January 26, 2005 | 6:41 PM PST
by: Sascha Lichtenstein
Despite having the largest 3rd party in the world backing the title, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath has all the makings of one of the biggest sleeper titles of 2005, a fantastic combination of imaginative art design and innovative gameplay so utterly different from anything that has come before it, that I question whether even the marketing muscle Electronic Arts is known for will be strong enough to persuade the average gamer from the routine of familiar genres and their boundaries. That said, for any gamer brave enough to take the plunge into unfamiliar territory they will find one of the most rewarding games on the Xbox to date and the peak of the Oddworld franchise.
Breaking away from the adventures of everyone’s favorite stitched-mouth Mudokon, the title character of Oddworld Inhabitant’s latest is a break from the trend established by the first three games in the universe; while Abe and Munch were underdogs in the truest sense of the word, Stranger is an imposing figure. Powerful and remarkably nimble, Stranger impresses from the first moment he appears on screen in one of the most entrancingly beautiful CG sequences ever seen. After being treated to a demonstration of Stranger’s abilities as he lures a bounty into a trap and subdues him, players are given the task of leading the main character from the forest back into town to collect his reward. Each of the abilities players are privy to are introduced over a short tutorial and all of them are remarkably easy to pull off thanks to an intuitive layout and incredibly tight, responsive control that does a fantastic job of imbuing Stranger with a palpable sense of weight and agility.
It doesn’t take long for the game to introduce the fundamental gameplay mechanics, namely the ability to switch at any time between the first and third person, and the live ammo system. Each viewpoint comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, the most notable ones being that while Stranger can only use his crossbow from the first person perspective, he has a limited field of view relative to the amount of peripheral vision the 3rd person perspective provides, travels at a far slower clip and can use fewer of his potent melee attacks. Juggling between the two view-points and the abilities that come with them is paramount to success throughout the game, and thankfully switching between the two is simply a matter of depressing the right analog stick, unaccompanied by any sort of annoying delay [as the camera comes forward or moves back]. Furthermore, interaction with the environment, such as climbing ropes, automatically switches the camera back to the 3rd person perspective making navigation far less clumsy than it would be were it confined to the first person. While Stranger’s Wrath is predominantly action-oriented, there is a smattering of platforming throughout the experience – usually in stretches between combat-heavy environments, and in all likelihood most players will adopt the sensible strategy of using the 3rd person perspective whilst traversing terrain and the first-person for dispatching foes.
Finding the best ammo combination adds a dose of strategy to the combat
Melee attacks aside, the combat in Stranger’s Wrath revolves around the incredibly well-implemented Live Ammo system, in which players utilize variety of odd critters scattered across the gameworld as ammunition for his double-barreled crossbow. Each organism has a specific function and all of them are useful in different situations depending on the course of action the player wishes to take, be it to kill or to capture using Stranger’s ‘bounty can’. Electrical zapflies serve as the fallback ammo; while they feature an initially useful charge attack that can be used to stun earlier pee-on enemies, as the game progresses they are used primarily for stunning and capturing other forms of live ammo, and triggering electrical switches within the game world. Less than an hour into the game, players will have access to bolamites, chip-punks, thudslugs, and the lovably violent fuzzles – the creatures players rescued over the course of Munch’s Oddysee. Learning how to combine the different creatures to create the most potent recipes for punishment is immensely satisfying, as it adds a tactical element to the action that is quite different than anything else on the market and always incredibly entertaining.
Gorgeous vistas such as this are not an odd commodity in Stranger's Wrath
As far as presentation goes, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is one of the best looking on the Xbox, with gorgeous graphics and nigh-unparalleled artistic direction backed by near flawless technical execution. Every class of characters is imbued with its own distinct personality through fantastic animations, and the world itself it brought to life through texturing so exquisite you’d think every frame of the game was hand-painted. I could go on and on about the visuals in this game, but Ill wait for the full review if only for the simple reason that I have yet to finish the game, and the environments and characters only get better and better looking the further I progress. The audio component is similarly well-done, though somewhat disappointing considering the quality of this facet in past games; there’s simply a huge amount of dialogue repetition throughout the game. After a few hours I just stopped talking to townsfolk more than three or four times simply because I didn’t want to hear the same sample again and again. The quality of the voice work is incredible, but the lack of variety hurts.
