Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley

Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley, simply known as Comic Jumper, is an action side-scroller developed by Twisted Pixel Games and published by both Twisted Pixel Games and Microsoft Game Studios. It was released in 2010 exclusively for the Xbox 360 via the Game Marketplace in the Xbox Live Arcade.
== Plot ==
Captain Smiley and his teammate, Star, who is attached to his upper chest, receive a distress call from their sidekick, Gerda, who is being held hostage by the evil Dr. Winklemeyer. When Smiley and Star learn that is a trap, they chase Dr. Winklemeyer out of the building, however, they leave Gerda behind as "punishment" for not telling them it was a trap. As they chase the doctor, they find Captain Smiley's arch-nemesis and Star's hero, Brad, is working with Winklemeyer and attempts to use his "Bradcopter" and "Bradbots" to take down the duo. As Captain Smiley grabs Winklemeyer as he is about to escape, they fall off the rooftops. Before the battle between Winklemeyer, Brad and Captain Smiley begins, Captain Smiley expresses how the comic was horrible and he was beating up girls, albeit robots, throughout the entire comic.
It then flips to the real world where Captain Smiley Issue #23 is a critical and commercial failure. Twisted Pixel then attempts to bring the Captain Smiley comics back by having him guest appear in several other comics. Much to Captain Smiley's dismay, Winklemeyer and Brad are now living in his headquarters. Smiley then sets off to begin his guest appearances, which range between four different comic styles: Modern, Fantasy, Silver Age and Manga, which include the Captain Smiley comics, the Nanoc the Barbarian, the Improbable Paper Pals comics and the Cutie Cutie Kid Cupids comics respectively.
After getting enough guest appearances, Captain Smiley relaunches his comic, which becomes a critical and commercial success.
== Gameplay ==
Comic Jumper is played in a 2.5D fashion, where Captain Smiley can move on a two-dimensional plane, but there are three-dimensions in the design of the areas. Core gameplay revolves around Captain Smiley using his pistols and melee attacks to damage the enemies and platforming throughout the level. Gameplay is also broken into parts with on-rails shooting, where aiming can only be used, and quick-time events, where certain buttons must be pressed at the right time. Captain Smiley can use a special attack which allows him to call on the Twisted Pixel employees to destroy the enemies on the screen.
By performing well and exceeding reader's expectations, Captain Smiley can earn extra reward cash on top of the base fee for his guest appearance. Money can be used to purchase upgrades and unlockable content, such as comics. There are also exclusive content for players who have bought 'Splosion Man, another Twisted Pixel game. Captain Smiley can purchase two additional levels for 'Splosion Man as well as playing it on the arcade in the headquarters' basement along with The Maw.
== Reception ==
Comic Jumper was well received by critics, averaging 81.79% and 78/100 at GameRankings and Metacritic respectively. The majority of reviewers scored the game at or above an 80% average. Critics have been generally enjoyed the game's humor, which is often abstract at times.
Category:Games released on the Xbox
Category:Games that are rated T
Category:Games released in 2010