Originally published by GT Interactive Software Corp., Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus on the PlayStation quickly amassed quite a following. With gameplay and stylings resembling the SNES/Amiga classic Another World, the mix of genuinely funny humour and platform action followed the adventures of Abe, an alien fellow, who in the first game finds himself locked in a large food factory, only to find that the main ingredient in the processed meat is. his own race! Exoddus picked up where Oddysee left off, and Abe had once again to save the enslaved Mudokons from the evil Glukkons. Fast forward to the launch of Microsoft's Xbox console. Much discussed at the time was the software giant's rush to acquire valuable IP for its debut in the home video game market. In something of a coup, MS published Munch's Oddyssee (the game was still developed by series originators, dev house Oddworld Inhabitants). Abe once again returned - along with another character, Munch the Gabbit - who had been similarly mistreated by the evil corporations of Oddworld. March 2005 sees the release of a new Oddworld game, Stranger's Wrath. This time Microsoft has taken a back seat, and the publishing has been left to industry big boys Electronic Arts. The main character this time is neither Abe nor Munch, but Stranger, a creature who bears more than a passing resemblance to Clint Eastwood. Once again, the action is third-person platform-based fun, but in a departure for the series, the player can also toggle into a first-person, FPS-style POV. Whilst the first-person view makes it easier to blast at targets more accurately, in third-person, the player can run faster and jump across the sort of platform environments that will be familiar to fans of the series. Stranger, a bounty hunter, needs 20,000 `moolah' for an operation, the details of which are undisclosed. As you'd expect from the creators of this wacky series, his weapons are rather less than conventional. Instead of darts, his double barreled crossbow fires animals - `live ammo' such as ChipPunks and BoomBats. Such creatures can be hunted down in the wild, or purchased in bulk from stores in town. Gameplay takes on a non-linear aspect, and Stranger must visit the Bounty Store to find out about rewards on the heads of various villains. At the game's outset it seems that the object will be to bring in as many baddies as possible, gradually collecting moolah and working towards the 20,000 needed. However, Stranger's encounter of the dying race of Grubbs reveals to him his real destiny, and the resultant plot twist is promised to take the game off in another direction entirely. A must for aficionados of the series, and any Xbox owners who are after something more than just a little bit different, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath promises to be an valued addition to any gamer's library.
