Thanks to the whole Playstation Plus thing (£40 a year sign up job) I got Abe's Oddysee (sic) for free. A game which, thirteen years ago, I completely fell in love with on the original Playstation. I played for a few hours yesterday afternoon and despite the obvious graphical limitations this side scrolling puzzler has lost none of its unique charms.
You play as Abe the Mudokon, one of the most endearing characters to ever appear in the game. He's a slave on Oddworld, discovering that his race is about to become food for the evil Glukkons his quest is to escape the meat processing plant where he works and rescue as many of his fellow Mudokons as he can.
For a 2D platform game the detail of Abe's movement is great but it's the little touches that make Oddysee such a compelling little title. The voice acting, though minimal, is a delight. The simple call and response that Abe and his fellow Mudokon use, which is pivotal to getting them all to safety is, is mapped onto the face buttons and it's kind of fun to just make Abe speak. Even if it is only three words.
Oddysee has a gentle learning curve, some great little hidden areas (as early as the first screen #mildspoiler) and some mind bending puzzles that drove me nuts back in the days before walk-throughs.
On my 40" TV it looks like each of the original pixels is made up of about a 1000 pixels, although it does look quite sharp if I play from the kitchen. It's old school for sure, although games like Limbo and Shank, which I'll be getting in October, prove that there's still room for 2D platformers in this generation of titles but Abe's Oddysee stands the test of time game play wise even if the graphics aren't in High Def.
Two console generations ago Abe ruled for a while, at £3.99 (if you don't have PSN Plus) it's an absolute bargain which you can also download to your PSP.
Classic gaming that's (just about) stood the test of time.
★ ★ ★ ★
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