Gaming Target - Xbox: Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

Written by Eric Lahiji on October 03, 2001

First Impressions: The only game that encourages farting and making Glukon pie.

Probably the weirdest games to ever hit the shelves are in the Oddworld series. With its lush scenery, fun gameplay, funny jokes, and replay value, the previous Oddworld games (Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus) were 2-D side-scrollers that hit the original Playstation and the PC. Now the series is making an exclusive appearance on the Xbox, and will be in full, glorious 3D no less.

Developed by Oddworld Inhabitants, a husband and wife team, Oddworld was an instant success, and Abe was the star of the show. In Munch's Oddysee, Abe will stand aside to let someone else take center stage, that guy is Munch. The story is that Munch is a rare sea creature, known as a Gabbit, that kind of looks like a jelly-fish and is used as Rupture Farm products (the evil company that kills creatures and creates food out of them). Munch is the last standing Gabbit, and is being hunted by sligs. As he tries to escape he steps onto a bear-trap and paralyzes his only leg. He is immediately taken to a laboratory to have a plate inserted into his brain, and later killed. With help from fuzzles (little fury creatures that can get pretty ugly), Munch is on the loose and starts to escape from the lab. As he escapes he runs into Abe and they become quick friends. Here is the conflict. The old plot was that Munch and Abe were going to rescue Abe's mom that had been kidnapped. Well, thankfully they decided to change it at the last minute. The new story finds the duo trying to reestablish Munch's race by funding an associate's entry into an auction for the last batch of Gabbit eggs. In order to gather funds, the pair winds up becoming an Oddworldian version of Robin Hood as they proceed to rob Glukon factories for cash. Seems to be more mature, but keeping it real. Along in the game players will be emerged in beautiful worlds, and numbers of amazing characters.

If you haven't played the first two, the gameplay was quite simple. All you needed were the left and right keyboard buttons, and a monitor. The new version will be completely redesigned, keeping only the style intact. Since Munch's Oddysee will be in 3D, the worlds have to be done carefully. In fact, that is half the fun is just running around looking at the luxuriant worlds. To make the player more comfortable, the Xbox controllers left analog control can be rotated and make the camera angle suitable for any situation. As well as that, the game is very fast paced. You can go as fast as a three-legged cheetah (about 65 MPH). The game also promises frustration-free gameplay. In other words, the game will not discourage you. For example, if you are trying to make a tight turn on a wall, instead of running straight into it, causing a glitch or something, the game will automatically put you in the right direction, helping you make it easier. Since we're on the topic of running, Abe will use his legs to move about, and Munch will have a...wheelchair (Timmy!). Now, before you call him gimp, the wheelchair is quick, agile, and fun to watch. Munch can also hop out of it and swim underwater (Abe cannot do this), those Gabbits are multi-talented you know.

The game will have you taking advantage of both character's abilities. You can't just control one character and finish the game, it isn't designed like this. Instead, the developers want you to use both characters cooperatively, therefore almost every puzzle requires you to use "teamwork" to complete. If there is a switch fairly high up, and Munch can't reach it. You can switch over to Abe, make him grab it, enabling Munch to get through. This is just a very small example, I'd expect much more clever and diverse puzzles throughout the game.