First Impressions: You see, that’s the thing about the funk – sometimes the funk gets slippery.
Having been the early adopter of the Sega Genesis that I was, I got to experience both titles in the highly acclaimed Toejam & Earl series. The first, and best game in the series, simply entitled Toejam & Earl, introduced us to the funky, alien duo, Toejam & Earl, or TJ & E for short. While the two characters couldn’t be more unlike one another – Big Earl is an overweight, yellow alien, while Toejam is a red, multi-legged one – no one can deny that they are the most funk-o-riffic beings in the galaxy. Finding them not jamming to some hip-hopish, techno tunes is somewhat of a rarity. Even with these strong character personalities, what really made Toejam & Earl shine was its gameplay. Basically, the game was part adventure, part scavenger hunt (you had to find all the pieces of their ship so they could leave Earth) that featured wacky enemies, presents that were full of power-ups, randomly generated levels, and an amazing co-op mode that split the screen when the characters ventured off away from one another. Unfortunately the sequel, Toejam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron, wasn’t as great primarily because they totally rehauled the entire game and turned it into a side-scroller (I think those were popular back in the early 90’s), albeit, a very entertaining one. Finally, though, after about 10 solid years, the two are returning for their third adventure; one promised to be filled with action, intrigue, and, of course, lotsa of that funkiness.
The story in Toejam & Earl III: All Funked Up is a bit of an odd one (wouldn’t expect that, eh?). Those lame-o Earthlings have stolen Lamont, the Great Funkapotamus’ 12 sacred albums of funk, and Toejam & Earl, plus their new sidekick, Latisha, are sent to Earth to retrieve them. To many of the fans’ approval, TJ & E III is taking the series back to its roots. In fact, besides an amazing 3D graphical upgrade and much-improved audio, there’s really not too many major differences between this and the first title.
The game will be separated into 5 different locations (such as urban, snow, and forest settings) known as “hubs”, which vary in not only its looks, but also in what enemies you’ll face. Each hub is separated into a set number of randomly generated levels. What this means is that you’ll never, ever have the same experience twice, which is pretty amazing if you think about the replay value this brings to the table. With that classic action/scavenger hunt gameplay making it’s return, you’ll find yourself as one of the aforementioned three characters hunting down the albums of funk. But, of course, thanks to the Earthlings getting in your way, this isn’t going to be easy.
The previous titles in the TJ & E series were known for their quirkiness, especially when it came to the enemies. I mean, who could forget such classic enemies as the Boogieman (who is in fact back again) or the mad doctor (who would run up behind you, stick a needle in your ass, and then proceed to laugh hysterically)? So, I think we can pretty much expect the same… umm, uniqueness out of the enemies in the latest installment (for example, evil mailboxes chase you down and try to kill you!). But the way you will be taking out your enemies is a bit different this time around. Two different techniques will be at your disposal – you can take them down with the fine art of Funk-Fu (yes, I did say Funk-Fu), or you can “funkify” those totally un-hip humans with your mystifying musical notes. Additionally, the presents are back and better than ever. Veteran Toejam & Earl fans will appreciate the inclusion of many now classic power-ups, such as Icarus Wings, Spring Shoes, and Rocket Skates, and the new power-ups should be a welcome addition, too. And this sort of seems to be the general theme coming from the guys at TJ & E Productions, mixing the old with the new.
While the game should work great as a single player experience, we all know that multiplayer usually makes games even better, especially if it’s cooperative (one word – Halo). And if you played the original, you should know that TJ & E offer one of the most enjoyable co-op experiences around. Nothing really seems to have changed – when you’re close to one another you share the same screen, and when you venture forth on your own the screen seamlessly splits in two. Also, the co-op mode brings new abilities into the mix, like the Hi-Five, which grants each player life.
From a visual standpoint, Toejam & Earl III is turning out much better than I expected. Earlier screenshots sort of looked very Dreamcast-ish (the original system it was supposed to debut on), but the latest movies and screens are showcasing something really great. The characters are created with a very high number of polys and are looking incredible, and the environments are also quite a sight for sore eyes, full of color and tons of personality. The developers have said that it’s an Xbox exclusive because they want it to be the best it can be, and you can tell the Xbox is going to good use, with bump-mapping and vertex shading effects used very effectively. The days of the old washed out Genesis sprites are definitely long gone. The audio has also come a very long way since the Genesis days, as the title will be chock-full of many voiceovers and a ton of funky music tracks.
