Abe's Odyssee offers an engaging alternative to 3D platform aesthetics


Publisher: GT Interactive
Developer: Oddworld Inhabitants
Genre: Adventure/ Platform

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is something of an anomaly in the gaming world. While the look of the game may seem a step back, the intelligent level design and well-thought out puzzles push it two steps into the future.

Players take control of Abe, an incredibly ugly, yet strangely compelling, Mudokon slave. He and his fellow Mudokons have been forced to work in the mega-meat packing plant Rupture Farms, which specializes in running species into extinction. Abe unwittingly discovers Rupture s next meat specialty -- his own race of Mudokons -- and it s up to him to escape from the farm, rescuing as many of his fellow Mudokons as possible.

While not a platformer in the strictest sense of the word, Abe s Oddysee does use many platform elements, along with the obligatory puzzles and Gamespeak. Abe can speak to the other Mudokons -- indeed this is tantamount to completing the game. His friends must follow him to portals, where they are rescued.

As one would expect, the puzzle aspects are fundamental to getting past each screen, while keeping yourself and your followers alive. There are switches, shadows to hide in, leaps of faith to make and more. Precision jumping and timing are necessary at some points, but this is not the primary focus of the game.

Oddworld: Abe s Oddysee is not a fast-paced, action-packed game. It s a thinking man s title that rewards patience more than twitching. It won t appeal to everybody, and may make a good rental candidate. However, if you ve found most platformers too childish or repetitious, Oddworld may be one for you.