Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

"It's good, but it could very well be bad."

Oh God, where to start? The story? Yeah, that's probably best.

You play as Abe, a slave in a meat factory, who got curious one day and looked around. He listened in on a board meeting. The board managers (the Glukkons) and the slave workers (the Sligs) were getting worried. The Paramite and Scrab races, the base ingredients for their two products, were wearing thin. But the head director, Mullock, was cool. He had a plan. The next big product - it was the slaves!

It's your job to help Abe escape, and find his place in destiny. You can choose whether to save the other Mudokon slaves or not, though the numbers you save change the ending you get.

The game is... well, firstly it's 2-D. Secondly, it's very, very dark. I mean, Grand Theft Auto ain't got nothing on this. But Abe's Oddyssee? It's just... freaky. You don't know fear until you slipped up and got you or a fellow mudokon shot for the first time. And it's gonna happen more than once. Without a walkthrough, it is impossible to do it right the first time, simply because the game is made to trick you. You will screw up, kill yourself, and come back. Infinite lives are important to this. No matter how many games you've played, you will fall for traps. It's a refreshing change to your basic platformer, where you see the traps, but honsetly - it's dark. It gives me nightmares. I should stop playing, but I can't. Yet, it's the only game that makes me turn around at the slightest noise not coming from my computer, fearing that I'll come face to face with a Slig's machine-gun barrel, or find a hungry Scrab barge through the door.

Okay, so what else? Fun? Well... I wouldn't exactly call it fun. Super Mario bros. is fun. But this game... well, it's entertaining, but it's about as much fun as... well, get this. When you eat your favourite... whatever you eat, you don't call it fun, do you? It's enjoyable, but not fun. This game is like that. God, I still get freaked.

Abe's an awesome character. He's not out for justice like, well, every RPG character ever. He's, well, a slave, that needs to escape or die. He's ready to help his fellow slaves escape, but he's doing it because he's a decent guy, not because he is the one chosen by destiny. Eventually he does destroy the farm, but it's more out of prophecy than anything.

There isn't another game out there similar (well, except the other Oddworld games), and I don't see why. We get a heap of generic platformers, but the genre would be alot better if developers started following Abe's lead, and making original, fun games. They aren't going to make anything as good as Mario, and should give up. This game could have, and should have shown developers the meaning of originality, but didn't.

Buy the game, unless you're a sissy, like me. There's nothing to be ashamed of, go play some nicer game, or you'll be seeing Oddworld inhabitants everywhere you look for a year. If you're a big tough human, then play it. It's worth it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/06