Level Up: Earthworm Jim Menace 2 the Galaxy

Well guys, it’s come to this; with the 3^rd anniversary of Level Up now here, it’s time to look at the 4^th and so far final title in the Earthworm Jim series. As with Earthworm Jim 3D, this game also came out in 1999 (less than a month later), but I can’t find information to if this game’s development was also put on hold or if it was just cranked out quickly. Jim also has a completely different team of developers and publishers once again: David A. Palmer Productions and Crave Entertainment respectively. Let’s take a look at Jim’s last adventure with Earthworm Jim Menace 2 the Galaxy on the Game Boy Color.

The game’s story is the standard “kidnapped princess” plot, but with Evil Jim (a character from the TV show) being the one who kidnapped Princess What’s-her-name. Queen Slug-for-a-butt does make an appearance along with a few other classic baddies, but there’s never any focus on a story (much like the original games) so might as well just get right into how you play the game.

Earthworm Jim has returned to his original 2D perspective, and while you can still run, jump and shoot your gun, the lack of a third button means there is no head whip. However you’ll constantly jump if you hold down the jump button and you can also jump higher just by pressing up at the same time, which are honestly two changes I greatly appreciated.

Another change is that you’re allowed to select the order of the levels. I think this is because the makers were inspiring themselves from the big 3D platformers at the time, which allowed you a little wiggle room in the order. Also possibly inspired from 3D platformers is the focus on collecting items to advance, and here is where we meet this game’s biggest flaw. First off, this is VERY tedious and goes on for the whole game (unlike the original 2 games, which would switch up the game play regularly). Secondly, while the 3D games used a full game total for what you collect, Earthworm Jim Menace 2 the Galaxy does not (in other words you can’t collect more than you need on one level to put that towards a level you find more difficult). But the biggest issue I have is that you need to collect everything in one life to advance: dying makes you go back to the start of a level with 0 items and pit falls kill you instantly.

Level design rarely helps with the frustration either. Some of the levels are linear, and you might find most of the items on your way to the exit. However most of the time though they’re big maze like affairs, where you can easily get lost, turned around, fall into a pit by accident or forget where the ending is. I’m telling you, there is nothing more frustrating in this game than finding the exit, realizing you’re short on the required items, go look for more, find some, forget where the exit is and fall into a hole trying to find it again. And that is just one of several frustrating scenarios this game pulls out.

Unfortunately, I do not really like Earthworm Jim’s final game. I don’t hate it, I don’t think it’s terrible, but I don’t think Earthworm Jim deserved this. The game play is simply far too unbalanced as players are expected to collect too much and only given the minimum of a chance to actually pull it off. If you could kept items that you collected until you lose ALL you lives, had access to a map or the pitfalls didn’t instantly kill you, I might think this game was actually fair. Unfortunately, what we have here is a frustrating game with redundant or pointless moments and a fraction of the original personality Earthworm Jim is known for. However when the occasional level came along that wasn’t designed in a frustrating manner, this game actually could be fun, and a fraction of Earthworm Jim’s personality still goes a long way. The awesome graphics, cool looking levels and catchy music also help this game a fair bit. I honestly don’t think this is the game that killed Earthworm Jim, but if it were actually a great game maybe he could have been given another chance. Unfortunately, the team behind it has a track record of poor performances (just check out the other titles Crave has been behind) and I feel as if they didn’t quite know what to do with our wormy hero. There have been rumors of a new title for some time now (apparently a cancelled PSP game was in development), and I think in a time where games like Rayman Origins are coming out, we’re ready for Earthworm Jim’s return. But I digress. I don’t recommend this game for most gamers, but if you must play every Earthworm Jim game like I wanted to, then just be ready for some frustration. I give Earthworm Jim Menace 2 the Galaxy for the Game Boy Color 5.5 level out of 10.