Have you ever experienced that disappointing feeling when you meet an old friend for the 1st time in years and realise he/she has completely changed? For example – Your jobless friend Zed, who wouldn’t be seen dead in anything but a AC/DC t-shirt & used to eat dog food to win a bet, is now called Ted and sells car insurance in a suit? You may have experienced this feeling while playing video game remakes in the past but there is one thing to be sure of – you will NEVER experience that disappointment with Earth worm Jim HD.
Firstly, I would like to thanks Gamesloft for making this release possible. I had a uncomfortable man-to-worm crush on Jim for many years and thought that weird part of my life was over. Unfortunately I have fallen in love with the little megadrile and his super-suit all over again.
The game feels exactly how it did all those years ago! Jim still screams “Groovy” over and over again, he still launches unsuspecting cows into orbit using fridges(WTF?) and its still as hard as ever (thanks to an “Original Difficulty” mode!) to complete. Thanks to the graphics update, this platform adventure has withstood the test of time. Its still tough and its still funny.
After playing this game for half of my childhood on the Sega Mega Drive, the controls did feel a little bit odd. I was hammering away at where the A button used to be, only to find that the buttons didn’t exist. Just remind yourself every so often that you are holding a dualshock3 and not your Mega Drive controller every so often and you should be safe.
I was pretty excited when I discovered that the game has Multi-player but if I’m honest, the game didn’t need it. Its still fun, and adds a little competition to the proceedings but having played it a few times, I still prefer shooting black birds and crazy eyed dogs on my own.
This is a pretty damn good port. Everything looks fantastic, but the original game still shines through. The Sound effects still sound like they are being pumped out of a 16-bit console but that just adds to the unusual time traveling sensation.
If you ever played this on the Mega Drive, then this PSN download is a must buy. It will bring back the early 90′s like an acid flash-back. For a small fee of £7.99 you can get your wormmy mits on that crazy blaster and go and rescue the princess all over again. This time in HD too.
Unfortunately, If you didn’t play this back in the 90′s there is probably not much waiting to be discovered. Its nostalgia that drives this title and there are more recent platformers that deserve your attention more than Earthworm Jim HD (Braid anyone?).
Still, if you fancy a challenge, one of the trophies carries on the insane spirit of the original title -
Gold – “Earthworm Never Dies” – Clear Single Player mode in Original difficulty in one sitting without losing a life.
Anyone up to it? Good luck!
Omac_brother
