Bill Murray
12-27-2009, 07:37 AM
I became an Odd World Patron after playing Abes Oddysee at a friends house on the Playstation 1s' "Demo 1". The game took an innovative and complex approach on the concept of 2D platformers whilst at the time other games companies were working on creating 3D environments and trying to utilize the current technology.
Abes Oddysee and Exoddus were unique in both style and gameplay, a world inhabited by bizarre lifeforms in a rich and beautifully realised universe, whereby precision platforming is met by expert timing, stealth and an eye for unexplained and well hidden secrets.
As soon as the player is thrown into the first level, they are blissfully unaware of these almost obnoxiously placed secrets, secrets that you would never possibly think about looking and in some cases ment back tracking through the level with grenades found only in another obscurely placed secret. And even if you did find these secrets first time round, game mechanic was not yet introduced for you to have a clear idea of what it was you were ment to accomplish.
Across the franchise, there was a portrayal of an industrialised, capitalist dystopia that set to destroy natural habitats and enslave cultures for turn of profit, which to me, addressed issues with the attitude in modern society and the way major corporations set to scorn the planet in order to achieve personal financial goals. This set the story as a ethically just cause for the protagonists motives and actions which gave the game a strong moral valve without presenting itself as "preachy" (see MGS1/2/3/4)
The Abe franchise is a dead breed, for both its self and its contribution to gaming. Its innovation in 2d platforming has been unmatched since its conception, sure there have been some attractive looking 2d games post-Abe, (Viewtiful Joe, Metal Slug ect)that also pose quite a challenge (Alien Hominid, Metal Slug (again) ), but they seem to lack in story telling and stray from the bold, well refined aesthetic that Abe had.
I myself do not see a revival of Odd World Inhabitants quintology to be a possibility in the future, and the chance of seeing an Odd World feature length film seems even slimmer. When Lorne Lanning dies the first thing he'll do is turn in his grave.
/10unhappyfaces
Abes Oddysee and Exoddus were unique in both style and gameplay, a world inhabited by bizarre lifeforms in a rich and beautifully realised universe, whereby precision platforming is met by expert timing, stealth and an eye for unexplained and well hidden secrets.
As soon as the player is thrown into the first level, they are blissfully unaware of these almost obnoxiously placed secrets, secrets that you would never possibly think about looking and in some cases ment back tracking through the level with grenades found only in another obscurely placed secret. And even if you did find these secrets first time round, game mechanic was not yet introduced for you to have a clear idea of what it was you were ment to accomplish.
Across the franchise, there was a portrayal of an industrialised, capitalist dystopia that set to destroy natural habitats and enslave cultures for turn of profit, which to me, addressed issues with the attitude in modern society and the way major corporations set to scorn the planet in order to achieve personal financial goals. This set the story as a ethically just cause for the protagonists motives and actions which gave the game a strong moral valve without presenting itself as "preachy" (see MGS1/2/3/4)
The Abe franchise is a dead breed, for both its self and its contribution to gaming. Its innovation in 2d platforming has been unmatched since its conception, sure there have been some attractive looking 2d games post-Abe, (Viewtiful Joe, Metal Slug ect)that also pose quite a challenge (Alien Hominid, Metal Slug (again) ), but they seem to lack in story telling and stray from the bold, well refined aesthetic that Abe had.
I myself do not see a revival of Odd World Inhabitants quintology to be a possibility in the future, and the chance of seeing an Odd World feature length film seems even slimmer. When Lorne Lanning dies the first thing he'll do is turn in his grave.
/10unhappyfaces