Amazon.com Review: The Toe Jam & Earl franchise is an anomaly to the trend of hyper-realism and violence in video games, and this latest addition to the series excels at creating another gloriously fun and wacky cartoon experience. The goal of Toe Jam & Earl III: Mission to Earth is to recover the stolen Twelve Sacred Albums of Funk by exploring various levels on Earth, befriending Earthlings, and finding keys and presents to aid in the journey. The real fun of the game, however, is its funk theme. You can convert unfunky Earthlings to the ways of funk, and there are inspired funky touches throughout the game, including a gospel vocal trio that sings whenever a new level loads. The game doesn't take itself seriously, and to enjoy it, a competitive gaming mindset should be set aside. In two-player mode, the game promotes teamwork by allowing players to share health (just high-five each other) and immunity to attacks. The game's combination of 80s funk and overall goofiness won't appeal to everyone, but it's an ideal mix for parents in search of a game that they can enjoy with their kids (the game is rated Teen for animated blood and violence, but the gore is all cartoonish) and anyone else with an offbeat sense of humor. --Sung Nicholas Kim
A Platform Game Outside the Mario/Sonic Mold I really enjoyed this game despite being completely unfamiliar with the previous two games. Like most other platformers it has all the worlds you've come to expect such as desert, ice, forest, and water. But what most sets it apart from the pack is the sense of humor; both in the cutscenes and in the wisecracks you will hear from the various characters ( crazed dentists, bratty kids, inquisitive nerds, and mischievous elves ). Unlike Ratchet + Clank and the Jak and Daxter series, the comedy here actually works since it is more mature and doesn't ape the Disney model ( goody two-shoes hero with a goofy/irritating tag-along sidekick ). And, if you're a child of the 80's, you'll get a kick out of the vinyl sleeves of the records you collect, which parody landmark hip-hop, r&b, and funk albums. The game is a respectable length and sells for reasonable price; the only knock against it is the level of challenge. It can't be adjusted, and is just a bit too easy to slide through ( although, some of the timed bonus challenges can be tricky ) once you get the hang of it. But this is somewhat alleviated by the abundance of unfunky earthlings ( midwestern 50's housewives with beehives? Hilarious! ) chasing you around the rather narrow dimensions of most worlds. All in all, this a game you should certainly pick up, since I haven't played any other that made me laugh more and few others that were quite as much fun.
Just a platformer with a theme ToeJam & Earl III is a standard platform game (think mario).
On any given level you accomplish a set of tasks that include collecting things (keys, presents, food), convert humans to the funk, and delivering something from A to B. You can play as any of the 3 characters and switch mid-game.
Along the way you can find power-ups, replenish your health, jump, run...all the standard stuff.
The focus on the funk is all about old-school hip-hop. ToeJam, Earl, and Latisha are all sterotypical hip-hop characters. Mini-level cut-scenes include sweet-honey-in-the-rock style vocals. The focus on the funk is different although taken somewhat overboard. That's ok though. This is a platformer.
This is as much of a kids game as any platformer (crash bandicoot, spongebob) although there isn't really any violence (unlike flying body parts in crash). Humans will come up and kick you but when you blast your funk-fu at them they become nice and stop hitting.
More like Spongebob, this is more tongue-in-cheek and not serious like Mario.
All in all this is a decent platformer that is a little different and somewhat amusing.
I purchased mine from an alternate seller (used & new) which offered a reasonable price.
An Amazing Game! I am quite suprised by the people who gave this game such low scores. Toejam and Earl III is one of the funnest games I have played in a real long time.
I've been a TJ&E fan since the begining back on Sega Genesis and I've been looking foward to this since they announced it would be released on Dreamcast. Unfortunatly, the game never made it to Dreamcast and ended up being released only on X-Box. Being a loyal sega fan and old schooler gamer, there's no way I'm going to buy an X-box. Toejam & Earl 3 is the only game on the whole system that I am even impressed with.
I am now in pain because this game is only released on one system. I dont want to buy an X-Box for just this game, and I dont feel its right for Sega to ask us too. I hope they port this game to the PC or create a new version for GBA or something.
Here's an idea: why not port the original 2 games onto the Game Boy Advance? I'm still holding my breath.
Until then, Jam out to the funky music of TJ&E III and have yourselves a blast!
terrible if anyone wants this game let me know! because this is the [dummmist] game ive ever played! actually i dont want to give this to any one because they would be pissed at me for life. this is the only review i ever wrote but i just had to warn people dont buy rent or give anyone this!
Insert Title With The Word "Funk" In It Here. I loved ToeJam and Earl 1. When I was... ooh.. 13 we'll call it, me and my mates were playing TJ&E whenever we could get our hands on it.
III is I, but 3D. That's really all there is to it. The elevators, the presents, the food, the baddies, the chickens, the tomatoes. I must admit the voices weren't exactly as I'd placed them, but you get used to 'em.
But, this is a great game even if you haven't played TJ&E1 - OK, so it's a fairly easy collect-em-up, it's just so... funky. It sounds unimaginative to describe this "funk"-laden game as just funky - surely I could think of some better adjectives than one used every ten seconds in the plot scenes? - but that's what it is. It's funky. It's chilling (sorry, chillin'). It's so laid-back it's damn near horizontal. It also comes in PG and G-rated flavours, so get the irritating brat that kicks shins in YOUR house and teach them the Ways of the Funk. Really.
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