Earthworm Jim 2

Review

by Scott Alan Marriott

When you think about what makes a great action-platformer "great," what comes to mind? The characters? How about the ability to perform a lot of moves? Level design is certainly important, right? Another aspect that makes games in this genre "great" is having different play mechanics to break up the monotony.

While pretty graphics and catchy music are certainly nice, they do not necessarily translate into a rewarding gaming experience. Guess what? Earthworm Jim 2 possesses all of these traits, making it one of the funniest, most diverse games you'll play on the Super NES. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to remember a more amusing game since, well, the original!

The Shiny team must've had a lot of twisted ideas that didn't make it into the first game. You may have thought you'd seen it all when a worm rode a hamster or launched a cow high into the sky. You haven't. The levels in this game are truly bizarre.

In "Anything but Tangerines," you'll hop on a motorized chair moving up a staircase while dodging crabby old ladies; "Lorenzen's Soil" will place you on the floor of a huge pile of dirt, blasting a path toward the surface in order to confront a giant slug riding a unicycle; "Puppy Love" 1, 2 and 3 will have Jim running around with a giant marshmallow while trying to bounce falling puppies over to Peter Puppy (like Kaboom, but with yelping cries and horrific splats when you miss). Don't worry, there's more.

"The Flyin' King" has Jim riding a rocket over a beautiful sea trying to steer a giant balloon carrying a bomb; "The Villi People" turns our favorite worm into a cave salamander floating around in a giant intestinal pinball game; "ISO 9000" sports amazing 3D backgrounds as you hurdle over tax forms and paper stacks (watch out for those filing cabinets); "Level Ate" has you dodging huge forks and salt shakers while leaping across a giant grill; "Inflated Head" swells Jim's head to a giant bubble, forcing you to steer him away from enormous light bulbs; and the final confrontation with Psy-Crow in "See Jim Run; Run Jim, Run" takes you on a fast-paced gauntlet through a trap-filled space station.

Phew! The amazing thing is that it's only a fraction of what you'll encounter on each stage. Each level has a plethora of activities or obstacles that will keep you whipping, running, shooting, jumping, swinging, flying and above all, laughing until it's over. The sound and music are absolutely first rate, with famous classical scores along with theme music appropriate to each stage.

The graphics are near perfect, with eye-popping 3D backgrounds, vibrant color and animation that belongs in a cartoon. If you love humor, love action-platform games, or just love games in general, you should not let this title wiggle away.