Oddworld started out as a 2D franchise on other platforms but quickly
found a niche amongst the Playstation crowd. Its 'defection' to
Microsoft was widely publicized and a cursory examination at some of the
technical artistry involved serves to explain why a 'defection' was
indeed necessary. Like most of its predecessors, Oddworld mixes its
highly quirky humor with a heavy dose of tongue-in-cheek satire on our
capitalist, big corporation oligopolies. For those who are not
inundated into the ethos of Oddworld, there are lengthy and marvelously
done cinematic sequences throughout the game. But, the basic premise of
the title lies in this: you control Abe and Munch in an 'oddysee'
against the glukkons, who are up to no good. In this case, they are
packaging Munch's friends into little pieces of canned food.
The introduction of Munch is quite a drastic change from previous
Oddworld titles. However, the use of it is quite pragmatic. Munch and
Abe, although both strange and out of this world, operate differently
with Munch being more of an aquatic creature for water-filled levels.
Abe, on the other hand, is better at land-based monkey acrobatics. As
such, the obstacles and puzzles thrown at you are somewhat different.
This is a growing trend in third-person games and the diversity was
succinctly shown in MDK2's triumvirate. Abe and Munch work more closely
in tandem. Often one's actions directly frees up the next one to
proceed. In this rendition of Oddworld, the primary emphasis, however,
is still on puzzles. And the majority of them are clever but they are
still deeply rooted into the console world of puzzles. Jumping is still
an integral part of many of the obstacles the developers pose to you.
As such, it lacks the sophistication of and fluidity of a game like Deus
Ex. Due to this simplicity, there also is no compelling reason to
replay the game again. Unlike Deus Ex, for example, you aren't able to
replay the whole game as Munch or as Abe exclusively since those roles
are fixed. The lack of anything beyond its original storyline is fairly
restrictive.
Although the puzzles may seem simplistic in that aspect, Oddworld
carries over many of its trademark features. For example, artificial
intelligence became a much-touted feature of this game. You are able to
attract followers to help you out. Mudokons can help Abe operate
machinery. Moreover, both Abe and Munch can attract followers to aid
the protagonists in combat. Aside from that, Oddworld falls short of
its original vision. Some of the mudokons may be smart enough to
provide timely aid but at other times, your compatriots may seem too
tethered or limited. There is also the problem of pacing in the game.
The transition to a 3D world certainly taxes the Xbox's power but the
game world is particularly vacuous. It takes a good deal of time to get
into the flow of the game and know where to go next. This is
exasperated by the fact that now you have to two characters to worry
about. This endemic feeling of being lost in the game world is also
compounded with camera issues. I might be too harsh on camera systems
in general but I've never liked to work a camera myself. On the other
hand, camera direction is a fairly subjective state. For example, while
I don't like completely mobile cameras like Homeworld or Toy Story II,
where the onus rests on the player to for camera direction, I equally
don't like fixed states, like Resident Evil where I'm often placed at a
disadvantage in light of the developers' preference for a more cinematic
angle. The same disparate number of views exists for the camera system
of Phantasy Star Online. Some people say it's awful while others like
me found it intuitive. Suffice to say, Oddworld's camera system made
the environmental obstacles (jumping in particular) harder than it
should be.
Otherwise, the cinematic sequences, audio effects and general
professionalism are top notch. They certainly do the material justice
but there simply is not enough variety. Often times, the landscapes are
bleak in the grayish washed out world of factories or barren landscapes
of the indigenous lifeforms. It certainly is a lot different from the
immaculately rendered cinema pieces. Furthermore, the execution related
to the camera and general void you feel in playing the game, serves to
mitigate any technical excellence. This happens in spite of the fact
that the world is segregated into set pieces. The loading of one level
usually entails one distinct puzzle objective which subsequently leads
you to the next one.
Much of Oddworld's charm comes from its idiosyncratic sense of humor.
This is probably its saving grace. I'm told this game is supposed to
appeal to kids but certainly, these kids are not the kids I grew up
with. The archetype of Abe and to a lesser extent, Munch, has all been
done before. During my day, the reluctant hero of Roger Wilco was the
satirical hero of choice. Oddworld's satire is excessively dark when
compared to the dubious outings of Space Quest. Because of its plunder
of modern clichés, many interesting devices come forth. Power-ups, for
example, are dispensed in brightly lit commercialized vending machines.
The portrayals of factory life would make even the most fervent
capitalists turn to Marx and Engels. Pragmatism is not unaffected by
this motif either. Munch is a purely aquatic creature but to aid his
slow speed, he is endowed with a wheelchair on land. The critters in
Oddworld are anything but pretty. The developers make no apologies for
using an excessive amount of stitches and mangled anthropoid bodies. In
the end, if you've never liked Oddworld, this title with its somewhat
anemic gameplay, will not convince you to take up the franchise.
Though Oddworld is not a multiplayer title, it manages to introduce a
few tidbits for Oddworld fans. You get some DVD-esque extras like
cinematic clips of Abe's past exploits. However, such amenities are
more for those who have already made their mind on their purchase of
Oddworld. Oddworld's developers desire to inject motifs into their game
in a bid to make the title resemble a cinematic piece. Unfortunately,
the game parts of the corpus are less impressive than the motif.
Compared to a masterpiece like Grim Fandango, where film noir is merged
with modern satire, the results are telling. Like many epic franchises,
there are still subsequent titles slated for Oddworld. This is a mere
single episode in an overarching storyline. With Microsoft as the
primary publisher now, the developers certainly won't have to worry
about running out of funds to produce the next piece in this slate. But
hopefully they will rectify some of the execution issues and expand on
the interesting elements of this game. This isn't a complete failure
per se but it certainly was not the Halo-level of title that Microsoft
was looking for. And for gamers who aren't Oddworld inhabitants,
they'll readily agree.