Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

"One of the most innovative games of it’s time, one of my favourite games on the PS1."

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee was released in 1997 with critical acclaim. It was praised by reviewers for its innovative gameplay and controls, stunning graphics and an overall well… odd concept. Lets see how it stacked up.

Story:

Players are put in the role of Abe an ugly, yet strangely loveable creature from a weird alien-like race known as the Mudokons, who essentially are enslaved in a meat processing farm known as Rupture farms. One day while peeking around, Abe discovers his boss plans to turn him and his fellow Mudokons to meat, due to a current financial crisis and shortage of meat. With this new found information, Abe hurries off to share his new found news to the Mudokon buddies, more or less rescuing them and escaping from Rupture farms.

The story has a certain charm to it that makes it different to others, maybe it's the ingenious concept or the stunning FMV's the story takes place through. None the less, an excellent storyline, definitely one of the more original storylines available on the PS1.
9/10

Graphics/Visuals:

Great, absolutely dripping with personality and originality. At it's initial release, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee in comparison to other games available at the time, was well above in many areas such as art and technical design.

The graphics in general are really quite beautiful, in a obscure sort of way. The amount of detail is outstanding, it's clear the developers put a lot of work into this. The environments are generally very dark and drab and generally really quite surreal, you get the sense it's set in a very troubled and polluted world. The atmosphere is simply amazing, one of the most engrossing experiences I've had with a PS1 game. Simply put, it's spectacular. As I mentioned before the game features stunning FMV cut scenes throughout the game, they really push the hardware limitations of the PS1 to the limits. The character animation is very-well done; Abe and his companions move fluently, and the character design is also great. Overall, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is a phenomenal looking game.
9/10

Sound/Audio

The games music is also superb, really adding to the atmosphere and tension the game creates, while very simple, it's very memorable. The sound effects are just as good, the clanging of machinery to the sound of the enemies feet as they walk clang along the metal. The voice acting is surprising good, while cheesy as is with most other cases of voice acting on the PS1, it's very memorable, most notably Abe and Mullock the Glukkon.

Sound: 9/10
Music: 9/10

Gameplay:

At first glance you can probably tell the game takes inspiration from Lemmings. Oddworld cleverly mixes clever and creative puzzles with light 2D platforming and stealth elements, to create one of the most unique and surreal experiences available on the PS1. Abe's abilities allow him to control the other Mudokons, using a bunch of simple commands aptly named ‘Gamespeak'. Using these commands Abe can command and generally communicate Mudokons navigating them through the games many puzzles. The trail and error nature to the puzzles means Abe and his pals are in for a rather treacherous journey, granted Abe luckily has an unlimited supply of lives, his Mudokon pals however, have not, this makes for some rather difficult puzzles later on in the game. The puzzles really are quite clever. They range from being incredibly simple, opening doors with levers and avoiding obstacles to being brutally hard, sneaking past hordes of enemies without being detected and luring enemies into traps. The level design is outstanding and the AI was generally quite good for it's time.

As mentioned before, the trail and error nature is a big part of the puzzles, some puzzles later in the game you could try 50+ time and still not get them right. The answer to the puzzles are not always obvious and you'll find yourself reloading your last quick save constantly. In addition to the ability to command Mudokons, he can also possess your enemies, and using them to solve the puzzles. This is very useful, considering Abe is lacking in strength and can't attack enemies. This is the kind of originality that puts the game above a lot of the other games available on the Playstation.
10/10

Controls:

In terms of control, it works quite well. The left and right direction buttons are used to move Abe. The use of the up button changes depending on the context, while the down button allows for crouching. The four face buttons are used for jumping and holding items, and the R buttons allow Abe to run and tip toe. Now this is when ‘Gamespeak' comes into play. Holding L1 allows for you to enter ‘Gamespeak', the face buttons and shoulder buttons on the controller are then used for commands. This type of clever interface really works considering the lack of buttons for every command. Sure It's been done in a lot of other games but it works really well.
8/10

Now for a quick revision

Story: 9/10
Graphics/Visuals: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Music: 9/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Controls: 8/10
Overall: 10/10

Pros

+ Clever and very challenging puzzles
+ Great concept, story very original
+ Voice acting and dialogue, great
+ Gamespeak system, clever and innovative
+ Stunning Graphics, FMV cutscenes, remarkable
+ Amazing level design, very memorable

Cons

- Very hard difficulty, steep learning curve
- Lack of quick save

In Conclusion

Simply put an underappreciated gem. A must have for Playstation collectors. With great puzzles, a bizarre yet very original concept and the very innovative ‘Gamespeak' feature makes Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, truly one of the best games available on the original Playstation.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/26/09, Updated 02/27/09

Game Release: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (US, 08/31/97)