Earthworm Jim 3D is a platform game, the third in the Earthworm Jim series. It is a sequel to Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2, and the first game in the series to not be developed by Shiny Entertainment, which had recently instituted a strict "no sequels" policy. Interplay Entertainment, having recently purchased the Earthworm Jim rights, handed the franchise off to VIS Interactive. The game suffered a difficult, prolonged development cycle and was repeatedly delayed until it was released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 and Microsoft Windows. The game was not received well, with critics claiming that the charm of the originals was lost, and that despite the long development period, the game still felt sloppy and lacked previously promoted features.
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Earthworm Jim 3D is a bizarre, uneven, but often hilarious ride. The transition to 3D is rough, the camera's a nightmare, and some levels are just plain annoying. But, the humor's off-the-wall, the bosses are creative, and collecting marbles and golden udders is strangely satisfying. It's a flawed gem, but definitely memorable for fans of the series or just weird 90s platformers.
Meh, at least it's good on paper. Likely never beating this one.
That fucking need to go 3D ruined everything.
I'll be honest: this game isn't good, but the beginning at least feels like Eathworm Jim, so...
Without a doubt a huge downgrade from the original 2 games. Still this is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me anyway. The levels vary dramatically in quality. I actually quite like world 3's stages. Thankfully that world features 4 levels as opposed to every other world's 2. It's interesting that the extra levels there have their entrances inside of other levels.
World 1's big flaw is that it often just tells you to slay the same copy paste enemies over and over again. Pretty badly paced. The other worlds still have some of this but otherwise it's a lot more platforming focused which saves it for me. The game runs on Banjo Kazooie rules which is a bit of an odd choice considering the levels are NOT structured around that formula at all. Deaths being devastating because you lose marbles the same way you lose notes makes even rudimentary platforming have some meaningful stakes that keeps the game from being too boring to me. Doubly so for some more risky platforming some levels feature, where you'll likely die or almost die from a single missed jump.
When it's not just having you slay enemies repeatedly there's some engaging and creative ideas. Like in the disco area where you have to shoot all the heads off every zombie to open the next room. Well the heads chase you once you knock 'em off and go back to their body if they hit you. Each room adds another zombie, upping the challenge. I also like the boss fights. I remember them being frustrating as a kid but after playing this game to an excessive degree I find them simply unique and fun. You're riding a pig trying to get all 100 marbles, shooting the boss makes him drop some of his. If you can get used to the controls it can be really satisfying. Love lining up my shots well enough to hit the bosses 3 times in a row, marbles spewing everywhere, voice lines spamming over themselves.
It never hits any super high highs, even as seemingly one of this game's biggest fans, it truly isn't great. A 2 1/2 star rating would likely be more fair. But idk, I'd be lying if I said I had many problems with it. Besides the first world being pretty dull I have a good time. I wouldn't recommend it to most people like I would the first 2 games. But hey, it controls well, I like the bosses, has some occasional decent platforming with high stakes, music's good, it doesn't really overstay its welcome despite requiring you to get all golden udders (jiggies). And like seemingly all old 3D platformers I have NO clue what anyone's talking about when they complain about the camera. I say that's a legitimate skill issue in every single game it's a common complaint in. Not much I'd praise, and from its reputation you'll likely find it even less "okay" than I do. Perhaps I have a small bit of stockholme syndrome here, I've got so much playtime on this it would disturb you to your core. I 100% this game, unlocking the hard mode, then 100% it again in that mode just to feel something.
It's games like this that I'm talking about when I say I have a very high tolerance for mediocre games. I'll rank objectively better games below this in my mind because I genuinely prefer this to stuff like Mario Galaxy or Horizon Zero dawn. Just a little glimpse into my sick and twisted reality. On an introspective note it's interesting because I do like to think of myself as pretty objective when analyzing media. But subjectively I'm somewhat of a masochist according to those around me.
World 1's big flaw is that it often just tells you to slay the same copy paste enemies over and over again. Pretty badly paced. The other worlds still have some of this but otherwise it's a lot more platforming focused which saves it for me. The game runs on Banjo Kazooie rules which is a bit of an odd choice considering the levels are NOT structured around that formula at all. Deaths being devastating because you lose marbles the same way you lose notes makes even rudimentary platforming have some meaningful stakes that keeps the game from being too boring to me. Doubly so for some more risky platforming some levels feature, where you'll likely die or almost die from a single missed jump.
When it's not just having you slay enemies repeatedly there's some engaging and creative ideas. Like in the disco area where you have to shoot all the heads off every zombie to open the next room. Well the heads chase you once you knock 'em off and go back to their body if they hit you. Each room adds another zombie, upping the challenge. I also like the boss fights. I remember them being frustrating as a kid but after playing this game to an excessive degree I find them simply unique and fun. You're riding a pig trying to get all 100 marbles, shooting the boss makes him drop some of his. If you can get used to the controls it can be really satisfying. Love lining up my shots well enough to hit the bosses 3 times in a row, marbles spewing everywhere, voice lines spamming over themselves.
It never hits any super high highs, even as seemingly one of this game's biggest fans, it truly isn't great. A 2 1/2 star rating would likely be more fair. But idk, I'd be lying if I said I had many problems with it. Besides the first world being pretty dull I have a good time. I wouldn't recommend it to most people like I would the first 2 games. But hey, it controls well, I like the bosses, has some occasional decent platforming with high stakes, music's good, it doesn't really overstay its welcome despite requiring you to get all golden udders (jiggies). And like seemingly all old 3D platformers I have NO clue what anyone's talking about when they complain about the camera. I say that's a legitimate skill issue in every single game it's a common complaint in. Not much I'd praise, and from its reputation you'll likely find it even less "okay" than I do. Perhaps I have a small bit of stockholme syndrome here, I've got so much playtime on this it would disturb you to your core. I 100% this game, unlocking the hard mode, then 100% it again in that mode just to feel something.
It's games like this that I'm talking about when I say I have a very high tolerance for mediocre games. I'll rank objectively better games below this in my mind because I genuinely prefer this to stuff like Mario Galaxy or Horizon Zero dawn. Just a little glimpse into my sick and twisted reality. On an introspective note it's interesting because I do like to think of myself as pretty objective when analyzing media. But subjectively I'm somewhat of a masochist according to those around me.
Oof, no. Back to 2D for me.