Earthworm Jim
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| Earthworm Jim

You can't beat those rare occasions when a game really takes you by surprise. I felt absolutely confident that Gameloft would be unable to work the complexities of Earthworm Jim's controls into a mobile - at least, not without requiring five thumbs to do it.

Jim was always a rank outsider, but this latest adaptation of the Mega Drive classic proves he's still got what it takes to be super.

As smooth as silk (from a worm's arse)

Earthworm Jim was always a pretty difficult game, and that's reflected in the opening menu of this new mobile adaptation, which asks whether you want to use the Normal, Hard or Original difficultly level.

It used to have three buttons and a joypad, but now we're reduced to buttons on a phone, and that doesn't bode well for Jim's action-packed adventure.

And this really is action-packed. Gameloft has put together what's essentially a pixel perfect earthworm in your pocket, which means all the crows, dogs, goldfish, cats and lawyers to deal with alongside the challenging physical puzzles of the level designs.

Groovy

By carefully tweaking the mechanics of play (almost imperceptibly) the mobile's keypad controls Jim beautifully. Primarily, he aims at his closest aggressor or item automatically.

Tapping the 'fire' button flicks his worm-whip, while holding it down shoots the gun. There's still plenty for you to compete with, despite not worrying too much about aiming, and it makes the game impressively accessible throughout.

Because Earthworm Jim features pixel-perfect visuals, all the sound effects, all the levels, all the bonus rounds and all the humour of the original game, you're going to need a megabyte of free space to fit it on your handset, which is probably about the only downside this all-new version has.

Gameloft has worked wonders on the iPhone and mobile adaptations of Earthworm Jim, paying great respect to the retro platformer and delivering it to a whole new audience with skill and respect.

Hooray for him.

Earthworm Jim

As unlikely as it might sound, this adaptation of the Mega Drive classic is as faithful and playable as the original way over 15 years ago. The gameplay and humour have been recaptured and repacked to remind us what a hero Jim really is
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Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.