If you had a Sega MegaDrive in the early 1990s, chances are you'll have heard of ToeJam and Earl. The coolest aliens in the galaxy provided me with many hours of fun, laughs and funky tunes in my youth. So when I heard that they were going to make another appearance, this time on the Xbox, I jumped for joy.

When Xbox Live launches in October, subscribers will be able to download extra levels and will also have the use of three more characters, including ToeJam's cousin, Nerdy ToeJam. It's a huge game that looks great and plays well on its own, though, so there's still more than enough fun to be had even if you're not hooked up to this service.

There are many elements of the original game in ToeJam & Earl III, including the boogie men (who creep up behind you and shout 'boogie-woogie-woogie' right in your earhole and scare you witless) and there's plenty of humour as well.

This is one game that makes you laugh out loud on a regular basis, and not many games are capable of that. The two-player option encourages cooperation rather than competition, and this means the game remains exactly what it was intended to be - damned good fun. Cool as funk.

Publisher: Sega
Developer: TJ&E Productions
URL: www.sega.com/games/xbox/post_xboxgame.jhtml?PRODID=10089

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