TOE JAM & EARL 3: MISSION TO EARTH (XBOX)


Get your funk on, a'aight?

By WILL BARKER

Any game that lets the player funkify chickens wielding mortars has got to be worth a closer look.

I mean, when was the last time you saw a chicken with a mortar?

Better yet, when was the last time you saw an alien dishing out some hardcore underground jungle beats to defeat said chicken with mortar, hmm?

And let's not forget the wise man in the carrot suit, or the mad dentist either. Oh, the fun we had!

While many will be questioning the state of my mental awareness at this stage -- wholly understandable under any circumstance -- I am in fact talking about the latest Sega game from Visual Concepts.

Back when the world was young, and people only grunted, Sega was still in the hardware business contesting the highly regarded 16-bit era.

During these happy times, Sega released a cult game (followed by a cult sequel) starring the oddly shaped aliens, Toe Jam and Earl.

While one was neither a nobleman, the other far from lint and dead skin cell build up between lower-limb digits, they were both musically minded aliens.

The ultimate goal of said aliens was to find the missing parts of their space ship and hopefully return home, and the musical theme and comical edge that pervaded proceedings was very cool. There was even a makeshift turntable that would play (sometimes annoyingly) various samples at various speeds. For its time - and for 16-bits - it was very sleek.

Anyway, skip a few millennia, and humans developed the novel concept of language, during which time Sega unleashed the misunderstood Dreamcast. Toe Jam and Earl 3 was established for this epochal machine, thought due to the console’s untimely demise, the game went into development limbo...

Woe was me...

When the Xbox was announced however, development was rekindled, and with a few tweaks to the graphics and gameplay, we have here Toe Jam and Earl 3: Mission to Earth (TJE3).

Not exactly the same game as the original, it is pretty similar, which is kind of weird when you consider the massive gap between the Megadrive/Genesis and Xbox.

The plot: The Great Funkopotamous, more commonly referred to as Lamont, needs to return order to the universe by funkifying the Twelve Sacred Albums of Funk. Only thing is, they've been stolen and scattered across a very unfunky planet called Earth.

This sets up the perfect premise for a peppy adventure/platform romp, and while many gamers will find the going monotonous and somewhat insipid, this reviewer quite liked it (must be the nostalgia...).

From the get-go, it’s obvious that this is a fairly unsophisticated game, particularly when compared to other, more advanced titles on offer. And, while this may put a lot of gamers off, it will instantaneously appeal to those who played the original titles and gamers who like weirdness for weirdnesses sake. Ahem.

That's not to say it's not polished though, as the production standards are all of a very high standard. Take the graphics for instance: not a jagged edge in sight. Well, maybe that's an extension of the truth, but everything not only looks very smooth, due to a high poly count of course, but the TJE3 world is also beautifully animated, lending it a quasi-cartoon look, yet without dabbling into cel shading techniques.

Reflection mapping - seen on water and other assorted liquids - is phenomenal and while level design isn't brilliant, it does have a Sonic Adventure kinda feel, and with a few exceptions, most stages are interesting enough to keep your average platformer fan happy.

With hi-res textures, bouncy animation and some very weird baddies, the end result is kind of patronising, but still somehow manages to be enjoyable.

In essence, TJE3 charges players to seek out the 12 Sacred Albums of Funk, and to do this you'll need to collect keys: The more you collect, the more levels you can unlock and so on and so forth.

At the beginning of the game, you can only enter one level from an overall 'portal' region. You enter the level, are given a number of tasks, if you will, and the more you complete, the more keys you'll get, hence the more new areas you'll be able to explore from said portal area.

While running around and picking up keys, you'll also come across presents, which are the token powerups in the game. In the original TJE, you had to actually run away from the opposition (Earthlings) unless you had enought presents to fight, but herein you can use Funk-Fu to convert your foes to the ways of funk.

There's also the minigame-esque 'rhythm matching' where you can start spinning it up to convert the Earthlings. By matching specific tunes with button presses, the humans will start getting their groove on, and while it's pretty basic stuff, it's pretty cool to watch.

Some of the enemies you'll come across will be the aforementioned chickens with mortars (no cows with guns though - Ed), cheerleaders, the very funny geek brothers, fat men with mowers, ninja bunnies and the yeti, who will try to prod you with a freshly sharpened pencil.

Anyway, back to presents, and these offer powerups such as food (health), rocket skates for faster transport, icarus wings for flying, spring shoes for reaching high places, the inner tube for aqueous transport and other things that will bring a tear to the eye of crusty old TJE fans, like the trusty ghetto blaster.

The game is fun, not brilliant, and though the exploration, interaction and problem solving is neither new or particularly attention grabbing, it all seems to come together quite well, making for a charming and somewhat old-school experience.

Sonically, TJE3 is brilliant, but this is more due to its inane and often bizarre grooves. There's plenty of dialogue too, and the cast - which now spans three: Toe Jam, Earl and newcomer Latisha - add a healthy dose of humour, though there will be many who sneer at the sometimes try-hard jokes.

While the single player game is quite long, comprising five zones (Grassy, Urban, Desert, Snow, Water) and multiple levels within each, it can get tiresome for those without a passion for the 16-bit era.

Thankfully, a rather tasty two-player co-op mode was included, making use of a dynamically splitting screen. Longevity is further improved by randomised levels: Each and every time you start a new game, the levels will be completely different. Bonza!

At the end of the day, there probably won't be that many people who like this sort of stuff, which is a shame, but you can bet your first-born that there's still a cult following out there. Somewhere...

There's plenty to see and do in the Toe Jam and Earl universe - most of it pretty freaky, some of it rather funky - and with extras such as downloadable content, the co-op mode and random level generation, it makes for a solid platforming base.

At the same time, gamer's tastes have changed dramatically since the 16-bit era. This is evidenced by the rise of more sophisticated FPS, RPG and RTS games, and perhaps even this title's 'pick up and play' factor could work against it. While I personally enjoyed this game, there will be many who won't.

ORIGINALITY 70%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 80%
PLAYABILITY 75%
ENJOYMENT 90%
OVERALL 75%