SVC: Toe Jam & Earl (360/PS3)

[illdog]

I used to fucking LOVE this game back in the days. My cousin and I would play it for hours on end, we did manage to complete it as well but as kids that never stopped you going back and doing it all again another 18 times because new games didnt come in to your collection that often.

So, it was through extremely rose tinted glasses that I played it again 21 years later. 21 fucking years... and I still love it. If you dont know anything about it, the game is the tale of 2 aliens crash landed on Earth and their ship broken up in to conveniently easy to fit back together pieces and scattered across the planet. But for some reason the planet is on platforms that that seem to go up. like it was a bio-skyscraper. Each floor has an Elevator door that gets you up to the next level. Some levels have ship parts on them (the game tells you ifn this particular level has a ship part on it). You need all the ship parts so you can get back to Funkatron, your home planet.

So its basically just exploratory game play, each level consists of a fairly large map and you walk around looking for ship parts and the exit to the next level. Presents are scattered around each level containing all sorts of handy items like Hi Top Sneakers for speed, Icarus Wings for flying, Innertube for swimming. Random enemies dot the land each with their own unique way of fucking you up and some presents contain weapons to make dealing with these annoying buggers a little easier.

IMO the games genius is in its simplicity, its literally just walking around a level till you find a ship part or an exit but I find it so damn addictive. The presentation helps, Toe Jam and Earl are soul aliens, in to hip hop and beats and bass and the back ground music is funky as hell. There's even a jam session where the buttons become drum machine sound and speech samples.

I'm about halfway through, played for about 2 and a half hours but its a lot tougher in single player as in co-op mode you can set out in different directions.It gets hard too, the enemies become more frequent the higher up Earth you travel (?).

Love it, if you liked it back in the days give it another go.

It comes with TJ&E 2 which i only played briefly back in the day but its a side on adventure instead of a top down so it plays very differently. I hear its tough as concrete balls.

Anyway, good times.

[Hendo]

I got these on the VC but I'll still probably get them on XBLA. We'll have to find a couple of hours free and do some co-op.

[HandsomeDead]

I had both these games back in the day and I used to play them with my mother and uncle. They both preferred the second one so I played that one more, and yeah, it's hard as fuck. Looks gorgeous, though.

[Chinzon]

Both are awesome games, I'll probably get this next rainy day.

[illdog]

I finished the first one yesterday, fuck a donkey the latter levels were tough. I chose random worlds so i got all the ship pieces at about level 24 and there were quite a few enemies scattered about by then. Ice Cream vans are killers. I remember how much i loved the ending back in the day..

Not so often that you had interactive end sequences back them

Started the second one, dont like it much so far. Its sooooo different but ive only done the first level so the jury is still out.

[Hendo]

I tried playing the second with my best mate as we loved the first and never played the second till it came out on VC. He hated it though I thought he never gave it a real chance, although it doesn't have the uniqueness of the first game.

[Chinzon]

The second one is more of a by-the-numbers platformer, but the charm & characterisation is still there.