Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty Review

Who remembers Oddworld: Abe’s Oddyssey? It was a good ole platformer back on the PSX (aka PS1). The game was easily one of the most frustrating games that could have been picked up back then. This was due to the fact that everything was out to kill you, you had no health and a single hit would end your game and set you back to the last checkpoint—which to some of us was enough of a deal breaker to put down the controller and return the game to (hopefully) whatever rental store we picked it up at. AND if you purchased the title, well you were stuck with it most likely.

Well this little beauty of a game is the remake, in glorious HD and let me tell you, it is MUCH better. The game contains beautiful graphics, great audio sequences (including the ending credits theme), and improved gameplay. There are also a few other tidbits like quiksave! Also a new name: New n Tasty!

The game features a protagonist named Abe. He’s a humanoid creature called a Mudokon. They’re generally a tribal and peaceful people, but Abe is one of the unlucky ones—he’s a slave, born and raised, at Rupture Farms, a meat processing plant, and he is about to become lunch. You heard me, the company he works for has fallen low in profits and their new idea is to cook up some Mudokons and sell them to the masses. That will raise profits, right?

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Well, Abe of course isn’t going to stand for that. So it’s your job to take control of the meek fellow and go forth to save all of Mudokon kind. Of course you won’t go without resistance. The corporation is run by a cruel, selfish, and purely evil CEO named Molluck.

The game starts out with Abe narrating from a prison cell. He was a great worker—even once employee of the year! But now he’s set to be executed, all because of stopping to eavesdrop on a conversation in the company boardroom, late one night. He discovers the evil plot of is boss, and is forced to go on the run, grabbing his friends as he goes.

So in this puzzle-platformer you’ll go from the factory of Rupture Farms itself, to the desolate and tribal world outside. Ride the loyal Elum, dodge the treacherous mines, jump the chasms, and gain the ancient god-like powers of Shrykull. All of this is a quest of a lifetime, and one that could possibly be Abe’s last. The enemies are comprised of gun wielding sligs, to hungry scrabs, and rabid slogs. It is up to you to save the Mudokons or let them become mincemeat—however your heart (or stomach) may feel at the time.

One thing that you’ll do a lot in this game is die—and that’s all right! Thanks to the new ‘quiksave’ feature which lets you reload instantly so you can try that jump over the meat grinder again within seconds! If you let your fellow Mudokon go splat, quikload and you’re all good! No worries! That is the best thing about this title. You can die, but it’s not instantly game over so it can relieve MUCH frustration. Other than that you’ll have tons of fun solving puzzles and figuring out the best way to free your friends—all 299 of them!

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So why isn’t this game getting a 10/10? There are a few reasons that can be utterly frustrating at times. Sometimes the controls are bit sticky, so you’ll find yourself wanting to jump and instead going kaboom, and some glitches when quiksaving and quikloading may have you tearing your hair out. Sometimes you will save and there will be a delay so when you load you’ll end up already being blown up by that mine you wanted to jump over. It sucks to have this happen, but just die and let the game load itself at a checkpoint, no sweat. That really is the only drawback.

As far as trophy hunting goes, there are a handful of easy to achieve trophies. Most of which you will get naturally just by playing the game through from beginning to end. It’s a quick and easy platinum, taking no more than 30 hours max (probably much less to be honest). There is a speed run trophy requiring you to save ALL 299 Mudokons and beat the game in less than 3 hours, but it’s far from unachievable. So enjoy! Go get that plat, or if you’re not that type of gamer, hey it’s still a great game!

Overall this game gets an 8/10, and it’s pretty darn good with some quick and fun replay value. Get to it and save your people… unless you like Mudokon Pops.

rating-8

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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One Response

  1. Avatar Dan Miller August 20, 2014