ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove!

Never played the original, so consider me a new convert. The game oozes style: graphically, sonically, even in the gameplay. I expected a platformer or at least an attack button. Instead you mainly walk around and avoid enemies, collecting parts of your ship and leveling up. I can’t imagine how cool this game would have been back in the day, but it’s still worth your time for a playthrough or two.

Also Macauley Culkin produced this? What?

It's the original game but with a load of new stuff added to it and 4 player support. I prefer the original a little more, but this is a really solid follow up, and probably a ton of fun with 4 players. Get it on sale. Jammin'!

Such a fun throw back to the original game with just about enough new stuff for new comers. I love it. Only down side is that this took away from me any reason to play the original.

retro goodness!

I love this game! It got me to hyperfixate and get a crush on ToeJam as a character! Playing the Fixed World on Normal difficulty can be a challenge, but the ending was SO worth it for me! Hearing ToeJam's singing voice meant the world to me! Although the Online Multiplayer doesn't really work, I've been enjoying playing it via Steam Remote Play with my friends and family! Definitely worth the purchase!

funk ya buddeh wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

Easy to pick up and play with friends.

I've been playing this game off and on for a while now. People complain about how "random" the skill ups are or the fact it gets harder in the back half of the game.

That's the point.

If they had advertised this as a rogue-lite, which it is, it makes complete sense. You can choose a starting character with your primary stats, and you get random upgrades that may hinder or help your run.

Last half of the game does require effort to play, but if you play smart and use the presents you got in the literal first half of the game, than you will be fine.

Overall, I played the OG one a long time ago and I'm actually happy with the progress. I can't wait for the next one. Maybe up to 4 players? Wishful thinking.

Ah the memories

A huge fan of the original Genesis games, I was excited to return to the wacky universe of T.J.&E, but after a couple completed playthroughs, my excitement is nullified.

Simply put, the game is too hard in the back half, even on Normal difficulty, to be worthy of even a fraction of the playthroughs the achievements deem necessary to 'Unlock' everything. Now, to be clear, the game itself isn't too hard to complete, at least not on Normal difficulty, but it simply becomes no more fun to play after the midway point.

And, seeing as how only 11.6% of players who've played the game on Steam have bothered to even complete the game a single time, well I don't think I'm alone.

Enemies become so numerous and so persistent, it's just utterly obnoxious. This is mainly because the only way to defeat said enemies is by seeking out 'Presents', VERY specific 'Presents', which are primarily found hidden within bushes/houses/trees and whatnot -- but, this gameplay mechanic of searching for potential ammo becomes nearly impossible halfway through the game do to how dense the enemies are. So much so, I ended up abandoning even trying to find any presents about an hour into each game.

Not to mention, IF you manage to find a present and IF the random contents don't kill you or seriously ruin your current standing, the chances of getting 1 of the 3 actual presents in the game that can hurt your antagonists on the offensive is null as there are over 60 possible presents in game! I suck at math, but I know enough to know that's some bullshit odds.

I played three games, a FIXED world game, a RANDOM world game, and a HARD world game and my results were the same for the first two and impossible to determine on the third*. I found about 3 presents per those first two playthroughs with Tomatoes (the one source of 'ammo' that can defeat a foe), and being a time-based power, that averaged out to about 90 seconds/game of actual retaliation. The rest of the time I was slowly and pointlessly trying to walk out of the way of usually faster and always aggressive enemies.

*Now, as for my HARD world game, I made it to Level 4 and quit. Not out of rage that I wouldn't be able to do it, but more so apathy, as I didn't feel like playing against the enemy density of the endgame, 5 minutes into a fresh one. Which would mean no searching for presents, no casual discovery and even stronger and more aggressive enemies, whom even if I could fight back against, are so numerous, it'd be like waging a war on an army of ants with a toothpick. You might get a couple, but why fuckin' bother? And, that's where I'm at with replaying the game that was built to be replayed... why bother?

Also, I'm not much a fan of the redesigned characters. T.J. and Earl look fine, but the rest of the Funkatron fam look drastically different from part 2, and it really bummed me out they didn't even bother have my alien hommes act like their former selves. These characters used to have character, now they are here like an afterthought.

Maybe I'm the problem, I could just suck at the game. Either way, I'll stick with the far more fun to play OG games. I can't tell you how many DAYS I've played part 1 and 2, but looks like Back in the Groove has my attention capped out in less time than a single afternoon and that's a total bummer.

Good tunes, tho.

ToeJam & Earl BitG Is a re-imagination of the classic roguelite genesis title. Player loop is find all the ship parts & unlock hats & characters. Some minor bugs still present. Worth a purchase if your into chill coop games. 6/10

Average completion time: 75 hours
Number of achievements: 49
Difficulty: casual
Replay-ability: tied to achievements
Online playerbase: virtually none.

oh shit they added crossplay

Coops quite a laugh and its the usual dodging fun. It has some learnable depth to it but if you recognize something from the original it wont act too differently. A great modern sequel to a classic game

Its a ''mostly positive'' game, not a ''very positive'' game... 6.5-7 / 10 ...
Achievements are fun, but the hats are a grind... May be fewer runs for getting the hats, and achieve the extreme runs or some time trials in endless...

Still riddled with bugs and likes to lag or crash randomly but it's Toejam and Earl, a game like no other - equal parts fun and horribly frustrating. An average game from start to finish (if a van or flying girl doesn't KO you right before you get that last piece) takes a few hours and, if you're playing a random world, it's a different kind of stress every time. The style is unmatched, the soundtrack is funky, the exploring and playing with presents is fun, it's great for idle hands and all the added elements in this game make it a worthy successor to the original. Nothing like the 2nd or 3rd (in my opinion, this is more than fine) and basically a roided-out definitive version of the first. TJ&E for the Genesis is one of my favorite all-time games and I probably still enjoy that one more since this game has newer, meaner enemies including itself if you start hearing your computer's fan.

For those who played the original Toe Jam and Earl for the Genesis back in the day, this review is probably for you.

This game as a whole has not aged well. My biggest gripe by far is the piss slow walk speed. Toe Jam with his high walk speed makes him an instant pick, everyone else is far too slow to escape from enemies that can chase you.

Then you've got the infuriating RNG when opening presents. Do you like the idea of getting instant killed from opening a present, or having random Earthlings kill you opening a present? I sure don't, and you'll run into this BS constantly when playing.

It's not the worst game in the world, but it should be far better than this. Don't buy it unless there's a deep sale, and even then, go in with low expectations, and you might not disappointed.

Good Game

fun game buggy man use to be my most hated enemy but now i hate the red guy that sends you down a level.