Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Developer - Oddworld Inhabitants
Publisher - GT
Players - 1-2 (taking turns)
Extras - Memory card
The bit on the box
"Once you were just a slave-labourer
in a meat-processing plant from hell...Now you're next on the menu! In
a lush world of diabolical danger where everyone wants to eat you, you're
the skinny guy with no weapons. Run, jump, hide, scramble and talk your
way past the ugliest bunch of carnivorous crustaceans ever created. Unlock
Abe's special powers then figure out your foes, and you might save your
race. Don't, and you're dinner! Enter Oddworld's surreal, sensory overload
of pure gaming and claim your destiny. Saviour. Or Salami."
Graphics
For a 2D platformer the graphics in Abe's Oddysee
are extremely detailed and very crisp.They are not revolutionary and there
is not a polygon in sight, but what is there functions very well and gives
you a good view of the action. The game is done in a flick screen manner
(when you leave the right side of the screen you enter on the left side
of the next one) and although this technique is very dated, putting scrolling
into the game would have been a hinderance on gameplay and also would not
have allowed for the gorgeously drawn backdrops that occupy each screen.
It really does look like professional artists did the backgrounds, and
they create a very atmospheric feel to the game, of really being on another
world. Also some sections of the game link to each other via FMV streams
that join seamlessly with the actual in game screens, which gives an extra
polished feel to the game.
Sounds
The sounds in Abe's Oddysee are anything but the
norm. Everything seems to be designed to lead you to believe you have dropped
into an alternate reality and the effects are no exception (or the music
for that matter, sparse though it is). Sounds include strange animal noises,
chanting, silly voices from the various enemies Abe will encounter, and
Abe himself has a limited vocabulary. This speech however is integral to
the game as Abe must talk to various other characters in order to make
them do things for him, or just to get them to follow him so they can be
rescued. This adds an excellent amount of strategy and lifts Abe's Oddysee
above the normal platform game affair.
Gameplay
Abe's Oddysee can be likened to a 2D Tomb Raider
as the platforming action is very much the same. Positioning at the edge
of platforms are perfect and so jumps can be perfectly judged and timed.
This takes away the headache of learning how to play the game and lets
you get down to the hard puzzles that require your complete attention to
solve.While some puzzles can seem incredibly hard there is usually a logical
(and dare I say easy) way of getting around a problem, and when you do
there is a built in memory save feature that makes sure when you die (which
is often, but Abe has been given unlimited lives for the purpose of this
game) you won't be sent back to the beginning of the level. There is also
a memory card save in case you have to go back to the real world for any
reason.
I feel a verdict coming on
Although Abe's Oddysee is not ground breaking in
the least, it does offer many hours of pure platforming fun. It's not really
a cutesy game as many platform games are, as almost everything in the Oddworld
is grotesque, and there is much violence which may not appeal to younger
players. It will offer a lasting challenge to whoever gives it a go, and
the excellent control system will mean even the most inexperienced gameplayer
will be doing all of Abe's moves in no time. The save system works well
and the unlimited lives should have an appeal to those who don't like restarting
levels at the beginning (one of Lost World's biggest faults). Overall
I liken Abe's Oddysee to my favourite soft strong toilet paper,
it may cost alot more but it's just as absorbent.
Review by D.R.T.Barrett
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