Earthworm Jim 3D (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 1.5 stars Poor
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 3.2 (1.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Erik Wolpaw
• Reviewed on: 07/10/2000
• Released on: 06/29/2000
• Originally published on GameSpot: Earthworm Jim 3D (PC) Review

If you're a fan of the first two Earthworm Jim games, you'll be excited to learn that the spacesuit-powered annelid is back for a third installment. Unfortunately, the excitement will end the moment you actually play the tedious game.

Earthworm Jim 3D attempts to rethink the side-scrolling platform action of the two earlier games. Whereas the original games boasted funny and truly inspired hand-drawn artwork and animation, everything in Earthworm Jim 3D is rendered using low polygon models. Both the characters and the environments are stiff, simple, and lifeless, especially when compared with the exuberant cartoon quality displayed in the game's precursors. To the left of your health indicator is a hand-drawn sketch of Jim that changes as he takes damage; it's one of the only images in the game that captures the visual spirit of the first two games, and it acts as a constant reminder of Earthworm Jim 3D's better heritage.

Earthworm Jim 3D is like every generic 3D platform game made in the last five years. The story is, Jim has gone insane. You must guide him through the different areas of his own mind and help him regain his sanity by collecting his lost marbles and some cow udders. The structure of the game will be instantly familiar to anyone who's played Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Croc, or Rayman 2 - all much better games than Earthworm Jim 3D.

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