Aside from the minor annoyance of hearing the same voice calling Stranger a ‘punk-ass’ sixty-five trillion times, as well as a few other ridiculously small grievances that I will explore in the final review, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is an absolutely amazing gaming experience. Short of an Xbox-hard drive clearing crash in the final hours, I cant think of anything that could happen that would cause me to hesitate recommending this game to anyone.
Breaking away from the adventures of everyone’s favorite stitched-mouth Mudokon, the title character of Oddworld Inhabitant’s latest is a break from the trend established by the first three games in the universe; while Abe and Munch were underdogs in the truest sense of the word, Stranger is an imposing figure. Powerful and remarkably nimble, Stranger impresses from the first moment he appears on screen in one of the most entrancingly beautiful CG sequences ever seen. After being treated to a demonstration of Stranger’s abilities as he lures a bounty into a trap and subdues him, players are given the task of leading the main character from the forest back into town to collect his reward. Each of the abilities players are privy to are introduced over a short tutorial and all of them are remarkably easy to pull off thanks to an intuitive layout and incredibly tight, responsive control that does a fantastic job of imbuing Stranger with a palpable sense of weight and agility.
It doesn’t take long for the game to introduce the fundamental gameplay mechanics, namely the ability to switch at any time between the first and third person, and the live ammo system. Each viewpoint comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, the most notable ones being that while Stranger can only use his crossbow from the first person perspective, he has a limited field of view relative to the amount of peripheral vision the 3rd person perspective provides, travels at a far slower clip and can use fewer of his potent melee attacks. Juggling between the two view-points and the abilities that come with them is paramount to success throughout the game, and thankfully switching between the two is simply a matter of depressing the right analog stick, unaccompanied by any sort of annoying delay [as the camera comes forward or moves back]. Furthermore, interaction with the environment, such as climbing ropes, automatically switches the camera back to the 3rd person perspective making navigation far less clumsy than it would be were it confined to the first person. While Stranger’s Wrath is predominantly action-oriented, there is a smattering of platforming throughout the experience – usually in stretches between combat-heavy environments, and in all likelihood most players will adopt the sensible strategy of using the 3rd person perspective whilst traversing terrain and the first-person for dispatching foes.
Finding the best ammo combination adds a dose of strategy to the combat
Melee attacks aside, the combat in Stranger’s Wrath revolves around the incredibly well-implemented Live Ammo system, in which players utilize variety of odd critters scattered across the gameworld as ammunition for his double-barreled crossbow. Each organism has a specific function and all of them are useful in different situations depending on the course of action the player wishes to take, be it to kill or to capture using Stranger’s ‘bounty can’. Electrical zapflies serve as the fallback ammo; while they feature an initially useful charge attack that can be used to stun earlier pee-on enemies, as the game progresses they are used primarily for stunning and capturing other forms of live ammo, and triggering electrical switches within the game world. Less than an hour into the game, players will have access to bolamites, chip-punks, thudslugs, and the lovably violent fuzzles – the creatures players rescued over the course of Munch’s Oddysee. Learning how to combine the different creatures to create the most potent recipes for punishment is immensely satisfying, as it adds a tactical element to the action that is quite different than anything else on the market and always incredibly entertaining.
Gorgeous vistas such as this are not an odd commodity in Stranger's Wrath
As far as presentation goes, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is one of the best looking on the Xbox, with gorgeous graphics and nigh-unparalleled artistic direction backed by near flawless technical execution. Every class of characters is imbued with its own distinct personality through fantastic animations, and the world itself it brought to life through texturing so exquisite you’d think every frame of the game was hand-painted. I could go on and on about the visuals in this game, but Ill wait for the full review if only for the simple reason that I have yet to finish the game, and the environments and characters only get better and better looking the further I progress. The audio component is similarly well-done, though somewhat disappointing considering the quality of this facet in past games; there’s simply a huge amount of dialogue repetition throughout the game. After a few hours I just stopped talking to townsfolk more than three or four times simply because I didn’t want to hear the same sample again and again. The quality of the voice work is incredible, but the lack of variety hurts.
Aside from the minor annoyance of hearing the same voice calling Stranger a ‘punk-ass’ sixty-five trillion times, as well as a few other ridiculously small grievances that I will explore in the final review, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is an absolutely amazing gaming experience. Short of an Xbox-hard drive clearing crash in the final hours, I cant think of anything that could happen that would cause me to hesitate recommending this game to anyone.
