Earthworm Jim Should Have Been Buried Long Ago.

The world's favorite spineless superhero returns in a 3-D adventure that, at first glance, appears to be a worthy successor to the original 16-bit version of this classic action arcade game. However, there's no squirming past the squeamish truth ofEarthworm Jim 3D--this game suffers from the dreaded bad camera angle syndrome.EWJcould have been a sleeper hit, but unless you have a strong tolerance for frustration, it's recommended that you avoid this one.

A trademark feature of all EWJ games is the title character's ongoing (and highly unfortunate) collision with cows--and this adventure is no different. The wiggly worm gets smacked in the cranium with a certain bovine and ends up in a cow-induced coma. So, the game takes place within Jim's mind, where he must collect his marbles in order to awaken again.

Despite having decently colored (but far from spectacular) graphics and a surprisingly cool soundtrack, EWJ is often unplayable. In a fully 3-D game that features so much running, jumping, and searching for goodies, a good view of the action is most important. But here, you'll spend way too much time attempting to manually adjust the camera. This, of course, is never any fun. And even if you decide to risk your sanity and play, you'll find a game that really doesn't improve on the 3-D gameplay standards of the N64 classic Super Mario World.

With a bit more work, this could've been at least marginally interesting. As it is, EWJ is better off buried underground with the other ...