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B+
DEVELOPER
Oddworld Inhabitants
PUBLISHER
GT Interactive
AVAILABLE
Now
MEDIUM
2 CD-ROMs
PLAYERS
1-2
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eing a savior must really suck. Especially when you’re a skinny little blue boy with not one shred of courage to be found. On top of all that, what if your lips were sewn together? But like the true hero he is, our old buddy Abe has beaten the odds before (great pun, eh?), and now he’s ready to do it again in Abe’s Exoddus. When our slave turned messiah finished his last Oddysee, he had successfully saved 99 of his fellow Mudokons and shut down Rupture Farms for good. However, the Glukkon Empire is vast, and no sooner had Abe begun celebrating his victory than his ancestors decided to pay him a visit. “Abe, you gotta help us,” they pleaded, “The Glukkons are stealing our bones and turning them into brew.” Never one to back down from a fight, Abe sets out to overthrow the Glukkon Empire once again. But how could something so sweet be so bad for you? It’s funny how so many video games nowadays parallel real life, don’t you think?  Even though Oddworld Inhabitants set out to make a “Quintology” of Oddysee titles, the programmers of the original game wanted one more shot at the formula they used before, since they knew they could get it right. This time around players have the ability to save whenever and where-ever they want, the puzzles are a little more reasonable, and Abe can now possess and control more than just Sligs. Glukkons, Paramites and Scrabs are all subject to the power of the Mudokon chant. In fact, there are a whole new host of characters that have been added to this odd world. Sligs now have counterparts that are able to fly, Slog puppies, called Sloggies, Fleeches and Slurgs. Slurgs are basically Fleech food, however, if you step on them they scream, which is sure to wake up or alert just about everything in the area to your presence. As before, each creature reacts differently to intruders, which is one of the things that make the Oddworld games so unique and enjoyable.  Scrabs are fiercely territorial, so much so that they will kill you on sight, unless another Scrab is intruding at the same time. Then you’ll have precious seconds to escape while they battle to the death. Paramites are harmless unless backed into a corner or roaming in groups, then they become quick and deadly. Fleeches are normally asleep when you first see them, but if they wake up then run like hell, because while their attacks won’t kill you instantly, they’re as relentless in their pursuit as Dave Toole when he’s trying to make a point. They’re cowards though, and will run at the site of Scrabs or Paramites. Likewise the Mudokons have gained a whole new collection of emotions; they’ll get angry, sad, and even get wired after being hit with laughing gas. Consequently, Abe has a larger set of actions in order to keep the unruly green guys in line. You may have to lay the smack down a couple of times before they take you seriously. There are also blind Mudokons working in the Necrum mines, which present a whole new set of problems. Leading blind Mudokons is much like playing a game of Lemmings. They can’t see danger for themselves, so you need to act as their eyes and warn them when they’re about to plummet to their doom or some other sort of untimely demise.  Just like Oddysee, the presentation in Exoddus is absolutely gorgeous. At its heart this game is still a Prince of Persia style platformer with some great innovations. It’s games like this that make me pray this genre won’t die out due to the more powerful hardware being released lately. Along with great platforming action and pretty graphics, Abe’s Exoddus is riddled with some of the highest quality and most hilarious video sequences I’ve ever experienced. Abe is such a clutz, and that combined with his innocence and genuine desire to help everyone immediately endears him to the player. Game characters with actual personalities, imagine that! Since this review is rather late, any Oddworld fans will have already tried Exoddus. For those of you who haven’t discovered our blue, top-knotted hero, go out and buy both games in the series. Oddworld has proven once again that a game doesn’t have to be three dimensional to be great, and they’ve also proven that more developers should pay attention to the feedback they get from their gamers.
-- Greg Sewart
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