Oddworld New ‘ N’ Tasty
An Ace Oddysee
Release Date: OUT NOW! £ 17.99 | Format reviewed: PS4 Also available on: Xbox One, Wii U, PS3, PS Vita and PC Publisher: Oddworld Inhabitants
Just as the
Soylent Corporation’s Soylent Green is made from people, Rupture Farms’ Mudokon Pops are made from Mudokon. The name’s clearly not as cryptic, but for Abe, who discovers the new food’s existence late one evening at Rupture’s factory, the truth is no less terrifying.
If you owned a PlayStation One, you probably knew this already. Brutally punishing 2D puzzle-platformer Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee was first released 17 years ago, and saw you rescuing doomed friends from the meat- processing plant while outsmarting enemies.
Much more than just another entry in an assembly line of HD remakes and reissues, New ‘ N’ Tasty is a reconstruction of an old classic of the highest order, rebuilt from the code upwards not just for nostalgia purposes but to surprise and shock players new and old. Unseen levels, redrawn graphics, expanded GameSpeak commands and over three times as many Mudokons to rescue ensure that it not only remains a vibrant, charming adventure, but is a significantly better title than the timeless original.
The redesign process hasn’t abandoned Oddworld’s notoriously masochistic leanings. Harsh pixel- perfect puzzles will frustrate some, but in this post- Dark Souls world such demanding systems aren’t as intimidating as they once were. Creators of lazy HD reissues take note: this is how it should be done. Matthew Pellett