Back To Reviews Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee Review
Rating: Awesome The basic concept behind the gameplay in Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus is pretty much the same as in Abe's Oddysee, but when the game is this darn fun, I'm not complaining. The developers at Oddworld Inhabitants did not set out to create a completely new and revolutionary adventure in Abe's Exoddus; they just wanted to tweak, update, and improve the original game to make it even better than it already was. And on that level, they have succeeded wonderfully. The story line, cut scenes, and backgrounds all live up the standards set in Abe's Oddysee, which is quite a feat considering how amazing Abe's Oddysee was in these areas. In particular, the backgrounds in Abe's Exoddus feel more interactive and "alive" because you can actually go into them and explore them at various points in the game. No, Abe's Exoddus is not 3D in any way, but sometimes you will find secret teleporters or chutes and will find yourself saving Mudokons in the backgrounds of the screens you were just at a few minutes ago. Like Abe's Oddysee, Abe's Exoddus has cut scenes that are often funny and always graphically impressive. Even the cut scene that tells you what happened in Abe's Oddysee is well done and didn't seem stale for me even though I just beat Abe's Oddysee a few months ago. This particular cut scene shows you the original game's bad ending (which you got if you saved under 50 Mudokons), and then just when it seems like they're going to show you the good ending, the narrator says, "And if you want to see it, you should dish out some cash and buy the stinkin' game, cuz we gotta eat, too, ya know." Only Oddworld Inhabitants could say this without making its audience feel insulted. GameSpeak has been expanded to give Abe new things to say, although for some reason Oddworld Inhabitants felt to change the voice-overs for "Hello" and "Follow me," and unfortunately they have not changed for the better (Abe sounds like he has a nasty sinus infection). Still, the expanded GameSpeak is cool, especially since the Paramites, Scrabs, and Glukkons each have their own GameSpeak phrases now. While the basic premise behind the gameplay is the same, Oddworld Inhabitants did make a number of smaller changes which add up to give the game an extremely polished, balanced feel. You could only possess Sligs in Abe's Oddysee, but Abe's Exoddus lets you possess anything you please- Scrabs, Paramites, even your own farts (no joke). You had to start over from the last invisible checkpoint if you died in Abe's Oddysee, but Abe's Exoddus lets you save your progress at any time with the QuikSave (which is very convenient because the Quiksave only takes two seconds to do). If you wanted to save multiple Mudokons at once in Abe's Oddysee, you had to tediously lead them on one at a time until they were all where you wanted them to be. In Abe's Exoddus, you simply sell "All ya!" to get everybody's attention and they will all follow your orders at once (they will even follow your lead and sneak past sleeping Sligs and Slogs). Speaking of the Mudokons, their presence in the game is greatly enhanced by a brilliant new feature called Game Emotion. The Mudokons in Abe's Oddysee always seemed to be in the same mood and always did what Abe told them to do (with the sole exception being Mudokons who were afraid to jump off platforms). In Abe's Exoddus, angry Mudokons will defiantly and firmly say "No" to everything you ask them to do until you apologize to them for whatever it is you did to upset them. Depressed Mudokons will just stand there feeling sorry for themselves until you comfort them. Mudokons who are high will stumble around laughing and tripping over their own legs until you slap them across the face and snap them out of it (but don't slap them twice or they will be angry and you'll have to apolgozie). Drunk Mudokons will respond to everything you say with the same sad whimper. Blind Mudokons have to be led carefully from place to place. And if a Mudokon gets really pissed off for one reason or another, he may try to pick fights with other Mudokons and they will eventually kill each other unless you say "Stop it!" The Mudokons are no longer mindless drones who do whatever you tell them to do; instead, they act and feel like real living beings. This makes you care about them a lot more, and thus care about the game a lot more. This game is proof that the greatest video games aren't always the most innovative ones. If you're looking for a completely new and revolutionary Oddworld experience, you should wait for Munch's Oddysee, but those simply looking for a great time should go out and buy Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus right now.
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Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee Review
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