Even though the game offers extremely simple controls, they work very nicely for this type of game. The game isn’t like most 3D games, as there are no platforms, and not a lot of jumping challenges. This lends itself to a more exploration friendly experience, like the original ToeJam & Earl all those years back. The control could have used a little more depth, but I can honestly say I never died due to bad control.
After long, though, the game becomes excruciatingly dull. The humor begins to wear off, the locations don’t seem nearly as inventive, and the story really doesn’t go anywhere. This is caused, in large part, by missions that are essentially the same sort of thing over and over.
The game does offer more than thirty levels, many of them change from day to night, and it can be played in order, or at random. Each level is unlocked by collecting a certain amount of keys, hidden throughout the game in various missions and areas. The world itself is broken into several different worlds, including a Water World, a Desert World, a Urban area, and more. Sega has done a wonderful job of making each of these worlds look and feel completely different.
If you grow tired of completing these tasks on your own, you can drag another player into the mix. Thanks to a two-player mode, ToeJam & Earl allows for your friend to be witness to the power of the funk. Generally this mode is split screen, but if the characters are close enough to each other the game will go full screen. This effect works surprisingly well, and believe it or not, the two-player game is a lot more fun than playing solo.
With the use of the Xbox Live, Sega will feature new content to prolong your adventure. Downloadable content is something new for a console, and is dealt with extremely well. Besides having a couple of new levels for you to play, the update includes three new characters that are variations of the three currently available. It’s yet to be seen if Sega will continue to support the game with new features, but there are a number of things I wouldn’t mind seeing added.
ToeJam & Earl III isn’t for everybody, and I have a feeling that more than a few people are going to completely miss the humor of this game. But if you remember the original, and want to get that bad taste from the second game out of your mouth, you should definitely look at this. It’s not perfect, and you may lose interest mid way through, but it’s unlike anything you already own, I guarantee that.
C-
What happens when you take a couple of funky aliens, send them to Earth, and let them mix with humans? Sounds like a bad sitcom, but it’s a game, and the results are slightly less enjoyable than you might think.
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