Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

The Good
I always like a game where you can make the PC fart (check out GTA)! This was one of my first PS games, and the intro really blew me away. After having gathered myself from the bits and pieces splattered on the walls, I was struck with awe by the in-game graphics and sound. Still recovering from the massive head trauma I started playing...

The Bad
...and also wondering how people capable of making a game this beautiful, both aurally and visually, can't write a bloody manual!? It took me several weeks of playing to find out that you could take over the bad guys' bodies by chanting for a while. Now this is something those of you who read the tips columns in magazines or on websites would find out on day one, and normal console game players would probably get to the point where the game tells you this in about two hours, but for someone accustomed to the easy-going playability of Duke Nukem (the real DN, not the crappy ones), this game is dead hard. And it doesn't get any easier once you get the hang of the controls (all those different buttons for burping, chanting, jumping, etc), since a lot of screens require split-second timing, and even when you get it right the level designers have decided you deserve a kick in the teeth: I played this with a friend (both in our twenties), and we nearly shitted our pants when a shrieking squid-headed alien jumped from the roof in a dark part of a level we THOUGHT we'd cleared.

Otherwise, all the usual console game gripes apply.

The Bottom Line
For a "cute" platform game this certainly has an atmosphere awfully close to the original Doom. Whether this is a good thing or a pain in the ass is up to the player, but I found this game to be well worth the time and effort (and laundry detergent, if you're very sensitive) put into it. The variety of gameplay and the fact that the designers have really put a lot of thought into the story and setting of the game combined with the solid presentation make this an instantly appealing game - especially if you don't mind popping a few bloodvessels in your head just once in a while.