amazon Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee reviews
Although released two decades ago, the reputation of the game continues to be widely known today. Maybe you will be “disappoint” right from the old graphics of the game, but if you accept that, the experience that Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee brings something, even many modern day puzzle games can not do.
The graphics in Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee is pretty good compared to the time of release
In Oddworld, the player plays a slave named Abe, a Mudokon race that is highly spiritual. Of course, this name has nothing to do with Japan, as it has been developed by an American gaming company since long ago. Our main characters work in the Rupture Farms meat processing line. After discovering a terrible truth here, Abe decides to flee and save the other slaves who are working here. The player’s task is simple, but it’s not as easy as you think.
The Mudokon race is not a beautiful creature, and so is Abe. Our protagonist looks weak with orange eyes and pale blue skin and bunks like the old Japanese samurai but in shorts. From a distance, the characters of the Mudokon are no different than the blue gorillas mutated. But if you ignore the graphics limitations of the late 1990s, the image in Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee is quite detailed and impressive, though it may be just a 2D drawing technique. Imitation 3D to create depth for the game. What makes me sad is that the CG movie of the game is interlace, a technique that was used many times to speed up the frame without increasing the amount of space, watching it rather uncomfortable seeing the horizontal stripes split. Move around the moving parts.
Puzzles often require players to brainstorm
Oddworld’s play: Abe’s Oddysee is quite special. Besides using a lot of elements in the game genres and puzzle games, the game is also called Gamespeak. This is a feature that allows the character of the player to talk and asks the other Mudokon to perform some simple action, the latter goal being to rescue them. It’s more like a mini-game, but the fact that rescuing these characters from Rupture Farms through “flying birds” is not as easy as going through a scene, if not harder. Not to mention, the game hidden secret between the backgrounds to the utopian level, will certainly make the “hardcore players” must sweat to save enough of all the Mudokon here.
where can you get a Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee online
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee (Jewel Case) – PC: Buy it now
Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee: Buy it now
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee [Download]: Buy it now
Narrative and World-Building
Storyline
The Abe’s Oddysee narrative takes place in the fictive world of Oddworld in a dystopic universe in which natural resources are exploited, and inhabitants are enslaved by the power-hungry corporation called RuptureFarms. The lead character Abe is a Mudokon slave employed at RuptureFarms, a meat-packing plant in which many creatures are processed into food products. The story begins with Abe knowing that he and his fellow Mudokons have become the next target-the chopping block, literally. Following Abe’s journey to escape the factory and save his people is the central narrative focus of the game.
Themes
In the game, industrial exploitation, environmental destruction, and social injustice are the themes addressed. The productiveness of RuptureFarms and the exploitation of the Mudokons become the story’s main pivot points. The way in which Abe’s Oddysee addresses unchecked industrialization is through the lens of compassion and collective effort. The game’s plot and the world around it, with its stark difference between nature and RuptureFarms’ industrial machinery, relay those themes.
World-Building
Oddworld relies on a vivid world construction and details such as the understanding of the same world through experience in sheer contrast to the assumed dystopian one. The game itself has a range of different types of environments: from the grim, mechanical interiors of RuptureFarms to the hazardous, yet verdant, jungle around the factory. The world-building carries on: with the lore and background components revealed through cutscenes and dialogues within the game that narrate environmental storytelling. This detail makes the world building even more immersive for players emotionally engaged with the storyline.
Gameplay Mechanisms
Platforming and Puzzle Elements
At its core, Abe’s Oddysee remains a platformer with traditional jumping and running mechanics blended with innovative puzzle-solving elements. The game uses a side view with Abe as he progresses through several levels set with obstacles, traps, and enemies. The platforming challenges stand juxtaposed to environmental puzzles wherein players use their wit and ability to solve problems.
A unique feature of gameplay involves the ability to possess enemies. This means Abe can literally control their bodies and souls to solve puzzles or eliminate enemies. This increasingly adds strategic depth to the gameplay, as players need to carefully see their move plan and their use of powers to help them through.
