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Sappy Meal
Guess who's next on the menu?
'You are what you eat' - what a great saying. Great because it sounds profound,
yet it's complete cobblers - unless you happen to go around munching on your
own elbows. I mean, how many people do you know who've turned into giant sausages,
carrots or burgers? I suspect that the person who originated this phrase was
completely out of their mind when they came up with it - allegedly. You might
as well say 'You are a doughnut' - it's complete nonsense. Unless that is, you
happen to be Abe, the hero of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. He and his species, the
Mukodons, are in serious danger of being on the menu themselves. Abe and his
friends work at Rupturefarms, a meat packing plant that specialises in turning
the wildlife of Oddworld into snack food. But profits at the plant are falling,
and so his boss decides to come up with a new mystery meat product to push up
profits. And just what is this new product going to be made from? Mukodons.
Understandably, Abe isn't too happy about having his species culled to fill
supermarket shelves, so he decides to make a break for it, and escape Rupturefarms.
It's up to you to make sure he doesn't end up packaged, processed and priced.
Rhino in a Bun
'Come here and say that!'
And in order to keep Abe and his fellow Mukodons alive, you have to make your
way through seven huge platform levels. Or over seven. Possibly. Okay, I admit
it - I don't know exactly how many levels there are since I haven't completed
the game yet - but you won't finish Oddworld in a day. The game is slightly
reminiscent of Flashback, an old yet superbly animated platform game from French
software house Delphine. Both games have you running around levels, clambering
up onto ledges, hanging off rock faces with your fingertips - and both games
featured extremely athletic main characters. But while Abe may be able to leap
and roll with the best of them, he does have one major problem - he can't fight
to save his life. Whereas the Flashback character had a handy gun to see off
baddies, poor old Abe has only his wits. And the occasional stone.
Hedgehog Nibbles
Rogue dandruff alert!
But it's not all bad news - Abe does have some handy talents which can be used
to deal with his foes. He can sneak around without waking baddies, he can run,
leap and grab ledges without pausing for breath, and he also has a particularly
vicious chant. You'll have to use Abe's fleet-footedness carefully in order
to dispose of the various nasties in the game. A typical way to deal with a
monster is to sneak up to it, carefully avoiding the nearby bomb on the floor,
wake up the monster, run back the way you came, avoid the bomb again, and then
watch as the bad-guy blunders straight into it, blowing itself to smithereens.
You can also chant to take over some baddies, but that only works if you're
out of their reach - otherwise they're likely to run away or blow your head
off with a shotgun blast. Or you may just have to sneak past them, or vault
out of their paths. It a change playing a weaker character who can't just take
out hordes of enemies with his bear fists, and it means you have to think and
plan your actions more than you do in other platform games.
Panda Nuggets
Red sky in the morning - nuclear warning.
If all else fails, and Abe does end up dead then you needn't despair. Abe is
extremely hardy and has an unlimited number of lives - you'll be automatically
reincarnated at the last restart point, and you can also save your game and
come back to it later. Perseverance is the key - you may think you've reached
a dead end, but if you put your mind to it, you'll come up with a solution so
obvious you'll kick yourself for not seeing it sooner. And you're not completely
on your own - there are handy clues scattered around the levels, and the native
Mukodons will give you a hand if they recognise you as a friend. You need to
persuade them you are friendly by greeting them, at which point they will whistle
at you - repeat the whistles in the correct order and they'll help you out,
either by letting you past safely, yanking a lever and opening a door, or by
giving you a magical chant which you can use to blow up bombs and traps.
Crunchy Fried Koala
Just in case you get lost..
But while you can complete a level by making your way to the exit, you might
run into a few problems later in the game. The thing is, you need to rescue
the trapped Mukodons you come across - the number of Mukodons you rescue decides
whether you get the bad or good game ending. You need to rescue at least half
of the Mukodons to get the good ending - otherwise Abe gets the chop. Once you
come across a Mukodon slave, you can get their attention by pressing the '1'
key to say 'Hello'. Then by pressing one of the other number keys, you can get
them to follow you or stay put. Once you have a Mukodon following you, you need
to lead him to the nearest magic portal and chant to open it at which point
he will leap through it to safety. But you have to bear in mind that the other
Mukodons are not as agile as you are and so you can't rely on them leaping and
rolling to avoid obstacles - you have to clear their way first. It makes the
game just that little bit more interesting.
Oddwhirled
I wonder what this does.
Oddworld is a lot of fun to play, and looks great with it. All the characters in the game are extremely well animated, and the backgrounds look stunning. Oddworld is has a lot more depth than most platform games, and even after you've finished it once, you can always play it again and try to find the Mukodons you didn't rescue - or rescued right up till the point when they walked into a meat-grinder. Oddworld is hugely involving and a lot of fun to play. If you're looking for a playable, original game, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is a must-have.
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