Title: ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove
Developer: HumaNature Studios
Publisher: HumaNature Studios
Genre: Adventure
Platform(s): Xbox One, Switch [reviewed], PS4, PC
Release: March 1, 2019
Price: $19.99
The days of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis brought us so many titles that are now legendary in the world of video games. From the likes of Super Mario World and Mega Man, to Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Mortal Kombat, there are tons of games whose series are still going strong.
But then there are the “other” titles that might not have sold in the millions or hold the same reverence in gaming history, but still managed to change the face of gaming, even if it was long after they released. The original TomJam & Earl might be considered one such game, with nearly everyone heaping praise on the title in hindsight, but for the life of me, I can’t remember kids playing or talking about it when it released.
My introduction to this weird series came years after, but I’m glad I got to experience it on the original Sega Genesis nonetheless. For one of Sega’s secondary mascots, ToeJam and Earl have had a rocky relationship with the company. From a sequel that changed the unique nature of the game into a standard side-scroller because Sega said the original was “unmarketable,” to a canceled Dreamcast title, and finally a third entry on the Xbox of all places.
ToeJam and Earl sure have quite the history. But now that the series is back, the team at HumanNature Studios have taken the series back to those “unmarketable” roots that have made that first entry one of the most beloved Sega Genesis games of all time. And it’s safe to safe that the team nailed the look, feel, and gameplay that is still as unique in 2019 as it was all the way back in 1991. That tells you how way ahead of its time ToeJam and Earl really was.
If you’ve played the original game then you are going to be right at home with ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove. The game is broken up into a number of floating islands that serve as the stages for the overall game. Your goal as this funk-tastic duo (and some friends) is to collect the parts of your “borrowed” spaceship that broke up on earth because you were trying to impress some out of this world babes.
Each of these stages pose a number of obstacles for our groovy heroes who are fun loving aliens and not fighters. Earthlings are out and about and will try and take you down because you’re creepy aliens, because they are huge fans or some they might help you with all manner of goodies. Finding out who is who is part of the fun here. And all of this happens in an incredibly gorgeous looking environment that looks like a Saturday morning cartoon. In fact, I’d be very okay with ToeJam and Earl getting a cartoon that looks like this.
The game also has a fully-voiced opening that surprisingly long and entertaining and will charm the pants off of fans, while explaining the entire game to newcomers to the adventure. Have I said that I love the way this game looks, because I just want to make it clear that every time I pick this one up it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Oh, and the animations are silky smooth too, home slice.
I’ve been playing the game for about a month on and off and I have been coming back to it quite a bit, but not just because it looks really pretty, which it does. You see, the magic of ToeJam and Earl is that every time you play, the game randomizes each stage giving you an entirely new adventure (although you can picked a fixed mode). This is one of the reasons the original Genesis game is still worth going back to.
This isn’t the sort of game that you get good at because you’ve memorized patterns of enemies and the locations of items. Rather, this is a good game because it always has the chance to surprise you because of the randomness of the entire adventure, in terms of both the games layout and the weird nature of the whole package. It’s a roguelike that isn’t oncered about being dark and moody, something of a rarity.
I loved the Sega Genesis, but I don’t think there are that many exclusive titles that could be remade pretty much in their original form and still hold up with audiences in 2019. Sonic can do it and, well, ToeJam and Earl can do it, but outside of those two games I’m hard-pressed to think of an exclusive game that could make the jump with minor tweaks and an updated look.
But what makes ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove really special and even better than the original is the expanded soundtrack which is funky fresh and wicked fly. I don’t often care or buy game soundtracks (I’m here to play games not listen to them on my drive to work), but this is one that I may search out because of how good it sounds and how much it adds to the experience.
ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove just really works. Searching for pieces to your ship is a lot of fun. Character and enemy designs are fantastic, varied and always garner chuckles from people walking by. The tons of abilities you have access to via presents also make exploring and outrunning/outwitting enemies a lot of fun. These are also randomized so you might get something you really need, or something that has you cursing are the screen.
Spring shoes let you bounce around the map, things like a floaty to help you float across bodies of water, hi-tops let you speed around the stage, or you might even open an environmental hazard that can actually hurt you. ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is so utterly random that you’d think it would fall apart, but it never does. Add in an RPG-like leveling system from simply exploring each stage for stat boosts and you have a game that’s pretty packed with content.
You can spend a lot of time in the 25 stages available by traversing around via an intergalactic elevator that breaks space and time, or by falling off the stage you’re on to a lower one. Managing your health is also important, and it’s not uncommon to eat something gross by accident. Oh, and if all that wasn’t enough you can also experience the game with local and online cooperative play for even more madness. On local the game goes split screen so each of you can essentially play your own game, working to find all the pieces of your spaceship together.
ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is a game I was very nervous about, but thankfully the developers understood what made the original game so special. But for all the great things about the game and all the praise I’ve heaped on it, in the end the game feels more like a love letter to fans of the original game and not a new entry into the series. There isn’t quite enough here to make it feel like a new entry into the series other than the pretty new graphics.
But that’s what the game was always trying to be, at least from what I see from development. This one pulls at the nostalgia strings in the very best way, but I do wish there was something truly new to this experience. I wouldn’t blame people from thinking this was a remake instead of a new entry in the series as the team intended. But for only $20 you are getting one heck of a good time here.
That said, it’s not a really bad complaint to have leveled against you, especially when your original game still holds up nearly 30 years later. HumaNature Studios created the game they set out to create and I hope they are rewarded for it so that we can get more ToeJam and Earl down the line. Do yourself a favor and grab this one if you’re looking for a funky good time!
Pros:
Gorgeous world & setting
Fun characters
Huge replay value
Multiplayer enhances experience
Gameplay still holds up
Cons:
Took almost 30 years to happen
Doesn’t push the game forward
“ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is a love letter to the original and should be in your library”
4/5
*A copy was provided for review*
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