Oddworld Stranger's Wrath

"The Oddworld series changed..... for the better."

If you're not familiar with Oddworld, do you know what Munch's Oddysee was? It was the last Oddworld game released before this one and was about solving puzzles instead of first person shooting. In fact, Stranger's Wrath is the first Oddworld game that doesn't fall under the genre of puzzles. Instead of using your solving puzzles to find friends to shoot enemies to death to escape a factory headed by blood-thirsty executives with nothing in mind but income, you run off using a double-barreled crossbow and a wide assortment of live ammunition to knock outlaws dead or to the ground to capture them and turn them in for their money. If you think about it, Stranger's Wrath is completely different from Abe's Oddysee, Abe's Exoddus, and Munch's Oddysee and is a pioneer in the Oddworld series leaving it open to new genres and ideas, which is definitely a good thing.

Graphics 10/10
"Where's the exit to this dump?"
Stranger may say that about the dusty towns he goes to, but really, they are very nice, well-detailed and nicely pixelated. The towns are large and diverse. The characters are nicely designed and move very smoothly without any kind of annoying glitch. The FMVs made by Oddworld Inhabitants, as always, are very nice and makes it feel like you're watching a real movie. The characters move themselves and their mouths in a natural way when they talk, move, or do something. The towns are designed and detailed down to every last square inch and the characters are nicely done.
Graphics 10/10

Sound 10/10
"Ya heard what the five fingers said to the face?"
When you hear Stranger talking and the rest of the characters in this game talking, you'll know that the voice acting is very good. Characters talk with well-dubbed voices and their mouths move to the sound to make the game as realistic as it can. A lot of other games I've played with voice acting have badly-dubbed and messed-up voices that sound like a dying cat. Stranger's Wrath, like Munch's Oddysee, has great voice acting, even some of the live ammunition have great voices.

The music? It was fine. It had some odd, native-style beats that seem to relax your mind and make you concentrate more on the game at the same time. No, this isn't a contradiction. The music can relax your mind so you won't lose your concentration on the game and can concentrate more than an average game, which comes in handy since the game relies on a lot of skill.
Sound 10/10

Gameplay 10/10
"Never did like guns."
Well, Stranger, this really shows in the game, especially since you don't use guns like all the other first-person shooters do and stick with a nice double-barreled crossbow. But just because he only uses one weapon doesn't mean you only stick with one kind of ammunition. Instead of having to rummage through dead enemies to gather ammo or look in boxes for it, you can go hunt it in the wild when you find a nesting site, shoot at it with your Zappflies and pick it up. Each ammo type does something different or is special in it's on way. For example, Fuzzles can be both shot at enemies and laid on the ground as traps for enemies that pass by, Stingbees fire rapidly and very fast and make machine guns look obsolete, Chippunks can be used to create a distraction for enemies because they're so annoying, and so on.

When you defeat your enemies, you don't just leave them there to rot into the ground. If you didn't kill them, you can suck them into some kind of container to turn in at the bounty store. You can do the same if they're dead, but outlaws that are alive get you more money than those that are dead. You can do this on almost all enemies, even bosses.

But wait, did you think Stranger's Wrath was only in first-person? Of course not. Oddworld Inhabitants were being innovative and decided to mix third-person gameplay with first-person gameplay to make everything more fun. You can mix the gameplay types together to play the entire game in your own way. If you want to jump a ledge and don't want to use first-person, go ahead and adjust to third-person. Jumping ledges is much easier this way, as are many other things you do in the game, such as running and swimming.

Wait, the good things don't end just there! Instead of adopting the same generic health system every other game has that involves you spending a lot of money at the store for first-aid kits, Oddworld Inhabitants wanted to do away with that and invented something revolutionary: a system where you can shake off your damage. That's right, you can shake off damage. If you have low health after a battle, you can just shake all the bullets, darts, and knives that are inside you to regain health. Of course there's a catch so this game doesn't become too easy: you need to have stamina to recover and you can't recover when you're being shot at. A second thing added along with the new health system is the stamina system. When you're fighting physically, you use up stamina. If you don't feel like wasting ammo on some easy enemies, just press the triggers to head butt them or slam at them with your large arms. If you run low on stamina, all you have to do is wait until your stamina recovers by regeneration. Real simple system of health without all the complications of getting all those wimpy first-aid kits or herbs to heal and spending your precious moolah.
Gameplay 10/10

Story 10/10
"I've thought of a brilliant approach to your little problem, but research has turned out a little.... complicated."
The reason why Stranger became a bounty hunter in the first place was because of a little medical "problem" that remains unidentified throughout most of the game. Stranger visit a Vykker doctor who did a check and, since the research was getting very hard, had to charge 20,000 moolah for the operation. That's why every time you bag a big bounty, you come a step closer to your goal. Not only that, but when I learned what Stranger's medical problem really was, I was in complete shock. Trust me, you have to see it to believe it and the only way to see it is if you get the game.
Story 10/10

Replay Value 4/10
"Your looten days are numbered."
This is the only downfall of the game. You see, when you beat the game, there's nothing much to do left except see if you can do any better than you did last time, or you can see if you could catch more bounties alive, or see if you could get an early advantage you didn't find out about until later, but that's just about it and strictly for the hardcore fans.
Replay Value 4/10

Buy or Rent?
If you're a veteran or big fan of the Oddworld series like I am, definitely buy it. You can add it to the rest of your Oddworld games and use it to count down the Oddworld Quintology. If you're new to the series, just rent it and see if you like it. If you do, you might be interested in Munch's Oddysee as well.

My Grand Total 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/01/05