Earthworm Jim

"In one word....GROOVY!"

Earthworm Jim was the bizarre 2-d shooter that first put Jim the gun-toting, crow whipping, 'Groovy!' screaming worm, and the gaming company Shiny, on the map, and spawned action figures, sequels and even an animated TV show. The PC version of Earthworm Jim (also known as Earthworm Jim: Special Edition) added a new weapon, a new level and a save feature.
The game was ported from the Sega CD version to PC by a small Chicago company known as Kinesoft, in hopes of duplicating the success of other ports such as Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, which they also ported. In fact many of the same people that worked on Pitfall also worked on the port of EWJ.

Story: Jim was just your average worm really, until something amazing happened. One day he was just doing his worm thing when a space ship exploded and a suit and gun fell out and Jim decided to try them out. The suit gave Jim super strength and the gun gave him the ability to blast away at his enemies. A short distance away Jim heard bounty hunter Psy-Crow and his boss, Princess Slug-for-a-Butt discussing how the suit has great power and could make the princess even more beautiful than her sister, the fair Princess What's-Her-Name. Jim decides that he needs to meet this Princess What's-Her-Name and head off to find her before Psy-Crow does. The standard save the girl theme with an odd sci-fi twist.

Game Play: You control Jim and move around left, right, up and down and through all sorts of crazy levels set in places such as intestines and a junk yard. You have the ability to find shortcuts, extra lives, and various other things, such as weapons and health pick-ups. Jim starts off with 100% health and each time he's hit it dwindles a set amount depending on the difficulty saying. Don't fear though you can recover the health by finding blue atoms that will restore a set amount that also depends on the difficulty.
Every few levels Jim will have to race Psy-Crow in a mini-game known as Andy Asteroids where he hits speed boosts and avoids asteroids all in an attempt to beat him to the next level. If he wins, he goes on to the next level unscathed, if not he'll have to battle the nasty bounty hunter. Each level he gets more and more difficult.
Each level is nothing like the last and all have a very unique, if not a tad odd, design. One fine example of the uniqueness of the game is Snot a Problem, where you bungy jump against a psycho booger known as Major Mucus. The point is to bump him into the side the level to slowly wear away at his rope while at times avoiding a fierce monster below. You'll be able to play them over and over again and never be bored, between multiple difficulty levels and overall just one helluva fun game.
Score-9

Controls: The default controls use Q, W, and E for jumping shooting and whipping and you use the arrow keys to move around. You are capable of jumping, whipping and shooting diagonally as well. I find while awkward at first those controls work out great once you get used to them. However if you don't like them you can always change them around, or use a joystick or gamepad. Also all the controls are very responsive and don't take much time to master. You'll have them down in ten or fifteen minutes flat.
Score-8

Graphics: The graphics to Earthworm Jim are incredibly appealing, colorful and vibrant when they need to be and dark and brooding when they should be. Most levels stick to one specific color and several similar shades. For example Level 5 (that's its real title) is a dark shade of blue all the way throughout. However all the mechanisms in the lab, whether they be conveyor belts or a giant cage that imprisons you, are extremely detailed.
Jim himself and all the other characters in the game have more of a cartoonish look to them than the levels, which fits the very fun and wacky mood of the game quite well.
Score-9

Music: All the music in the game ranges quite a bit. Some are odd little country ditties with lots of banjoes and mouth harps while Planet Heck has elevator music playing, to prove that it truly is what its name states. A nice plus is if you like the tunes you can pop the CD-ROM into any CD player and listen to the soundtrack. While not all the tracks are amazing some of them will definitely stick in your head.
Score-7

Sound Effects: The sound effects are done with amazing accuracy. The bark of the attack dogs in New Junk City sounds so realistic if the volume is too high my dogs bark back. The plasma shot sounds like a laser and the machine gun sounds like a machine gun. And Jim's voice acting is hilarious. He has a very odd cartoonish voice that really adds to the fun atmosphere of the game. And the opening where someone belches ''Earth Worm JIM'' is nothing short of amazing.
Score-10

In the end Earthworm Jim is one amazing port. I enjoy it as much, if not more on my PC as I do on the Sega Genesis and CD. I highly recommend getting it if you see it, as you can find it for cheap and it'll provide hours of fun.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/01, Updated 09/04/01