pwnophobia
06-14-2010, 06:18 AM
Title: Earthworm Jim HD Review
Platform: XBLA
Platform Reviewed: XBLA
Developer: Gameloft (http://www.gameloft.com/)
Publisher: XBL Arcade (http://xbox.com)
MSRP: $10 (800 Microsoft Points)
Writer: Adam 'pwnophobia' Cogswell
Earthworm Jim HD Review
Groovy!
It's kind of funny when you think about it, some people like to complain when a game is too short. Games like Earthworm Jim are only two hours long, and even though you didn't drop $60 on it when it first came out, you still enjoyed every moment of the game. You replayed it over and over trying to find every nook and secret that it had to offer. Now that you can't spend Mom and Dad's money you might be a bit more frugal, so you're asking yourself: "What can a two hour game offer me?" To which I respond: nostalgia and re-playability.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/extra/earthwormjimhdxbox36000-1.jpg
For those of you that are unfamiliar with Earthworm Jim I'll give you a quick run down. You're a worm who just happened to have a "Ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit" land right on top of you transforming you into an intelligent super hero. Then you conveniently over hear a conversation between Psy-Crow and Queen Slug-For-a-Butt about the Queen's sister, Princess What's-Her-Name, and take it upon yourself to save the Princess and destroy the bad guys before "all is lost". Jim can pull his worm self out of the suit and use it as a whip, he can spin his head around and mimic a helicopter blade and is accompanied by a plasma style gun. All of this is used through levels of cow flinging, crow killing, alien squashing insanity.
If you played the original game then you're in for a surreal trip down nostalgia lane. When you first fire up the campaign you are presented with a difficulty choice: Easy, Normal and Original. I chose Normal because I wanted to be able to finish the game, my inner-child screamed something about me being a pansy, but I actually wanted to remember what I once played. Just about everything is the same as the original, from the difficulty (if chosen) to the controls. Yes, you're still confined to "d-pad esque" angles, and it hinders game play. Even though enemies and maps are designed to use these controls it makes it a tad bit more difficult to play the game when you're used to a full 360 range of movement with 'modern day' games. Continuing with the theme of the past, EWJ still always faces to the left so if you want to attack to the right you need to step in that direction. You can stand still and shoot in all directions but you can't jump and shoot or whip to the right without moving that way. Overall those are my only complaints about the game, had they been updated my time with this incredibly difficult platformer would have been just a tad more enjoyable.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/extra/earthwormjimhdxbox36000-2.jpg
After you've played through all of the single-player campaign you can move on to three BRAND NEW bonus stages that yield Avatar awards. If you've got another friend, or three, you can play a whole campaign of BRAND NEW multiplayer levels that force you to work together to complete. Unlike New Super Mario Brothers Wii there is no "invisible wall" so you have free range of the entire map, but you are confined to a portion of said map once you spread far enough apart. Playing together is challenging and fun, but can completed in about an hour and a half if you're taking your time. To combat all of this Gameloft has implemented a leader board system that tells you the worlds fastest time and your fastest time. This is where the re-playability comes in: You can spend hours trying to find the best path in the game, grabbing all of the little secrets and items, to try and get the top score/time.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/extra/earthwormjimhdxbox36000-3.jpg
It is fairly easy to recommend this game if you're looking for something to do for a few hours. Ten dollars isn't a high price point and if you've got a few buddies on your friends list, surprisingly I had many, who also bought this game you can all enjoy it together. If Gameloft decides to release the second EWJ in HD I hope that take the control scheme and give it a bit of a re-vamp and possibly add more Bonus Levels to keep me wanting to play. Now I can only hope that the next Avatar unlock is a EWJ plasma rifle because my Avatar just doesn't look right without one.
Score: 4.5 out of 5
http://evavhost.com/public/45.gif
The Good Pure nostalgic goodness. Three bonus levels added with Avatar awards. Addition of four player multi-player will brand new levels.
The Bad Original control scheme, it needs a 360° control update.
The Ugly The Snot boss looks ugly in HD, but in a good way.
