Earthworm Jim

"From The Era Of When Earthworm Jim Games Were Made By Shiny"

There was a time when Earthworm Jim games weren't just good, they were great. That's because they were made by those nice chaps over at Shiny Entertainment. The last few games were cranked out by Crave. I really hate Crave, mainly for taking Earthworm Jim, ripping him apart limb from limb, the half-heartedly trying to put him back together. Then there were those nasty Men in Black games. I don't care if they published Blasting Again. Sure, the game was sweet, but is it really that much better than slaughtering EWJ, considering they had nothing to do with the actual production?

You'll see plenty more Crave bashing whenever I review a game that some how relates to it. Enough for this review. Let's get on with what we're here for.

The plot for this game is about as cheesy as Kraft Cheese and Macaroni. A space suit falling to Earth after surviving the explosion of a space ship lands on an earthworm named Jim, thus the birth of Earthworm Jim. He hears of a Princess named ''Princess What's-Her-Name'' and goes off to save her.

I told you it was cheesy, but you didn't want to listen, did you?

Playing the game is simple enough. Basically, you just run around and shoot stuff. You then travel the level until you come to the end, where you usually fight a boss. The one you ''fight'' after you do the Tube Race is so easy you wonder why the programmers even put him in there. Probably to make up for the insanity of the Tube Race itself. During the levels, you jump across platforms, climb ledges, and that kind of stuff. You can also pick up items such as a plasma gun which fires a stronger bullet than the original gun and an extra life or two.

There are the occasional puzzles. For example, in the beginning you have to get a cow out of your way. It's a no-brainer as most of the ''puzzles'' required to finish this game are. There are some extra puzzles, such as getting into a secret room in one of the levels. I'm not going to say it because first off, this isn't a walkthrough. Second, you're not missing much if you don't know how to get there.

After every ''level theme'', you play something called ''Andy Asteroids''. In it, you have to race Psycrow to the end of the portal you're in. You also have to dodge asteroids which stop you for a few seconds if you hit one, and Psycrow can only get so far behind. Win and continue on the the next level. Lose and you have to fight Psycrow before you can go on.

The challenge of the game is very high. Even on the easy setting, it can be a pretty hard game. Probably the most irritating part of the game is the Tube Race. To put it simply, it sucks. When you're new to the game, you will die lots of times. Most of the time you run out of air. The rest of the time you run into the sides of the course so many times you smash the dome. Only after lots and lots of training can you do it. I've done it several times, but only after hours of frustration. I used to skip the level entirely, but finally decided to practice doing it. After you pass that, get ready for some levels that make everything before the Tube Race look like child's play, but are nowhere near as irritating as the Tube Race.

What this game makes up for in challenge, it lacks in replay. OK, while you're playing you can't put it down. After you finally finish it, you may play again, then put it on your shelf for about a year before you play it again. You can challenge yourself to, say, beat it under an hour or win all the Andy Asteroids. But there isn't very much to call you back.

Controlling Jim is fairly easy as well. He responds well, and it's not irritating to aim. When he fires, he feet are plastered to the ground, which isn't a bad thing. There is a slight delay when you tell Jim to whip, as he has to pull himself out of his suit. The major downside: using his helicopter skill is painful on your finger.

The graphics of Earthworm Jim are very good. The color scheme is nice and fits the stages. A very nice effect is that the backgrounds move with you and have depth perception. In the first stage, if you get it in the right position the sun will brightly shine through a different layer of the background. The enemies that get thrown at you look very nice and in most cases kind of cartoony. Speaking of cartoony, watching all the stuff Jim does if you let him stand long enough is entertaining to watch. While Jim animates very well, he's a little on the ugly side and that picture of his face that shows up when you start a level just might creep you out after a while.

The music is good. You've got lots of nice, up-beat songs like the one that plays in New Junk City. While the actual music of the game is very good, the quality is a wee bit on the poor side. It sounds kind of staticy and a little fake. The songs are mostly long, although the one that plays on the part of Buttville where you have to helicopter down the tunnel is pretty short. Not unreasonable. The level only takes about as long as the song.

The sound effects aren't great, but they're not ''bring up your last meal'' bad. There isn't a big variety of them, and the ones we have sound a little scratchy. You have the ''rat-a-tat-tat'' of Jim's gun and lots of explosions. Occasionally something else, like Psycrow's squawking. But the sound effects are nothing short of average.

Scorings
Story: 3/10
Gameplay/Fun Factor: 8/10
Control: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 7/10
Overall: 8/10

Forget Menace 2 the Galaxy! Forget Earthworm Jim 3D! Get the original! With simple yet fun gameplay, smooth controls, great graphics, and good music, it had to have spawned a sequel, action figures, a TV show, and even comic books for a reason.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/16/02, Updated 11/16/02