I am in a very Odd place right now, it’s called Oddworld, and the new installment of Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath is a great improvement on the previous games of this successful series. Abe’s games were in 2D and Oddworld Munch’s Odyssee was a 3D world where Abe and Munch were played at different intervals. Most of the older games were puzzle solving and platforming to an major extent. In Stranger’s Wrath you go between a third person and first person view which is done quite well, and will introduce for the first time in the Oddworld series their effort to enter the realm of First Person Shooters. You still have some puzzles to figure out but the game is now mostly a shooter with a very good storyline, and the change is welcomed. Now enough of this let’s get to the meat and potatoes of the game.

Gameplay

Stranger’s Wrath starts out with you getting your first outlaw which you take into town and he goes to jail, you are then told to go to the bounty store to get your money. The bounty store is where you bring in your outlaws and get new jobs. Stranger asks for the Doctor and after the second boss bounty is caught, you see that he needs to have an operation that costs 20,000 dollars. So the only way Stranger knows how to make the money is through bounty hunting. The Oddworld setting is like a spaghetti western and the towns people are Clakkerz who look like a small version of big bird, or the Grubs who look like aliens. They can give you valuable information, mostly though you’ll be spending your time looking for outlaws.

In the third person view you can run and knock out your enemies, or spin really fast to open gates, or use them against your enemies. You can climb, double jump and if you hit the B button you talk to yourself, useful if you happen to forget the particular mission you are on. In the first person view you have a crossbow as your only weapon, but don’t be sad because you use live ammo, which is unique and quite fun. You can still double jump in first person but you go a little slower than in third. When you go after your enemies you have to knock them down until they have red stars over their head. You can then suck them up by pressing and holding the X button. The Boss battles are interesting, you have to try to bring them back alive which can be very difficult. You’ll need to use different techniques with the bosses. Some of them cannot be tied up in a web or zapped by a Zappflie. The bosses in the middle of the game are more difficult than the final boss of the game, so if you’re doing alright during the middle of the game you should do fine completing it. There are alot of enemies you have to kill before you can get to a boss battle. You don’t have any health pick ups you just shake by pressing the Y button and your health goes up, but your stamina goes down. That’s ok just get out of sight for a few minutes and the stamina bar raises.

Live Ammo is Stunkz, Bolamites, Chippunks, Zappfies, Fuzzles, Thugslugs, Boombats, Stingbees, and Wasps. Each has there own special quality. Zappflies are the only one that you have an endless supply of. You put them on the crossbow and let them charge up and you can stun your enemy or open gates or bring down bridges. One of my favorites is the trash talking Chippunk who you shoot and he gets a bad guy over so you can bag ‘em down one at a time. Bolomites and Skuntz are use to stun your enemy while the fuzzles (who were introduced in Munch’s Odsysee),Thudslugs, and Boombats are use to hurt and disable your enemy. The Stingbee is like a machine gun, and the wasp when used with binocs (binoculars) is a sniper rifle. You can buy upgrades which make super ammo, but they run out quickly, and you will need to purchase them in town. You have to catch your ammo but most of the time there are plenty to be found.

Control / Playability

The control set up is pretty easy to learn and play with, going from first person to third person perspective is a smooth transition. You use A button to jump and double jump, X button to capture outlaws, talk and activate objects, Y button to shake off wounds and regain health. Left thumbstick to move Stranger and right thumbstick to look around. Left and right triggers in third person spin you around and in first person left trigger shoots left ammo and right trigger shoots right ammo.

Graphics / Presentation

We’ve come to expect exceptional graphics from the creators of Oddworld, and you will not be dissapointed, the graphics in the game are incredible. Large wide open spaces, a very ‘odd’ western atmosphere, and the scenery was all done very well. The movie scenes or CGI are also done very well and afterwards you can’t even tell that there was one because it is such a smooth transition back to gameplay. The character animations on Stranger are great and there is alot of detail to be seen on him, as well as the live ammo he weilds. The other characters are done alright in keeping with what we were expecting, but it seems all the bosses pretty much look alike and all the enemies aren’t that different either. There are several different types of enemies, but each group of enemies looks similar to their buddies, if you catch my drift.

Oddworld Starnger's Wrath Screenshot - Spotted!

View all Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath Screenshots in the Gallery

Oddworld Starnger's Wrath Screenshot

Audio

The audio in Stranger is decent, Stranger’s voice is good but everybody else sounds a little too similar for my liking, their lines are delivered in a humerous fashion however and there is no doubt that you are in the middle of an Oddworld sequel. You won’t go too far in the game without hearing some off the wall comment, but this is one of the things I have come to love from the series. The music fits the game and sounds good, changing in tempo and intensity depending on the situation you find yourself in, but can be repititious at times. Of course Dolby 5.1 is included for stunning clarity and depth in audio if you have the right system connected.

Replay Value

The replay value , as with most games like this however, is limited. The core game will take you anywhere from 15 to 18 hours. If you want to replay it again so you can bring in some outlaws alive that you killed the first time because know you have more experience that would really be the only reason to.

Overall Score

Overall Score: 9.1/10 [not an average]

Additional Comments

I really enjoyed the new Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath game it is a great addition to a great series of games. Entering the First Person perspective may have been a gamble for the series, but it appears to have paid off and made the genre have that much more of a range of titles in the process. For those of you who like action/adventure games, and want to see a great 3rd and 1st person integration, this is for you. I think it’s a very unique game and should be picked up by everyone.

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