When the Xbox lumbered onto the gaming scene in 2001, one of the big black behemoth's notable launch titles was Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, a 3-D reimagining of the beloved Oddworld series of 2-D side-scrollers.
A lot of fans were skeptical that this radical new take on their beloved world and its characters would work, but most were pleasantly surprised with the results.
But Munch and Abe devotees did an even more neck-snapping double take when developer Oddworld Inhabitants parted ways with Microsoft and went to EA to release Oddworld Stranger's Wrath, an action-driven shooter that's about as different from Munch's Oddysee as Munch himself is from his farting Mudokon pal, Abe.
And yet, once again, the result is that trademark mix of bizarre humour, off-kilter characters and fantastic visuals. Just with lots and LOTS of shooting.
You are the Stranger, kind of a slow-witted, shaggy, alien version of Clint Eastwood, and you've come to town to start collecting bounties on wanted criminals to save up for a mysterious operation that you need to survive. (Hey Stranger, they do those kinds of things in Sweden y'know. Very discreet, too.)
The game has a very spaghetti western feel, as you travel from area to area rounding up a novel variety of live mammals and bugs to use as ammo in your double-barreled crossbow, and switching seamlessly between third-person running, climbing and fighting to first-person shooting.
Bounties are worth more alive than dead, so it behooves you to look for stealthy, non-lethal solution to most of your missions. Then again, sometimes you just need to cut loose against the surprisingly clever A.I. enemies with a swath of explosive Boombats, blowing the crap out of everything.
If Oddworld Inhabitants studio heads Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna ever decide to give up making games, they should really go into movies. Aside from the great personality and humour in the characters and the artfully designed environments, the CGI cinematic cutscenes in Stranger's Wrath are the best the studio has ever done, and that's saying a heck of a lot.
I guess the only real complaint you might have with Stranger's Wrath is that as hard as it tries to capture the Oddworld vibe in a completely new genre of game, some fans - myself included - will still find themselves wishing for a truer sequel to the previous Oddworld titles. Blasting baddies with the Stranger's arsenal of freaky little critters is fun, but I kind of preferred Abe's sneaky, cerebral approach to problem-solving. Boombats or no Boombats.
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BOTTOMLINE
An Oddworld-themed shooter? "Stranger" things have happened. Get it? Ha! Ha ha! Yeah. Anyway, it's really good.
