Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

"Munch and Abe are back and fun as ever!"

LONG REVIEW

Once there was a land called Oddworld, a freakishly wonderful place of boundless possibility, primed for a great evolutionary transformation as it made the leap from Sony's ancient PlayStation contraption to Microsoft's shiny new Xbox machine. And leap Oddworld did...but evolve, alas, Oddworld did not. Instead, it molted its old skin and emerged a little bit bigger, perhaps, and quite a whole lot shinier... but still mostly the same thing it had always been.

Munch's Oddysee is a 3D version of the first two games...nothing more, nothing less. That means its a great new sequel to a great couple of games, with solid puzzles, creative looking worlds, characters that bleed freaky personality, and gameplay that is a little too limited for its own good. The graphics in Munch are wonderful: The character designs are loveably strange, the animation is fast and fluid, and little touches like cloud shadows rolling over the landscape lend a sense of warmth, richness, and surrealism. The CGI cut scenes are awesome (as usual) and the music rules, but the voices alone are almost reason enough to play the game.

Unfortunately, Munch rarely manages the instill the awesome ''whole world is yours'' sense of wide openness that Mario 64 did for the N64, or that Jak and Daxter does now for the PS2. The newest Oddworlds feels rather canned, confined, repetitive, and contrived, and Much and Abe control more stiffly than most characters put in similar situations.

The game is a lengthy commitment, though, and in typical Oddworld fashion, immensely challenge. It still focuses on the same ''get horde of friends to safety using patented Gamespeak'' style of puzzle solving, and still consists of the same tyrannical ''keep dying 'til you get it right'' gameplay, though some bizarre tag team interaction between Munch and Abe makes things more interesting. Luckily, that crazy build in Xbox hard drive enables you to save anywhere, anytime for when those tired brain cells need a well deserved rest.

If creative visuals and lots of high impact lateral thinking are what you seek, then Munch is undoubtedly the game for you, even if all logic suggests this Oddysee could (and should) have been more. There is no question that this latest Oddworld incarnation harnesses the impressive power of the Xbox. The Xbox, however, doesn't quite harness the infinite promise of Oddworld.

SHORT REVIEW

Graphics: 9
The graphics are coated in a mucus layer of charisma. Munch is horrifically fascinating to watch, and the artists paid keen attention to little details, even if the environments don't quite have the epic scope you would expect

Sound: 10
Yeah, sure, the music is awesome, and that boinging sound Munch makes sure is funny, but those voice overs are like a virus...a good, infectious, violently happy virus.

Control: 7
Abe and Munch handle a bit more stiffly than some other 3D platformin' fools, and jumping doesn't quite feel right. Controlling your underlings, however, is fun and simple thanks to patented Gamespeak.

Fun Factor: 8
A feast of freakiness with puzzles that could qualify you for MENSA membership, though a sense, of confinement and a too strong similarity to Abe's previous Oddysees means it is not quite a Mario 64 sized leap.

Score: 8.5 lowered to 8

Happy gaming and ''Munch sure is cool!''

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/03, Updated 07/14/03