Earthworm Jim 3D Review

Unfortunately, Jim's next generation debut almost never happened. The game was delayed numerous times and the publisher, Interplay finally pulled out. EJ 3D looked to be vapourware. However, by some miracle, Vis Interactive along with new publisher Rockstar have not only managed to bring EJ and his wacky humour to the N64, but they've managed to retain the same look and feel that made him a hit in the first place.<br><br>After being struck by a cow(Hey! stop laughing, this is serious), EJ loses his marbles. And it's up to his Superego to save Jim's sanity by gathering not only Jim's lost marbles, but the golden udders of lucidity as well. Jim's Superego will have to traverse Jim's memory, happiness, fear and fantasy in the hopes of restoring what's left of our hero's mind. In order to restore Jim's mind, you'll have to go up against some of the nastiest villains Jim has ever met. Not to worry though, as our hero has plenty of weapons at his disposal. Including Bananamite and the dreaded Gnome gun(wait until you see what this thing shoots).<br><br>The game has a very unique look and feel to it, which isn't suprising, seeing as though it takes place inside the brain of the craziest earthworm on the planet. The game's worlds are made up of a lot of bright, pastel coloured textures and sport some rather impressive lighting effects, such as the muzzle flash when Jim fires his gun. The characters are nicely animated, although Jim's rolling animation is questionable.<br><br>The sound in EJ 3D is pretty much standard fare for this type of game. The basic 'bleeps' and 'boings' are all there, as well as some nice speech samples for our hero. Some of Jim's one-liners are hilarious, but like most things, become a bit annoying after hearing them for the hundredth time.<br><br>Throughout the game, Jim is required to perform certain tasks in exchange for golden udders (which are needed to unlock the other segments of his brain). The tasks vary from freeing certain characters, to retrieving items. Although the majority of the game seems to revolve around finding the correct switches to open doors and such. Don't worry though, it's not half as tedious as it sounds. In fact, some of the missions are an absolute blast to play.<br><br>Unfortunately, as good as the game looks and feels, it's marred by an abysmal camera system. Holding the R button is supposed to keep the camera centered behind Jim, but more often than not the camera doesn't even move when you press the R button. By pressing the left and right C buttons, it's possible to rotate the camera around our hero, but get too close to a wall and the camera refuses to budge. Now, this is fine in the wide open areas where the walls are miles apart, but in a number of the small, enclosed rooms I found myself unable to see where I was going, let alone able to look around the room for items. Although the camera system is rather poor, keeping the camera centered behind our hero becomes second nature after a few hours of play. That said, moving the camera shouldn't be our job and that still doesn't solve the camera problems in small rooms. <br><br>The camera system aside, EJ 3D is a wonderfully original and fun game to play. Given half a chance I'm certain that any platform junkie will find EJ 3D a highly enjoyable experience. Yes, ladies and gentleman, the worm has most definitely returned.