In 1997 GT Interactive (later to become
one of the many iterations of Atari) published a 2D platformer for
the original Playstation, titled Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. As
a phonetic spelling, and a quirky side-scroller, it inspired three
sequels between 1998 and 2005. Over time, as the series deviated
from its original design, the vision of its developer, Oddworld
Inhabitants, conflicted with then publisher Electronic Arts,
eventually leading to its abandonment. Only five years later, in
2010, Oddworld Inhabitants announced their plan to publish another
iteration, developed by Just Add Water. Released in 2014, Oddworld:
New 'n' Tasty, is the fifth game in the Oddworld collection.
Originally intended as a new game to
rejuvenate the series, New 'n' Tasty, informally called Abe
HD, morphed into a refurbishment project. The developers decided to
completely rebuild the original Abe's Oddysee. Though
Oddworld Inhabitants would provide access to the original designs,
Just Add Water would recreate the entire code, allowing for imagine
and innovation to improve the final product.
Ok, but what is Oddworld? On an alien
world, Molluck the Glukkon, manages Rupture Farms, a massive
industrial food packing plant. Overseen by gun slinging Sligs,
enslaved Mudokons labor to produce paramite pies and scrab cakes, but
sales are declining and Molluck designs a newer, tastier, flavor.
Fortunately, the hapless Mudokon Abe overhears the plot, and plans a
desperate escape. Beginning deep within the factory's butchery
strewn bowels, Abe must avoid many perilous obstacles with his
limited abilities.
The player controls Abe as he navigates
this 2D platformer with his limited abilities. As a bipedal, he can
duck under whirling blades, jump over deep pits, sneak past sleeping
Sligs and run to avoid their gunfire when they've woken. But he can
do more. Abe contains within his loin cloth an inexhaustible
collection of coins which can be tossed to draw the attention of
Sligs. But Abe's defining characteristic is his chant. Early in New
'n' Tasty, Abe's chanting produces a limited effect. It opens
portals, which Mudokons can use to escape.
After successfully stumbling outside of
the factory, Abe is greeted by a swirling white light, which
assembles offers instructions during his chanting. It leads him
through the fences, checkpoints, and minefields surrounding Rupture
Farms, until it pauses at a cliff. Leap of Faith, it declares.
This leap brings Abe to Big Face, a
mask wearing Mudokon who rules a tribal society beyond the reach of
Molluck the Glukkon. Surprisingly, the natives finds something
worthwhile in this tender, gutless, goofy, bloodthirsty, poetic,
guileless idiot, and declare him their
Moses. Before Abe can free those bound in Rupture Farms, Big Face
sends him to the temples of Paramonia and Scrabania to pass the tests
of the sacred paramites and scrabs. Carved up for food at Rupture
Farms, these monsters are deadly, but regarded as holy the local
Mudokons. Shaped like gruesome hands, the paramites are gentler, but
descend like giant spiders when antagonized, unlike the scrabs which
charge headlong like bulls as soon as Abe steps in sight. Both
temples are reached by a riding sequence upon Elum past Sligs, mines,
and pitfalls, and then contain a number of puzzle rooms. Each puzzle
room requires the activation of a switch, avoiding the traps and
enemies within. Completing every puzzle is required to access the
final room, an extended run with monsters swarming behind.
Though
I call them puzzle rooms, for a lack of a better term, they
incomparable to Braid
or The
Swapper. In those
games, puzzles require contemplation, trial and error, and
consideration, but the solution had a simple execution. It was about
discovery instead of implementation. Theoretically Oddworld's puzzles
are easy, but are technically, mechanically difficult, with a perfect
reaction, and a bit of luck determining success.
Along the way from
Rupture Farms through the temples Abe accesses other abilities.
Dispensaries provide meat to distract monsters, bricks to trip mines,
and grenades to blow away enemies. A few oddities. Coins can't trip
mines (but they do kill bats), and bricks can hit ground mines, but
not floating ones. Rupture Farms contains a number of grenade
dispensers, but enemies never use them. Did they install them for
rebellious Mudokons? And grenades seem incapable of killing two
Sligs at a time, even if it is tossed exactly between them.
