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Xbox | Action | ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth

Boxart for ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth
ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth 30 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.0
  • SOUND: 5.0
  • CONTROL: 4.0
  • FUN FACTOR 4.5
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.0
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.3
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Review: ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth

Review by STARDINGO | 10/29/2002 | 15:34:02 PM PST

A'ight, so ToeJam, Earl, and Latisha are shackin' up in the Xbox. Is there funk to be found in Bill Gates' hizzy?

Earthly water-filled sacks of non-funk, lookie here! ToeJam and Earl are back on Earth, and they?ve brought with them everything that made them oh so funktacular back on the Sega Genesis...plus a li'l something extra.

Testify!
Anyone familiar with either of ToeJam and Earl?s earlier games knows exactly what to expect from their latest. TJ&E III is essentially a haphazard collection-fest of the most extraordinarily goofy kind. The randomly generated levels (there?s a "fixed" world, too, which only looks randomly generated) are seeded with tons of keys, musical notes, and huge piles of funky presents that grant you clever special powers, from spring shoes to laugh-generating space pods to nonspecific whatzits that launch you into inspired stints of PaRappa-like rhythmic button-tapping?one of the most ingenious, well-integrated uses of rhythmic button-tapping in gaming history. ToeJam and Earl forge their fun from variety and chaos?logic lives nowhere within earshot; crate-pushing puzzles are alien to this alien world.

Despite the scattershot nature, ToeJam & Earl III is quite a challenging, well-balanced little game?the enemies? strengths and weaknesses complement your huuuge arsenal of presents well, and if you don?t manage your inventory wisely, you end up shooting yourself in the foot later on. It also strongly encourages two-player co-op play with a terrific, dynamically splitting screen that lets each player wander on their own; the second player can even jump in and get out at will. It?s one of the most solid co-op modes you?re likely to see.

(Not) All Funked Up (Anymore)
Admittedly, a big chunk of the fun comes from the game?s elated, pseudo-evolved, mostly insane sense of humor and style. To hear the Soul Sisters sing your next mission in between levels is a joy; listening to a newly funkified earthling mutter an utterly horrible pun brings a slightly ashamed smile to your face. Magical creatures with names like Ninja Bunny and Fat Man With Mower wait to see the light of funk (i.e. to be smacked a few times), and men dressed in carrot suits are granted the power to upgrade your rank...a responsibility that our stuffy "real" society would never bestow upon men dressed in carrot suits.

Be Mindful of the Living Funk
No, there ain?t much of a story...and, a?ight, there ain?t a whole lotta depth...but if variety, challenge, off-color humor, and plain stupid fun is what your soul craves, then your soul craves the flava of ToeJam & Earl. And Latisha, too. Funk is our gravity, the Soul Sisters sing.


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