Chickaroo Reviews - Earthworm Jim 3D (PC)

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chickaroo1
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Chickaroo Reviews - Earthworm Jim 3D (PC)

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It's been a few years since a proper Earthworm Jim game, but hey! He has returned! But did he make the glorious jump into 3D right? Or did he fall flat on his wormy face trying?

Game:Earthworm Jim 3D
Systems: Nintendo 64, PC
Release Dates:N64: 10/31/99 (NA), 12/17/99 (EU)
PC: 6/29/00 (NA), 10/26/00 (EU)
Developers: VIS Entertainment
Who Knew Worms Had Brains?
Story:Jim being the hero that he is, once again saves the day as usual. Until one day, a cow hits him square in the face, leaving him in a coma. He is now in his subconscious, where he must get his marbles back and wake up from the coma.
Psychonauts, This Ain’t
Gameplay: So yeah, this is Earthworm Jim's jump into 3D. Is it any good? Well...not really. This game takes a page from better 3D platformers at the time such as Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. At the start of the game, you are in the center of Jim’s brain. Peter Puppy's head is in a tube and offers some guidance for what to do.
Getting into the gameplay, there are about 5 main areas (I think), each representing parts of the brain, such as fear, memories, and more. Being a standard 3D platformer, Jim can run, roll, use weapons and such. You know, late 90’s 3D platforming 101. One thing I will say about the weapons systems - it sucks. You can only shoot enemies if they are close by you, which is absolute horsecrap. So if an enemy is shooting at you from far away, you cannot shoot at them from a distance. You have to be right up in their face to kill them. It’s so freaking annoying. Not to mention that the camera is your worst enemy. Seriously, there is hardly any control over the damn thing. I would have to stop running just to get the camera to go behind me. And then I would end up getting killed by an enemy off screen.
Control wise, it’s not great either. Jumping is not that great and hovering is the freaking worst. You cannot get to farther platform and it’s just a really terrible feeling. I felt so dead after trying to play this game.
Oh Jim, What Happened to You
Graphics:Graphically speaking (since this is the PC version running on Windows 8), they’re alright. Jim’s model is alright, cartoony at best. But it doesn’t look that great. The animations are pretty good, though a bit dated.
Just a Little Too Much
Music:The music is pretty generic. For the PC version, there were a few more tracks than the N64 version. But it doesn’t make things any better. It’s really lack luster and nowhere near as good as the previous games.
In terms of voice acting, Jim is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, who you may all know as the voice of Homer Simpson and many other characters from The Simpsons. His voice is so hard to hear in the game because of the music. And even then, Jim’s one-liners really aren’t that great.
Music is composed by Lee Banyard.
Is This The Death of Jim
Overall:Earthworm Jim 3D is not that great of a game. It just sucks in general. The controls are pretty bad, the graphics are sub par and the music isn’t really great either. This game took a few years to make and didn’t even involve Doug Tennapel, the original creator of the first two games. He was busy making The Neverhood and SkullMonkeys. All in all, pass this game.

2 / 5
See my past reviews here! The Chickaroo Reviews Archive List is here!

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