COMIC BOY for Android

It is bad

This game is a nice concept. It sounds cool to control a character inside a comic. But the execution is extremely poor. It’s like a very early alpha of a game, but doesn’t have any sort of polish. It’s repetitive and the controls are not all that great. I don’t normally write bad reviews like this, but since Google featured this app for some reason I decided to check it out only to be pretty disappointed. Hopefully the developers see these reviews and improve the game. It could be really good, but it’s just not there yet.

This game is great fun and a clever homage to classic old school comic strips from the papers.

(Review Updated) It’s kind of disappointing because somewhere in this app is a fun, creative game wanting to break free. But it’s held back by — A.) I don’t care if it was an attempt at a homage or not - The main character looks too close to Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes to be acceptable! Buuuut that said, other issues are: B.) The obnoxious, unbearably annoying rock music... EDIT: Fixed! Great work! The new music fits in very smoothly with the levels now and is no longer distracting. Made the game MUCH more playable and —along with the simplistic gameplay— dare I say, relaxing! The added mute button is appreciated too. However, if you’re not looking for a potentially relaxing game: C.) The gameplay and levels themselves really lack energy. The game honesty looks great visually with smooth character animations, but actually gets pretty boring and mindless once you start playing it. Just run through the panel. Pick up collectibles. Duck. Jump. Done. Incorporating some more variety, such as an attack move that can be performed against enemies (as opposed to just jumping over everything) could possibly fix this problem. The controls need to be a little more responsive too. And the menus need to be more user friendly (Add a “restart level” button!) The concept is really cool though, and if these features of the game were fixed (with a new main character and more fun and engaging levels) it would be awesome!

I was drawn to this game for its art style but can’t get past the poor gameplay. It looks like a side-scrolling endless runner crossed with a platformer, reminding me of games like Nitrome’s Leap Day, but the control responsiveness and physics are off. So for example, the first character has a roll move that allows you to dodge under hanging obstacles. However, this dodge has a tightly predefined distance, so the character pops up immediately upon completion. That’s fine in a game with stationary objects, like most endless runners, but here there are objects that move. That means you can easily find yourself in situations that are unwinnable, e.g., if you are moving in the same direction as a swinging platform that you need to dodge under, because you run a little slower than the swing, your only option is to dodge under it (limited distance) or jump over it (finicky hit box). Combine that with limited lives and an unskippable countdown timer after losing 3 lives, and you have a lot of unnecessary and repetitive frustration. There are also odd choices for the physics; for example, your character typically sails through the air when jumping in a slow arc yet if you walk off of a ledge, you drop literally straight down like a rock, and at a FASTER rate than you fall in jumps! That just makes no sense at all; the game does not consistently apply its own physics, which for a platformer, for me, is the kiss of death.