Earthworm Jim, amongst the biggest badasses in the video game world. I mean, they just don’t make heroes like him anymore. Random earthworm who had a super-advanced space suit falling on him from outer space, making him a super powerful, lasergun-totting, super hero? And he can use his head as a whip? Awesome.
He hasn’t seen lots of action in quite some time (let’s just forget Earthworm Jim 3D, shall we?), but finally Jim is back and awesome as he should be.

I wanted to do a full review of this, but, well, I can’t find the motivation/originality to write a full complete review of such a classic game without sounding like a broken record. Instead, I’ll just quickly give my impressions on it, which will be a lot simpler.

Read on!

Graphics/Sounds
Like any game with “HD” in the title, this gets a graphic boost from the original. And they succeeded in making this really good looking. It keeps the same overall visual style, but the amount of detail is a lot higher than in the original. I was sort of scared that it would lose some of its original charm, but I’m happy to have been proven wrong. The sprites are a lot more detailed, you see more things on the screen, the animation is smoother and just great-looking. The backgrounds look a whole lot nicer too, which is great. The boost to the graphics is great, but the fact that they didn’t remove the original’s awesomeness in the transition is badass. While the graphics are basically the same as in the iPhone version, the much higher resolution offered by the PS3 on an HDTV just makes it look so much better.

The music also gets an upgrade. The game uses much higher quality instruments and sounds than the Genesis or SNES could produce, but they don’t change the composition of any of the game’s very memorable tracks, so while everything sounds better, it doesn’t sound different from the original, so that’s a big plus here. Like the graphics, the sound is basically the same as in the iPhone version, but much higher quality since it comes out of much higher-quality speakers than the iPhones’.

Gameplay
Maybe it’s because the Genesis has a very awkward button layout (that works well for 2-button games, but not as well for 3-button games), but I was never very good at the Genesis version (only played the SNES version once). And I could barely play the iPhone version because, let’s face it, and games requiring a d-pad and buttons just don’t work well on the platform, at all (making the iPhone version of the game terrible). On the other hand, this new version controls really well. The fact that the PS3 controller has a good d-pad and good button placement make it very easy to get into. Earthworm Jim has never been this intuitive.

The gameplay itself is solid. Running around shooting all the weird enemies (but not while you’re jumping… which I actually don’t have a problem with since the game is built around that), being able to shoot in 8 directions, picking up health and ammo for the more powerful version of the gun, platforming, using Jim’s head as a whip to hit enemies or swing from certain objects… it’s all very fun and very smooth, as it always was.

There have been some minor changes from the original version though (changes that were originally in the iPhone version). One of the funnest changes is the fact that you can actually stock up on plasma, by switching back to your normal gun with the R1 button (but you lose all your plasma ammo if you die). Some levels have new parts to them, where Jim is out of his power suit, and you have to platform through a new level up to getting your suit back, at which point you continue the level normally. And some new levels were added to the game, which you can access after completing the game.

And multiplayer was added to the game. It enables up to 4 players to traverse new levels together. Some have small puzzles which aren’t too tough to figure out, and, while they reuse graphics from other levels, the level design, while easier than the actual levels, is still very well done. I haven’t actually played it myself (well, I did go through level 1, alternating between controlling player 1 and player 2, just to see what it was like… but that doesn’t count), but I’m sure it’s pretty fun.

Overall
While most of the game takes heavily from the iPhone version (lots of the additions are in that version), it looks, sounds and controls a whole lot better. The iPhone version had the right idea for the game but, well, the iPhone sucks for any game that requires buttons… Earthworm Jim has never been this easy to control and fun to play. EJ is one of the big classics of gaming, and this remake doesn’t just do it justice, it surpasses it. It’s sadly not a sequel, but that doesn’t matter much when it’s such a great remake of the original.

I highly recommend this game. It’s fun and challenging, and it’s a game every gamer should experience at least once.

jobocan Console, Games, impressions, ps3, PSN, XBLA, xbox 360