Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

"Mudokons-The Other Blue Meat"

This is one of the best action/strategy games of our time for the PS. Blue guys needing rescue, ugly squids in mechanical pants, part-dog, all-jaw things, tall cigar-munching executives who stand on their hands, part-spider, part-dog things, tall, orange dancers with beaks, some guy with a large mask, and a really big demigod which is part-mudokon, part-scrab, part-paramite...sounds like a good game to me.

Plot-10
Abe, a mudokon slave working at RuptureFarms, a meat processing plant, decides to work late one night to discover that Paramites and Scrabs, the creatures being used to make cakes and pies, were decreasing in stock. Just then, Mullock, the president of RuptureFarms, decides to make something new. Unfortunately for Abe, it turns out that the new taste is his own people! Abe decides to run away from RuptureFarms, but then finds out that he needs to rescue his blue buddies and shut down RuptureFarms for good. Good story.

Gameplay-10
If you think that it's fun to run around every single area aimlessly, then you are darn right! One of your missions is to rescue the mudokons from the factory, and it gets complicated at times to try to rescue them all, mainly because of all of the secret places in the game. But, it gets fun to watch mudokons get shot, fall to their deaths, get chopped up by meat saws, get shot by sligs, get eaten by slogs, scrabs, and paramites, blown up by mines, and getting destroyed by electric fences. That goes the same for Abe, too. Luckily, there's a strategy to every single character in the game. Scrabs fight with each other, Paramites don't eat you unless they're backed into a corner or when they aren't alone. Sligs sleep on the job, can't see very well in the dark, are trigger-happy, and can be easily possesed. Slogs usually listen to sligs. Use those clues to your advantage.

Sound-10
Gamespeak really takes the cake in sound, because it's one of the most important things to help complete the game. Hello. Follow me. Wait. Grr. Here boy! Get 'im! Look out! And even farts and whistles! Plus, if Abe accidentally kills a mudokon, he says, "Oops." Also, the sound effects are great. Squeaking whenever Abe sneaks, squishing when pieces of meat are thrown somewhere, explosions for every explosives, beeping, gears grinding, barking, shooting, flapping, screeches, hissing, and the occasional sound of chomping. Plus, the soundtrack is perfect for the game. Odd music for an odd game.

Graphics-9
The graphics are great for a 2D game. The lighting, though a bit off, is great for a 2D gamesuch as this. Even the cutscenes have the best graphics I have ever seen for the PS.

Controls-9
The controls are great, but are a bit complicated to memorize, and it's also hard when you want to either sneak or run, because the the buttons are so close together like that. And trying to use the gamespeak when you're in mortal danger gets pretty annoying, because most of the mudokons respond so slowly.

Replay Value-10
You'll want to keep playing until you find all of those secret areas, rescue all 99 mudokons, and mess around looking for new solutions to many of the puzzles in the game.

Overall-10
The best game I've seen in years, and it definitely beats almost all of the other 2D side-scrolling games.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/03/05