Platform: XBLA
Platform Reviewed: XBLA
Developer: Gameloft (http://www.gameloft.com/)
Publisher: XBL Arcade (http://xbox.com)
MSRP: $10 (800 Microsoft Points)
Writer: Adam 'pwnophobia' Cogswell
Earthworm Jim HD Review
Groovy!
It's kind of funny when you think about it, some people like to complain when a game is too short. Games like Earthworm Jim are only two hours long, and even though you didn't drop $60 on it when it first came out, you still enjoyed every moment of the game. You replayed it over and over trying to find every nook and secret that it had to offer. Now that you can't spend Mom and Dad's money you might be a bit more frugal, so you're asking yourself: "What can a two hour game offer me?" To which I respond: nostalgia and re-playability.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/extra/earthwormjimhdxbox36000-1.jpg
For those of you that are unfamiliar with Earthworm Jim I'll give you a quick run down. You're a worm who just happened to have a "Ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit" land right on top of you transforming you into an intelligent super hero. Then you conveniently over hear a conversation between Psy-Crow and Queen Slug-For-a-Butt about the Queen's sister, Princess What's-Her-Name, and take it upon yourself to save the Princess and destroy the bad guys before "all is lost". Jim can pull his worm self out of the suit and use it as a whip, he can spin his head around and mimic a helicopter blade and is accompanied by a plasma style gun. All of this is used through levels of cow flinging, crow killing, alien squashing insanity.
If you played the original game then you're in for a surreal trip down nostalgia lane. When you first fire up the campaign you are presented with a difficulty choice: Easy, Normal and Original. I chose Normal because I wanted to be able to finish the game, my inner-child screamed something about me being a pansy, but I actually wanted to remember what I once played. Just about everything is the same as the original, from the difficulty (if chosen) to the controls. Yes, you're still confined to "d-pad esque" angles, and it hinders game play. Even though enemies and maps are designed to use these controls it makes it a tad bit more difficult to play the game when you're used to a full 360 range of movement with 'modern day' games. Continuing with the theme of the past, EWJ still always faces to the left so if you want to attack to the right you need to step in that direction. You can stand still and shoot in all directions but you can't jump and shoot or whip to the right without moving that way. Overall those are my only complaints about the game, had they been updated my time with this incredibly difficult platformer would have been just a tad more enjoyable.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/extra/earthwormjimhdxbox36000-2.jpg
After you've played through all of the single-player campaign you can move on to three BRAND NEW bonus stages that yield Avatar awards. If you've got another friend, or three, you can play a whole campaign of BRAND NEW multiplayer levels that force you to work together to complete. Unlike New Super Mario Brothers Wii there is no "invisible wall" so you have free range of the entire map, but you are confined to a portion of said map once you spread far enough apart. Playing together is challenging and fun, but can completed in about an hour and a half if you're taking your time. To combat all of this Gameloft has implemented a leader board system that tells you the worlds fastest time and your fastest time. This is where the re-playability comes in: You can spend hours trying to find the best path in the game, grabbing all of the little secrets and items, to try and get the top score/time.
http://evavhost.com/i/reviews/extra/earthwormjimhdxbox36000-3.jpg
It is fairly easy to recommend this game if you're looking for something to do for a few hours. Ten dollars isn't a high price point and if you've got a few buddies on your friends list, surprisingly I had many, who also bought this game you can all enjoy it together. If Gameloft decides to release the second EWJ in HD I hope that take the control scheme and give it a bit of a re-vamp and possibly add more Bonus Levels to keep me wanting to play. Now I can only hope that the next Avatar unlock is a EWJ plasma rifle because my Avatar just doesn't look right without one.
Score: 4.5 out of 5
http://evavhost.com/public/45.gif
The Good Pure nostalgic goodness. Three bonus levels added with Avatar awards. Addition of four player multi-player will brand new levels.
The Bad Original control scheme, it needs a 360° control update.
The Ugly The Snot boss looks ugly in HD, but in a good way.