Abe also finds his
chanting enhanced. He can control Sligs telepathically, but not
scrabs or paramites. Abe can use Sligs to shoot other Sligs, run
through minefields, or activate unreachable switches. Why did I
label Abe as bloodthirsty? When he loses control of a Slig, whether
shot by another Slig, blown up by a mine, or telekinetically
detonated by Abe, he pauses and chuckles at the creature's demise.
Incredibly powerful, this ability to control Sligs is limited to
certain areas, because the managers of Rupture Farms installed chant
suppressors which zap Abe, when he tries within their vicinity.
But
when Abe completes the two Temples his chant acquires a final form.
After freeing a number of Mudokons, he gains a number of charges to
transform into Shrykull, a demigod, which combines the physical
features of a scrab and a paramite.
In this form he destroys everything; mines, Sligs, chant
suppressors, and monsters. While devastating, this ability contains
a singular deficiency.
Armed
with unearthly powers and tasked with freeing the enslaved Mudokons,
Abe returns to Rupture Farms. He must advance through deadly
hallways to Zulags 1 to 5, where the majority of the Mudokons are
kept. Each Zulag encompasses a couple puzzle rooms, where a lever
must be activated to continue, but also include enslaved Mudokons.
Like the puzzles in the temples, these require minimal investment,
with the Shrykull ability allowing Abe to pass unhindered most of the
time. But sometimes Abe will be imbued with Shrykull charges when
the player needs to control the mind of a Slig. Activating Shrykull
kills Sligs, so the player must find somewhere for Abe to harmlessly
discharge any remaining charges. A simple improvement, allowing the
player to switch between different types of chanting, could have
improved the last third of New 'n' Tasty.
Eventually Abe
reaches the core of Rupture Farms, freeing Mudokons along the way,
and the player receives a final ending determined by the number of
emancipated Mudokons. After completing the game and watching the
result, the player can replay any area to collect forgotten Mudokons.
This
year, Awkward Mixture reviewed three platformers, including Oddworld:
New 'n' Tasty. Unlike the
others, New 'n' Tasty is
like an elaborate torture devise: the puzzles don't demand problem
solving, but are merely repetitive, deadly, platforming requiring
precise timing and huge helpings of luck, with little variation. The
controls don't feel responsive, a serious flaw in such a game. You
will die many times, and though I enjoy lethal games like Dark Souls,
New 'n' Tasty dishes
out a different sort of punishment, which wears you down. Though
most puzzles require stealth, most only offer a millisecond to spare.
Repeatedly dying in an attempt to tiptoe across a traverse before an
Slig spies Abe, will pressure the player to try speed over stealth.
This strategy rarely succeeds.
What made Oddworld
enjoyable in spite of the frustration, was the endearing ineptitude
of Abe, and the lush setting which encompasses tribal, mystical,
industrial, gory, capitalistic, ecological, arid and alien
aesthetics. His charming chuckle, whether at an enemy's demise or
his own fart, will elicit a matching response from the player.
On a final note,
I've briefly played the original Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. If
you feel compelled to play this series, New 'n' Tasty is
certainly superior. It implements tighter controls, a choice of
difficulty, and a new design, with more levels. It also offers a
better set up for a gamepad, and it has Quick Save. Please use this,
as I only realized it existed five minutes before I finished the game
by watching a YouTube video. It's no joke to say I don't think I
could have completed those last five minutes without it. While the
game saves at certain checkpoints, quick save allows the player to
save anywhere.
In conclusion, New
'n' Tasty is a punishing platformer which favors mechanical skill
over puzzle solving. For those who dislike this style of game, it's
buoyed by a quirky, endearing character and a well designed world
which seamlessly incorporates a variety of elements. Not my
preferred flavor, but it might be yours.
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