Mudokon Rescue System
The main purpose of Abe is rescuing as many Mudokons as he can from RuptureFarms. The game features a distinctly designed Mudokon system for rescue through which players must guide Abe to several rescue points utilizing the “Speak” command to communicate with Mudokons. The entire system adds another gameplay layer, inhibiting the sense of unity and liberation that is a central theme in the game.
It’s important that players pay attention to the morality system of the game. Saving Mudokons increases the score of the player and opens up a better ending while failing to save them or causing their deaths takes away points and yields a less favorable ending. This system is what provides the replayability in the game as players are urged to seek superior scores and see different endings.
Stealth and Strategy
Stealth plays a key role in Abe’s Oddysee. Spanning through the patrolling guards, surveillance cameras, and other perils in the levels of the game, he would need a lot of planning and timing to get through these levels without being detected by enemies. Players are sure to utilize Abe’s ability to hide in shadows, distract enemies, and make it all through the levels without being detected. This brings strategy into the game because players will need to plan their moves and take advantage of the environment.
Art & Design
Visual Style
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Abe’s Oddysee is its visual style. The art style is hand-drawn, more than making it different from other games, ensuring that it remains iconic in the mind of the gamer. The backgrounds themselves contain much detail in them and are atmospheric, reflecting the grim industrial nature of RuptureFarms as well as the natural beauty of the areas outside of it.
It is no less prepossessing, for Abe, while the other Mudokons are also given this zealous and expressive appearance. The animations are fluid and expressive, contributing a great deal of the game’s charm towards generating the emotional impact of the entire storyline. The visuals complement the world’s tug-of-war between industry and nature as intended.
Level Design
It is actually one of the intricate levels of level design that is seen in Abe’s Oddysee. Each level makes its own unique set of challenges and obstacles. The level design is such that it promotes exploration and experimentation with all levels, having hidden areas, secret paths within them, and many environmental puzzles. The difference of levels, such as RuptureFarms’s claustrophobic confines compared to the wide open spreads of wilderness, ensures that the player is kept interested all the time.
Sound and Music
Sound Designing
The atmosphere of Abe’s Oddysee is also something very fantastic and great in sounding. Clanking of machinery in RuptureFar, ambient sounds of natural places, and much more sounds have been added to the game. Well, the sound is of super quality and really adds to the terror and action in the game.
Music
Abe’s Oddysee has a music score that is actually composed by Ellen Meijers, and it goes further to enhance the whole atmosphere and the emotional feeling of the game. It has haunting melodies, tribal rhythms, and even some ambient sounds that fit the whole scenario of the game and also the game narrative itself. The score changes according to different environments and situations, lending more emotion to key moments during gameplay, and further contributing to a deeper experience of the game.
Critical Reception
Upon its release, Abe’s Oddysee received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising the innovative gameplay mechanics, unusual art style, and gripping narrative. Standout features were noted as the unique combination of platforming, puzzle-solving, and stealth elements; there was great regard for the depth of the world-building.
Legacy and Impact
Abe’s Oddysee transcends the history of its first appearance. The game has helped influence other platformers and has been honored for helping develop video game storytelling and design. The success of the game meant sequel and spin-off attempts further studying the Oddworld universe, updating its themes, and gameplay concepts.
The original game is unique in how it tackled platforming with its emphasis on narrative and world-building and provided layers of inspiration for other developers and helped in furthering the ever-budding reputation of the Oddworld series. The lasting fascination with Abe’s Oddysee stands up for the game’s forward-looking design and its ability to speak through various generations of gamers.
Conclusion
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee is a landmark platform title that integrates innovative game mechanics with a compelling narrative and strange visuals. Given its emphasis on stealth, puzzles, and moral choice, the platforming experience takes a deeper dimension, and its rich world building and interesting characters stand tall to impact the life of Abe.
Not only is this game fondly remembered because it was praised by book critics, but its legacy stands firm in video game arenas. Because of a memorable design, fascinating themes, and entertaining gameplay, Abe’s Oddysee is still a classic that continues to attract and inspire players. Players, whether of the old or new generation, will greatly appreciate the genius and artistry that characterize this legendary title.