Right time for another review and this will be on a video game for a change and the game in question is the PS4 game: Oddworld: new n' tasty, which is essentially a remake of the original Oddworld game released originally on the first Playstation back in 1997.
So let's find out how the remake stacks up in comparison to the original, but first let's take a quick look at the story, which I say too much about so there won't nine paragraphs of text there (for once!).
And as usual SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!
STORY
So the game's story follows its lead character, Abe (voiced by Lorne Lanning) a Mudokon slave who works at Rupture Farms which consists of a meat processing plant. Abe one night while carry out his duties as a floor waxer, overhears that the boss of Rupture Farms, Molluck the Glukkon intends to use the Mudokons as the meat for a new pie that the plant will be making, which scares Abe and he then escapes the factory.
Once outside the factory, Abe sees a moon with the shape of a Mudokon handprint on it and he then accidentally slips and falls off a cliff and hits his head and while on the ground, the Shaman Big Face orders Abe to rescue his fellow enslaved Mudokons. Big Face however first sets the challenge for Abe to face the Mudokon spiritual trials in the forests of Paramania and deserts of Scrabania in which he has to evade the dangers of the hostile creatures that live in those lands, the Paramite and the Scrabs. Once Abe completes the trials, Big Face marks his hands with the scars, one hand with the Paramites scar and the other the Scrabs and with both scars, this allows Abe to become the Shrykull, a demigod capable of invicible powers. So from here Abe heads back to the factory to set about his task to free his fellow Mudokons from slavery and end the Glukkon's evil plan......
THOUGHTS
As a remake of the original Oddworld game, New n' tasty is quite successful at updating the 2D mechanics of its predecessor and the game is given a very impressive overhaul in terms of its presentations although it remains very similar to the original in most respects. And even though it isn't strictly a strict by the book remake of the original it certainly incorporates the same story and even the same cutscenes aswell. The only difference this time round is that instead of saving just 99 Mudokons, Abe must save 299, which is very similar to aim of Abe's Exoddus, so in this respect the game has taken some aspects of the sequel too. But overall in any slight differences don't really matter much as it still adds up to being a recognisible Abe game which is no bad thing.
GAMEPLAY
As for the gameplay, it pretty much follows the format of the original Oddworld aswell incorporate some of the improvements found in Abe's Exxodus.
However the movement format is close to the same as Abe's movement include running, jumping, crouching, sneaking and rolling although one new inclusion in his moves is Abe get's jittery as he reaches the very edge of a platform which stops him from going over the edge, which is in itself a nice touch and occassionally comes in handy when Abe finds himself on precarious ledges. Abe can also in certain sections of the game travel on an elum, which are basically the equivalent of a camel, which can travel ground pretty fast and jump over big gaps.
In terms of the gamespeak it remains very similar to the original game aswell with Abe communicating rather simply with his fellow Mudokons in which he says to them either "hi", "follow me" or "wait". Abe can also use his chanting powers to control sligs (the thuggish simple minded factory guards) and he can use them to kill other sligs or order their guard dogs, slogs, to kill other sligs using phrases such as "get em!" or "let em have it!".
Abe's chanting powers can also allow him to occassionally turn into the Shyrkull, the demigod that has powers of invincibility and he uses it to destroy obstacles such as mines or anti-chanting security drones aswell as sligs and slogs. However this power is usually only activated when Abe saves three Mudokons at once as the bird portal appears with the number "3" on it. The only drawback to this power however is that it is neutralised when Abe runs through a motion detector.
In terms of using stealth, self defence and distractions, Abe can also throw items such as rocks or bombs to destroy landmines or floating mines aswell as use meat to distract slogs and paramites when he wants to run away from them. Abe can also use levers to activate or deactivate the electric fences or to let him enter other areas and additionally he can possess sligs to deactivate fences or use sligs to use rope lifted platforms.
And lastly the game also has several secret passages where Abe will be able to find hidden areas where he can rescue other Mudokons. And some of these areas can be hidden either under a floor panel of even just in an area where Abe needs to roll through to access properly and these areas themselves tend to be more challenging than the others.
GRAPHICS, SOUND AND MUSIC
As for the game's graphics, well they are terrific and the game now looks stunning on the PS4 as it is the first Abe game to be made in HD. The game is made using a 2.5D graphics engine but the game still retains itself side-scrolling 2D gameplay but the environments themselves look great and the character models are also much improved with Abe, the sligs and the other characters such as the paramites and scrabs all looking way better than their originals back in the 1990s. In short its the best you'll probably see an Oddworld Abe game ever look (well until the next one comes along!).
Sound wise however is where the game surprisingly falls flat a little as the sound effects aren't anywhere near as good as the ones in the original as here they sound just a bit too muffled and pretty underwhelming. Some of the squabbling talk of the sligs and the Mudokons in themselves are actually quite funny if you listen to it as you hear the sligs for e.g. say things like "I hope we see that Abe guy as I wanna shoot somebody!" or "Wanna get paid, wanna get paid!". So in that respect its a bit of a disappointment soundwise and given how much fun the original sound effects were I wish they could have done better here.
The game's music similarly is a bit of a letdown in how its audio is mixed here, but its still not a bad score though and it does retain much of the original soundtrack, which was always quite a quirky and enjoyable one for me.
FLAWS
As for flaws.... well yeah New n' tasty doesn't quite get everything right and for starters one of the problems for me with the game is to do with aspects of the movement. And the worst one for me is Abe's rolling movement, which is too slow and in some instances it can cause Abe to be killed especially if he is trying to avoid some mines or the meat grinders. And again the movement in the original for the rolling was always faster and more accurate and it was easier for Abe to avoid these pitfalls.
Another issue for me was to do with the checkpoints in the game, which were somewhat unevenly placed at times and even though the game does let you quicksave, it doesn't automatically load in the previous quicksave itself, it takes you back to the previous checkpoint, which could be way back at the start of a section you were more than half way through! So instead what you need to do is load in your quicksave after Abe has been killed and you need to start again, its not a massive inconvenience in itself but it is a bit annoying regardless.
The game as it goes on also neglects to give the player the option to skip the cutscenes as you have to watch them, although to be fair they are actually quite good but it is an example of the developers removing the option available for the player to skip it if they'd rather not sit through them. Again this is a minor criticism but its nothing too major to be concerned about (it is only a game after all!).
And lastly regarding the story the one problem I had with it was just how does Abe get his telepathic powers in the first place??? Isn't he supposed to be just an ordinary worker when he escapes from the factory at the start yet we see him use his powers to chant and rescue his fellow workers before he actually leaves the factory itself! It remains a bit of a plot hole for me as I don't quite get that if Abe is just an ordinary factory worker that he would all of a sudden inherit these powers BEFORE he escapes!
Anyways that's it for the flaws section.
SUM UP
So in summing up Oddworld: New n' tasty is a very enjoyable remake of the original Oddworld: Abe's Odyssee game and it also has gotten a great graphical revamp for the next-gen gaming consoles and it looks terrific on the PS4 (which I've played it on). The gameplay remains largely unchanged as in the original and its still alot fun to play and its varied series of traps and puzzles also can make it quite a challenging game.
It still does have some minor issues in regards to its controls and checkpoint system and the sound effects for the game are somewhat underwhelming in comparison to the original game's. However if you are willing to put all that to one side then you will still find plenty to enjoy here in New n' tasty, which is a worthy upgrade to the original game.
Sooooo that's it for now and I'll be back another time with something else to review.
Till then its ciao for now!
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