ToeJam & Earl

"One of the best two player games ever."

Toejam and Earl could be described as one of the most original games of all time. The story is of two aliens travelling from their home planet of Funkotron, their spaceship crash-lands on earth and shatters into ten parts. These parts need to be found so they can go home, but its not that easy because the inhabitants of earth don't really like aliens too much. So cue the maddest game ever invented.

Select Toejam or Earl and travel across fifteen levels finding the pieces of their ship whist avoiding such enemies as the bogie monster, cupid, ice cream vans and a mass of other wacky monsters. Toejam is a faster walker than Earl but Earl has more health so the choice is quite effective on the game. The levels are set put from almost top down view as you walk round the land looking for items. Each level has an elevator which transports the aliens to the next level (very Dr.Who style), you can go back down through levels by falling off the edge of the map but this isnt usually by choice. There are also gift boxes spread across the land to help (or hinder) them. All packages have a distinctive shape and colour but you dont know what is in the package until you open it, some are good, some are bad. Good gifts include food which gives you health, tomatoes which you can throw at enemies and rubber rings so you can swim to name but a few. Bad gifts are random enemy, poison food and total bummer which takes a life away. The gifts change every game so you dont know what is what.
Another great thing is that there are two types of game, fixed and random. Fixed means that the levels are always the same and the lifts and pieces of ship are located the same every time, the drawback is that there are far more monsters to get in the way. Random means the levels are never the same in any way making for a different experience every time.

The graphics are very colourful and cartoony with beautifully draw characters. They way that they are animated makes it great to watch them move from Toejams three legged walk to the rude antics of the bogey man! When all said and done they are pretty simple but the game works well that way.

As soon as you start playing you will instantly be hooked by the groovy sounds within the game. The music will have you humming along in no time. Fantastic.

The best thing about the game is the playability, it is so much fun to play you'll never want to switch off. Get a mate along side and you will be there for days on end until you finish the game. Because of the random mode you should never get bored of this game, the challenge is just about right too. The earlier levels are easy enough and give you a good chance to pick up some gift boxes, later on things become tough with more enemies to contend with. This is one that you will come back to time and time again.

Graphics - 8 - Great cartoony graphics, superb animations.
Sounds - 9 - Groovy little number.
Gameplay - 10 - Original and totally addictive.
Game size - 7 - Not too bad on random mode, hard on fixed.
Addictiveness - 10 - New game every time means you'll always be back.

Overall - Get a friend and prepare to spend days hooked.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/29/01, Updated 04/29/01