Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

The Good
Graphics in the game are what you'd get out of a steampunk movie with the grisly details of a slaughterhouse. Although the detail is top-notch, only the correct settings can allow you to fully enjoy the cutscenes without frame skipping. What adds to the level art is that the background is just as busy as the layout of the level, making it a convincingly realistic place.

While there is no proper tutorial in the game, the hint messages you get at least help you practice the moves. It will come as a surprise to find hidden rooms where you're expected to have forehand knowledge of the gameplay to rescue the Mudokons and escape them alive. The more you progress, the more interesting challenges await you, ranging from disarming traps to stealth to mind-controlling Sligs. You essentially have all the means at your disposal to get through the levels, which is half the challenge, and rescuing at least 50 Mudokons for the good ending is the other half. And if you get tired of the main game, it's fun to play with Abe's speech.

The Bad
The controls are nowhere near as tight as they should be. If you're accustomed to cinematic platformers like Blackthorne, you'd expect to be able to pull off a move or action with the light tap of a button, but then you find Abe killed before you've made your running jump or climb. You can make better jumps on Prince of Persia. And the running is so sensitive, you'll find yourself thrust forward to the middle of the screen before you have the chance to stop. While it's okay for getting across rooms faster, it's not okay when trying to hurry from one dangerous room to the next. When throwing a grenade, pressing up makes you throw it forward and pressing the opposing direction makes you throw it upwards. That doesn't even make any sense. The throwing direction should correspond with the arrow keys. Furthermore, there's no arc indicator to tell you exactly where the grenade will land, you just have to experiment.

As if the game wasn't difficult enough, there are some annoyances that should have been stamped out, such as secret portals permanently vanishing if you skip them and platform edges that don't let you climb down, you just crouch instead. The lack of checkpoints in the more desired rooms adds to the frustration, so expect Abe and/or other Mudokons to die lots of times until you've rehearsed the precise steps and moves, sometimes ruined by the unpredictable behaviour of the Sligs.

The Bottom Line
You think you're a master at cinematic platformers? Well you don't know Oddworld. The difficulty is ramped up way more than Broderbund's, Delphine Software's or even Blizzard Software's platformers. For the most part, you're going to need a lot more luck than reflex to play this one perfectly. But learning patterns and steps is where the fun really gets to players. No matter how hard it gets, you know you want this title. With the amount of carnage and meat processing, you'd best hope it doesn't put you off your next hamburger.