By Sam Coles:
It was a great time to be alive during the 90’s if you’re
were a gamer because it was the golden age of gaming, as we had the Super
Nintendo, Mega Drive, PS1 and N64 to name a few consoles. It was during a time
where game publishers and developers were more experimental with their games
and took more risks when it came to mechanics, gameplay and even story. Abe’s
Oddysee was one of those games as it continued what Another World and Flashback
laid the foundation for in the form of the cinematic platformer. Released on
the Sony PlayStation in 1997 this game was a standout title with the setting
and the graphics which in my opinion still shine today with the pre-rendered
nature which help the game hold up even 20 years later.
Abe’s Oddysee takes place in the fictional world of
Oddworld, where you see yourself in the shoes of Abe who is part of the Mudokon
race that are an enslaved and are working at a meat factory called Rupture
Farms. You play as the titular Abe, who is working late at Rupture Farms and he
happens to overhear a meeting with the heads of the company, it turns out that
they have killed off most of the wildlife in Oddworld and they have devised a
new plan. To Abe’s horror it turns out that they want to turn Mudokons into tasty
snacks, so Abe goes on the run where he traverses the world of Oddworld where
he is at the bottom of the food chain and he must be cautious and save his
fellow Mudokons.
The gameplay is a cinematic platformer similar to games such
as Flashback, Another World and Prince of Persia; however unlike those games I
would say Oddworld nailed it. Abe has real weight to him, you feel every jump
and strain as he pulls himself up onto a ledge coupled with his momentum when
sprints, the feel of Abe is fantastic.
You’ll not only be doing platforming you’ll get a chance to
take control of the trigger happy Sligs with your mind, how this works is that
Abe can do a chant which them takes control of the Sligs. You can’t do this is
all areas because there will be counter measures to stop you from chanting
which makes you think outside of the box.
You have the main task of saving your follow Mudokons, how
you do this is using the game speak where you can communicate with them with
various commands. You start off by saying hello and then say follow me but you
will have to command them to stop in the more precarious areas as they have a
habit of walking off edges. The major issue I have with this system is that you
can only command one Mudokon at one time, this is something that they fixed in
the sequel but here it slows down the pace as you have to run back and forth to
get others to follow, this brings the game’s pace to a halt.
For an Original PlayStation game it has aged rather well in
terms of its presentation I think it was a good decision to go for a pre-rendered
look as it has stand the test of time. Even the FMV cutscenes still look good
which was the big sticking point of PS1 games as most FMV scenes from PS1 games
look absolutely terrifying but Abe’s Oddysee got the animation down, which with
the fact the creators worked in animation in TV and film.
Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee is a fantastic game and is a must
play if you own an original PlayStation but they did remake the game on the PS4,
Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, Vita and the Wii U so there are plenty of options.
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