Six years ago, the company Oddworld inhabitants resurrected the once popular series of platformers about the mudokon Abe, who rescues his fellow tribesmen from the slavery of evil corporations. Remake of the first part with the subtitle “New ‘n’ Tasty!”Was warmly received by both the players and the press. After that, the authors announced that they were preparing a sequel – Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus…
Back in 1998, when this game was released, the developers could not realize all their ideas, so now instead of remaking the second part, they decided to make a kind of rethinking. Result in the form Oddworld: Soulstorm causes conflicting feelings. Which moments turned out well and which ones were bad, we will now tell you.
It all starts almost immediately after the finale of the first part. The Mudokons who escaped with Abe celebrate their escape from the RuptureFarms meat processing plant, where they were going to be allowed to eat sausage. However, the whole idyll is spoiled by an attack by an airship under the control of one of the leaders of the very company from which the slaves fled. Mudokons flee, and the player, together with Abe, needs to come up with a plan for further action. The plot this time is presented with more serious and dramatic scenes, where, despite their funny appearance, the characters undergo various hardships and shocks. Of course, the trademark humor remained in gameplay situations and some short scenes, but the story itself can be described as a harsh satire on capitalism, and even more so than it was in the original. Armless leaders-glucones, with all the caricature of the image, here seem more dangerous and cruel creatures, largely due to the increased detail and expressive facial animation, and the locations themselves are often gloomy reinforced concrete structures, which only emphasizes the difficult fate of the working class in this world.
It is worth noting that there were cool screensavers in the original, but here the developers stepped to a fundamentally different level for themselves. Cinematic scenes delight the eye not only with well-designed animation and high detailing of the characters, but also with the direction. Sometimes it seems that these are fragments from some modern cartoon, and not screensavers from an indie game.
At first, Abe and his fellow tribesmen constantly dodge shots and flee from pursuers, which affects the tasks that face the player. Because of this, in the initial levels, the gameplay seems more intense and chaotic in places compared to the original. The main character almost immediately has to perform complex tasks, where you need to quietly sneak past one sleeping guard, carefully jump over a dangerous obstacle and not get into the eyes of the slig patrolling the neighborhood. The gameplay situations themselves are very interesting, but sometimes they are completely poorly presented. Because of this, at some points it may not be clear what exactly needs to be done, and only after several unsuccessful attempts by trial and error, you can understand what is generally required. At the same time, this is certainly not Dark Souls, and the player is not severely punished for losing. Control points are located in front of almost every difficult moment.
The developers tried to diversify the original concept of the game and added Abe the ability to create items, as well as share them with the followers, whom he must save. Thanks to this, puzzles appeared, which can be solved by setting fire to and then extinguishing various objects. In addition, as you progress through Abe will learn how to make stun mines, exploding cocktails and much more, which is designed to help sort out the problems. In addition, with duct tape, the protagonist can tie up the slig and thus not resort to killing this ridiculous soldier. By the way, if you want to go through the path of a pacifist and not kill anyone at all, then this very mechanic will help you avoid direct collisions with enemies.
The main character also learned to hide in lockers, which also brought variety to game situations. In one scene, Abe and a small crowd of mudokons have to sneak between the patrolling sligs, and there is nothing in the inventory to knock out opponents, so to go further, you need to quietly walk forward and hide in time. It would seem a simple task, but it constantly turned into a funny farce and a circus when the mudokons ran from door to door right in front of the patrolman. It is worth noting that, unlike the original, here the sligs try not to kill the escaped slaves and at first they simply tie them up, which allows them not to lose a follower due to the fact that he caught the eye of the enemy. However, when they see Abe, they start shooting and can kill the entire group.
