Toe Jam & Earl III: Mission To Earth - Reception

Reception

According to GamaSutra, ToeJam & Earl III was met with mixed reviews, while IGN asserts that the game was "thrashed soundly by critics". Computer and Video Games lauded its "superb sense of humour and the kind of offbeat gameplay that shows up every other identikit shooter, stealth 'em up and extreme sports title as imagination-devoid shams." PC World praised the game's "laugh out loud" humor, and acclaimed the two-player mode as "damned good fun".

GameNOW and Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the game's power-ups, whose strategic element the former enjoyed, and two-player mode. However, GameNOW derided the game's hip-hop dialogue, and Electronic Gaming Monthly found it repetitive; the latter also believed that Latisha was an unnecessary addition. Game Informer found the hip-hop theme to be embarrassingly dated, and likened the game to In Living Color and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The reviewer also believed that its randomly generated levels necessitated "simple and arbitrary" mission goals.

EuroGamer praised the game's graphics, camera angles and mini-games, but complained about unfair enemies, annoying character accents and an arbitrary mix of musical genres. The reviewer believed that " in the final analysis is just not good enough to warrant spending £40." IGN gave it a "passable" verdict: the reviewer felt that the game's brief initial appeal quickly gave way to repetition. He had a mixed opinion of its graphics, with praise given to the character animations, but criticism to perceived poor draw distance. GameSpot deemed the game "mediocre". The reviewer noted that "the humor almost always falls flat", and that "ToeJam's speech is filled with stupid double entendres". The website found the soundtrack to be dated, and called the game's audio "a serious disappointment".

The Guardian praised the originality of the characters, and the "crisply defined textures and realistic lighting"; the paper deemed the game "a treat for the eyes". However, the reviewers decided that the game was merely average overall, and noted its limited longevity. The Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote of the game: "It's all right, but probably most useful for certain parents to force on kids." The Sydney Morning Herald described the game as "an average platform game that masks its conventional gameplay with over-stimulating graphics". The Daily Mirror called it "anarchic, fun, hilarious and very cool". Entertainment Weekly wrote that "TJ&E is fun -- but forgettable fun. Still, its promise of downloadable content, and sheer silliness, brings some whimsy to the funk-starved Xbox."