Earthworm Jim HD - Review

During the 16-bit gaming era, Shiny Entertainment’s Earthworm Jim made quite a splash. It boasted very unusual character designs, an off-beat sense of humor, and excellent graphics and sound. It was also frustratingly hard, but so were a lot of games back then. Earthworm Jim was such a success that it spawned a few sequels and its own cartoon series.

Fast-forwarding several years, Gameloft - the developer/publisher known for producing mobile clones of popular console franchises – has brought the original Earthworm Jim to Windows Phone as an Xbox Live title. Is Earthworm Jim still as groovy as he ever was? Yes and no. This version is pretty rough around the edges thanks to some poor design decisions from the ‘loft.

Swing past the jump for our in-depth review.

From the ground he did grow…



Earthworm Jim has always lacked an introductory cinema, but the original instruction manual explained the hero’s origins. A stolen super-powered spacesuit falls to the earth and lands on an innocent earthworm, producing Earthworm Jim (or EWJ as I like to call him). The evil Psy-Crow is in pursuit of the suit; he works for the evil Queen Slug-for-a-Butt. The villains kidnap Princess What's-Her-Name and plan to take over the universe. Jim must stop them and save the princess.


Earthworm Jim is an action-platformer. Jim runs and jumps across expansive levels, but that’s not so unusual. What really makes Jim stand out is his earthworm head: he can use it to whip enemies, swing from hooks, hang from chains and similar overhead objects, and float around like a helicopter.

EWJ doesn’t just attack with his head, though. He carries a rapid-fire pistol to dispatch long-range threats. Ammo is limited but players start with a thousand bullets and ammo refills are strewn liberally about most levels. Jim can also find Mega Blaster shots here and there. They kill most enemies in one shot. However you only get one shot per pickup and you can’t choose to switch to the regular gun and save Mega Blaster Shots for later, so it’s tough to conserve them for tougher enemies and bosses.