
Learn to knock Major Mucus off of his snot string in 3 rounds to advance. Not here! You are literally encased in COMPLETE DARKNESS! The only thing you can make out without stepping into a spotlight are Jim’s eye’s ala Looney Tunes style. Now in most games during a stage like this, you would be able to make your way by following a silhouette or you are surrounded by a halo of light with a narrow field of vision in front of and around you. Stages like Who Turned Out the Light? leave you shrouded in complete darkness. It’s visual gags and comedy help make this a timeless classic that spawned a much deserved cartoon series (Keeping fingers crossed for DVD release) that ran for two seasons.

I didn’t notice in What the Heck? the stone demon faces in the background when you’re fighting Evil the Cat when I first played this game. I recently finished two Red Faction games that take place on the desolate wasteland of Mars, and going back and playing this and soaking up the environment. Nowadays most stages in video games all kind of look alike. From New Junk City to Snot a Problem and the hidden stage Who Turned Out the Light?, no bad guys repeat, and that’s a nice touch to Earthworm Jim’s graphical appeal that has gotten lost with the passage of time. Every stage is bright and vivid with its own unique set of enemies exclusive to that level. Pause and wait to see one of several comedic playlets he has, like jump-roping with his own head, twirling his blaster, and so on. Jim is beautifully animated and moves fluidly.

VISUALS (10/10) The graphics are stunning. Since you aren’t handicapped by faulty controls, you are left to your own reflexes and acquired knowledge to get better. It’s a very nice attention to detail and teaches you ways to get through tough battles carefully instead of mowing everything down while getting damaged heavily, as health power ups are sparse in certain stretches and most foes do 10 points of damage.

Learning to leap over Evil the Cat’s bazooka blasts without taking damage is important for the second part of the fight.
