Earthworm Jim 2

Pros • variety in gameplay and situations • fabulous animations • Visually Stunning • great Tommy Tallarico soundtrack	Cons • some awkward control configurations • occasional perspective problems
Bottom Line It's the creativity put into the situations and the variety of gameplay that make this cartridge as good as it is. One of the most eagerly awaited video game sequels of the year is finally upon us. And how is it ? Does it live up to the advance hype (some of which was, admittedly, generated from here), and the high standards set by the first title? For the most part, yes. While there will almost always be a few things each gamer would like to see a little different -not every stage is perfect- Shiny has refused to rest on its laurels and has challenged itself by trying new things and some unconventional approaches to creating unique levels.

My Favorite Annelid...

Jim is back and must make his way through a gauntlet of visually stunning, problem-solving tasks. Jim 1's shoot/run/jump/swing patterns have been seriously altered; while there is still plenty of opportunity for these actions in this game, the developers have gone out of their way to insure more variety in this game.

Unfortunately, the novelty of at least a couple of these levels wears off with repeated playing. The soil-excavation scene is great the first couple of times but then is never really different after that. Same goes for Jim as a blind cave salamander.

Another minor complaint I had was with the controls during "The Flying King" - the backwards/forwards "C" button was kind of a drag and there seems to be an awkward perspective hurdle when firing at the ground at an angle from far above in the air.

That said, this game is full of fun that can keep the gamer, hungry for new scapes and gameplay, occupied for the hours it takes to fully explore the twisted recesses of Shiny's collective minds. While the graphics are amazing -"Animotion 2" is a winner, very cartoon-like - it's the creativity put into the situations and the variety of gameplay that make this cartridge as good as it is.

Once again, the maestro Tommy Tallarico has supplied a terrific array of tunes to compliment the screen action. TT has devised music that is equally adept at making you laugh or tugging at your heartstrings. Groovy!

It will be very interesting to see, in the months ahead, how this version stacks up against the SNES, Saturn and Playstation versions, as well as the PC's, and also where the Jim series (a.k.a. franchise) goes from here. As we enter the 32 and 64-bit eras, the only limitations on future Jim games will come from lack of imagination and intelligence, and with the success of this sequel, it becomes even more apparent that Shiny seems to have both in spades.

Info & Screenshots