it a doozy of an announcement. A fairly standard trailer with a fairly non-standard song attached to it was released by Media Molecule on May 8th, revealing many tasty tidbits about the gameplay changes LBP 2 has in store for us.
  
     The original LBP was created entirely as a platform game with the most powerful level editor on consoles to date. With enough ingenuity you could create working machines, drivable vehicles, complicated puzzles and beautiful works of art. Then the community did what Media Molecule probably didn't expect, but crossed their fingers so hard would happen that they snapped and splintered. With the editor, loyal LittleBigPlanet denizens broke every last rule of the game. They created new games. Side scrolling shoot'em ups, calculators, simple RPG adventures, some even created entire movies with handmade cutscenes and no gameplay to them at all. They took what Media Molecule had worked so hard to create and broke everything about it, all the while taking 2 H's and the number 4 and perverting them into something horrendous and evil, and it looks like that was what Media Molecule had been waiting for this entire time.

     With LBP 2, the guys at MM have (as their trailer so aptly states) made not just a platform game, but a platform for games. With word spreading that the developers themselves have already made fully working Micro Machines and Command and Conquer clones and the launch trailer itself showing off a wide array of new possibilities, the excitement I and, I'm assuming, a few other million world citizens are feeling at the moment is intense. The list of features being added to the game, that we know of, are: the ability to radically change the camera angle, allowing for a wide array of different gameplay styles; a new grappling hook item that can be used for swinging and presumably more; the addition of Sackbots (one of the bigger additions), little wooden dolls with the same body structure as a Sackboy that can be changed from their default blocky look and into a real Sackboys, with the ability to use movement you can record which can be used for; the new cutscenes with recordable audio and; the new AI chipsets that you can now implant on machinery.

     With a slew of new options announced outright, I can't imagine what Media Molecule is still hiding up their sleeve. Here's to hoping they've got plenty more to show us at this E3 and let's hope just a little bit extra for another beta test too, eh?


  
    Another big, though ultimately expected announcement was made recently as well. Guerilla Games let the cat out of the bag and unleashed a flurry of delicious Killzone 3 screens for us all to bath in our saliva, along with some hands-on time for big name gaming sites.

     Changes being reported are tighter controls, 3D support (glasses required), gameplay and story cues taken from other popular PS3 franchises *cough* UNCHARTED 2 *cough* and the addition of jetpacks. Yes, those jetpacks.

     While actual details at the moment are sparse, the changes being listed are already showing the Killzone 2's flaws are absolutely being addressed. Singleplayer and multiplayer are being treated as 2 entirely separate and whole games with 2 teams working on each half of the game. Multiplayer was my favorite part of Killzone 2, from the atmosphere to addictiveness of the classes. All it needed were some tighter controls and a bigger, more balanced distinction between the class types and it would've been perfect, in my opinion.

     While these are hardly all of the announcements the year 2010 has seen, they are some of the more recent and fresh ones in the minds of gamers, and some of the biggest. We're nearing half of the year down and there's still plenty of time for more to be revealed, so keep your ears perked up and your mouse on the lookout, because we'll be covering every last bit of it we feel like.