Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty Review

Ever been excited about a game being remade that you remember playing as a kid? 1997 gave us gamers the beginning of an unlikely heroes journey. The awkward, puny, but yet likable hero, the Mudokon named Abe! Fast forward to 2014 and we saw the first installment of the remake of Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty on the Playstation 4. Now after almost a year of waiting patiently, owners of Xbox One are able to revisit this side scrolling classic.

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty is a ground up remake of the original Oddworld and it keeps everything the players loved, while improving just about every other aspect and making it more enjoyable while also keeping the games rather challenging puzzle solving pieces.

As stated above, you play Abe, a Mudokon that works in the factory of RuptureFarms as a floor waxer. Late one shift, he makes the terrifying discovery that those in charge of RuptureFarms plans to turn his fellow Mudokons into the company’s newest treat. This leads us to the main point of the game, rescue as many of the 299 Mudokons spread throughout the levels. Now you can choose to ignore this and just attempt to make it through the levels. This will only give you a very poor ending for the game. Many of those needing rescued can be found within many of the games hidden, secret levels. Unlike the original, the secret levels for New ‘n’ Tasty have visual clues that indicate where most of these rooms can be found. Another great enhancement in this remake is the new and improved GameSpeak feature. You can now command your followers to wait as you make the path ahead safe for them. With these enhancements, the game now gives each Mudokon more responses.

The game also relies heavily on puzzle solving since Abe has no way to actually attack the enemies, Sligs, and other creatures, the player must use their puzzle solving skills to figure out a safe way to make it past these opponents, whether that may be opening trap doors and causing them to fall down them, using mines to eliminate your enemies, etc.

At times, the only way to safely make it past these Sligs is to possess them using Abe’s chant ability. Under your control, you can use the Sligs firearms to kill their friends, or walk them directly into harm’s way.  Any of these work wonderfully as you try to save as many of the Mudokons as you can.  Some of these puzzles also require you to make your way past numerous obstacles safely. That being said, sometimes it takes trial and error to figure out the best way to navigate the treacherous path. This is where the games Quiksave and Quikload function comes in very handy. Use the Quiksave, right before a part where you think you may die, and use Quikload if you do parrish. You will die quite often in this game, that’s almost impossible to get away from. That’s okay though, that’s what makes these style of games more rewarding when you do achieve victory.

Graphically, the game looks beautiful. Taking everything from the original and giving it new animations and art, makes the game look fresh. The main menu system with Abe sticking his head out through the wall and speaking to you in his odd voice makes it humorous and satisfying. Instead of still backgrounds throughout the levels, the developers have now brought those to life as well, machines work in the distance, Sligs can be seen moving around in the darkness, it’s these subtle changes that make certain actions throughout the game’s course, that much more enjoyable. As I’ve stated, the addition of new dialog throughout and enhanced audio brings Oddworld to life. The Mudokon’s giggles if you cause Abe to fart, the alarms they go off, and the noises the creatures that inhabit the games levels really give them their own personality.

This remake is definitely one to play, specially if you enjoyed the original game. If you have never played any of the past Oddworld games, go download this game and meet Abe. Save some Mudokon’s, cause some enemies to fall through traps, and enjoy the crude, yet comical humor that this game brings. I hope the success of this game gives us more Oddworld titles in the future.

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

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